Care for me (L. S.)

7

Friday the 18th of September | Zayn

The house was set up and ready for the party exactly how he wanted it to when he came home.

He looked around in a satisfied way, seeing coloured spotlights and speakers in every corner. In the middle of the kitchen, bags of crisps and boxes of nerds were displayed on a pyramid-like tower and there were tens of different drinks stacked in the many refrigerators.

The staff had even gotten the back yard ready: there were straw chairs gathered around their electric bonfire and the plastic inflatable dolphins bobbed on the icy water of the swimming pool. The whole was illuminated by fairy lights, which would look amazing in the dark, Zayn imagined.

A voice from behind him disturbed his thoughts.
"It looks great doesn't it, Zaynie?"

His mom stood in the door opening.
"You should really thank Iwan and Klaudia tomorrow. They have outdone themselves."
Her hair was pulled back in a knot, revealing her diamond earrings.
Zayn went over to his mom, hugged her and placed a kiss on her hair.
"I will," he promised.

Tricia waved goodbye through the car window. She had a congress in Shanghai in a few days and would presumably not return for another week. His dad had left to visit his parents in Bradford for the weekend, taking Waliyha and little Safaa with him.
His oldest sister wasn't home either: Doniya was studying in America for the moment.

Zayn sat down on his bed, waiting for the hours to pass. He wasn't even sure why he was throwing this party in the first place. Not that he didn't like to party or anything. Just not today. Not so soon after Karen had broken the news to him. Call him superstitious, but he felt like something bad was gonna happen.

He just looked at some cartoons on his telly, not really taking in anything he was seeing. The stupid thing was that this was all his own idea. He'd wanted this so much only a week ago. But now he didn't feel as carefree as he did when he told the guys he was going to throw a party. Whenever there's like this period of time when nothing happens, he keeps his eyes and ears open, expecting everything to come crashing down soon. Kinda like the eye of the storm situation.

He laid his head against his soft bedcovers and closed his eyes. Nothing will happen nothing will happen nothing will happen... Maybe if he just thought it enough, he would start believing it.
Maybe when he opened his eyes he didn't need to go downstairs, greet people, be loud and versatile.

He must have fallen asleep, because he found himself still lying in his bed as someone tickled his foot.

Liam was sat on his bed, waiting for him to get up.
"Leeeyum..." he growled, throwing the first thing he saw (his jacket) towards the brown-eyed boy.
"Ow! That has a zip on it, you know?!"
Zayn immediately lifted his head, looking if Liam was all right.
He was rubbing a tiny red bump on his head.

"Sorry! Are you ok?"
Liam just laughed, handing him a hand to pull him up.
"Yeh yeh! No worries. Let's get this thing started and have a good time..."

Zayn fixed a smile on his face.
"Let's get this over with."

Liam's eyes went from his bare feet to his tousled hair, his forehead in a disgusted frown.

"You sure you don't wanna change before we head down?"
Zayn took a look at his wrinkled clothes. His shirt had some strawberry jelly on it. That wouldn't make a good impression.
"Ok I'll change. Do you wanna uh–" he gestured to the door, awkwardly.
Liam just nodded, turned around and left.

He let out a sigh when the door closed and he turned the lock. Then he checked if it was really locked by pulling the handle like an idiot. He knew he would be able to hear his best friend breathe through the door if he pressed his ear against it. So he didn't.