Ladies First (Zayn Malik) Book 4

Chapter 36

 “Can’t stop us now because we’re beating the odds” I sing, finishing off our encore song. Beaming, I wave one more time at the crowd as we take another bow and exit the stage.

“You guys were fantastic like usual” Haley says as soon as we’re behind the curtain.

“Thanks” I say with a laugh as I take out my earplugs and hand off my mic to one of the stagehands. We’re rounding the corner to the hall when Carmen lets out a shriek. I’m confused, until I see Nathan catch her as she barrels into him.

“Surprise” he chuckles.

“What are you doing here?” she asks with a laugh, her arms tight around her boyfriend.

“We have a couple days off before we fly to Australia so we thought we’d see how our favorite girls are doing” he says with a grin.

“We?” I ask warily. He looks over, a slightly apologetic expression on his face.

“What no hello’s for the rest of us?” a voice pipes up. I look past Nathan and standing twenty or so feet back were the other boys.

“Hey Will,” I say breaking into a grin as the dark haired boy steps forward, bridging the gap between the two groups. I give him a quick hug, the other boys soon following suit until Chris is standing in front of me.

“Hey” I say awkwardly, not sure if I’m supposed to give him a hug or not.

“Hey” he replies just as awkwardly. It was nice to know he’s in the same boat.

Haley coughs behind me and I turn around to see her standing a few feet behind me. “Guys, this is Haley. I think you all have met once or twice right?” I ask as she steps up to my side.

“Hi” Haley says, extending her hand towards the boys.

“Uh uh, that’s not how we do it. We’re huggers” Will says with a grin, wrapping his arms around my friend. She giggles but goes along with it, wrapping her arms around him. When she pulls back I could have sworn I saw a hint of a blush on her cheeks before she gives the other boys a hug. I raise an eyebrow at her, glancing between her and Will, grinning as she stands between him and I. If I knew my friend, I’d guess she had a crush on a certain boy band member. She sees the look I’m giving her and wraps her arms around me, pulling me into a hug.

“You did great” she says loudly. “If you say anything I’m going to kill you” she hisses into my ear. I chuckle.

“I love you too,” I say with a wide grin. She releases me and I look over at Will.

“So I heard you and Jeanie broke up?” I ask

“Yea” he says with a chuckle “Why? You hitting on me?” he jokes with a wink. I laugh shaking my head.

“Nah I’m good. I’m not really looking for anyone right now” I reply with a grin. “But maybe you could show my friend around.” I say grabbing Haley’s arm and pulling her closer. “We have to go change and I’d hate for her to be bored” I say grinning mischievously. Haley looks at me mortified while Will chuckles, nodding his head. “Good” I say pushing her in his direction, causing her to stumble into him.

“After you” he says gesturing down the hall. She turns to give me one last glare before heading off down the hall with Will.

“So I can see you haven’t stopped playing matchmaker” Ben remarks amused.

“Never” I say with a grin. “Speaking of which. How are you and Ali?” I ask. Ben gives an embarrassed smile, nodding his head.

“We’re good,” he says. “She’s meeting us at the hotel after this actually.”