Vulnerable (Zayn Malik AU)

Chapter 20

"Maybe you should ask your boyfriend where he was the whole time, huh!" Lilly screamed, taking a swing at me.

"Why should I?! Unlike your boyfriend, mine deserves trust." I dodged another shot. One thing Lilly always failed at was fighting. I usually had to stick up for her. But, even then, I took people down with my words. Loaded banter would always be more powerful than a punch. Words leave deeper wounds.

"Funny 'cause last I heard, Zayn had a side girl for himself." The confidence in her tone knocked me down a peg. "You didn't find it odd that he just disappeared for like an hour? C'mon, Dais. You're smarter than that." She laughed.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" I lunged at her.

"Daisy! DAISY! DAISY ANN!" I jolted forward, being greeted by my dads amused face. "Finally you're up."

"Oh my gosh." I fell back to my pillow and rolled away from him. It was all a dream.

"You need to get up. It's 9am, you've been in here for like 18 hours..."

"Dang." I thought aloud. Although technically, he was wrong. I woke up around 6AM with the worst migraine I'd had in years. I got up and took some medicine, but he wasn't downstairs so he wouldn't know. I went right back to sleep afterwards. And man was I glad I did, because my headache was no more.

"C'mon, kid. I'll make you breakfast." My dad took me by surprise. He never cooks. Ever.

"No I'll just have cereal. Thanks, though." I pulled myself out of bed. He reluctantly listened to me, and went upstairs. 

I removed the sweatshirt I had on. I don't know if it lost its scent, or if I just grew used to it. The lack of smell and the heat added up to one useless sweatshirt. I threw one of my baggy shirts on, and went into the kitchen. Weirdly enough, I was so exhausted the previous night I didn't even have the energy to take my pants off. Usually I can't sleep with pants on. I'm just all messed up right now, aren't I.

I grabbed my phone, and just as expected, had no notifications. I walked to the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and filling it with my peanut butter cereal. When I took a seat at the table, I placed my phone in front of me, hoping my staring would intimidate it enough to light up. Pathetic.

To no avail, my screen stayed black as I slowly forced myself to eat. I wasn't hungry until I finished eating. It was strange. I must've just starved so much that the food rumbled as it hit my empty stomach. Skipping eating for nearly two days will do that to you. But it wasn't on purpose...that's what scared me. I had no idea I skipped so many meals. That's what a boy had done to me. Completely removed my ability to even recognize the feeling of hunger.

I stood up, never losing sight of my empty screen, and went to wash my bowl. Even from the corner of my eye I could see that I still had nothing. It was disheartening to say the least.

I dried my hands and walked back to my phone, scrolling through nonsense. I scanned mine and Zayns old texts, most of them useless. He saved the sweeter moments for face-to-face interactions.

"Screw this." I lost all patience that remained in my head, giving into my heart. I hit dial.

After six painful rings, a robotic voice told me what number couldn't take a call. But I knew better. That wasn't the case.

I went to my room, getting dressed in my peach sundress. Even though it was November, a dress is faster and easier to put on. I didn't even bother with makeup. I had somewhere to be.

I slipped on my oxfords, grabbed my phone, and ran up the stairs on all fours, stopping at the mancave. "Dad I'm taking the car." I called through the door.

"No you're not." He said, opening the door.

"Well unless you wanna give me a ride to the outskirts of town, yes I am."

"What the fuck don't give me an ultimatum." He scowled and I raised my eyebrows, not in the mood to argue. "I'll drive you. Let's go." I was annoyed that he didn't let me just take the car, but I figured I was just looking for something to be angry about as a distraction.

I grabbed Zayns key, then met my dad in the car. I drove considering I knew the way. Of course the whole ride consisted of my father telling me how to drive. According to him my turns were too sharp and I was going to ruin his tires. The sad thing about the situation was I knew more about his car than him, and his tires were already destroyed. They were bald and definitely in need of some new rims. With winter quickly approaching I would have to remind him to take his car in to the shop.

We approached Zayn's house, and I pulled over on the highway. It was pointless driving all the way up to the house when I could just walk the rest of the way. I kissed my dad goodbye and warned him of the time. It was his "Friday", so he needed to go home and sleep.

I walked down the gravel road, loose rocks crunching beneath my delicate shoes. There were no cars outside, and as always it was quiet, so I wasn't even sure if anyone was home.

I stood at the door for a moment, my knuckles hovering just above the black door. I could very easily have just looked in through the large, glass walls...but I didn't want to risk being seen. Talk about embarrassing.

I teetered on my feet, swallowing my nerves and finally knocking on the door. This was a mistake. When he wants to talk he'll call. RUN. I turned around, ready to call my dad back, when the door creaked open.

"Hello?" A woman said.

"Um..." I turned back to face her. "Hi." I waved, shyly.

"How can I help you?" Her smile was warm and inviting. Zayn's mother forsure. She had very similar features, and her accent was impossibly thicker than his.

"I'm Daisy. You must be Ms. Malik." I stuck my hand out.

"Oh, hello dear!" She rejected my hand, pulling me in for a full on hug. "I've heard so much about you! Please, do come in." She pulled back, giving me another smile. "That dress is lovely."

"Thanks." I laughed nervously. "I didn't know you would be here or I would've actually put makeup on and tried a little more..." I twiddled my thumbs.

"You mean to tell me you're not wearing makeup?! Zayn has definitely not done your beauty justice."

"Oh, stop." I laughed, sure my face was aflame.

"So what are you doing here, beb?" She took a seat on the couch, patting the spot next to her.

"Zayn hasn't called me since Thursday. Just came to check on him, I guess." I shrugged and took a seat next to her, placing my phone and Zayns key onto the coffee table at my right.

"He hasn't really left his room either. Won't say a word to me. Everything ok with you two?"

"I thought so...I don't really know anymore."

"Well if I know one thing about my boy, he likes to keep things bottled up." Her smile was weak.

"I'll break him eventually." I laughed.

"I hope so. It's not that I need to know...I just don't want him to hide. Everyone needs at least one person they can tell everything to. You can't keep stuff inside forever, ya know? One day it's just gonna come flying out, and I hope it's not at me."

"Or me." We both shook our heads at the thought. Little did she know he had already begun to let me in. Sure, he had more secrets, but it was a work in progress.

"Uh...mum?" We both turned to see Zayn in his boxers standing just outside the hall, a frazzled look on his face.

"Well hello, Sunshine." She smiled.

"Can you give us a minute?" He asked.

"Oh! Yeah, no worries. I'm headed to work anyway." She stood up. "It was so lovely to meet you." She bent down and kissed my cheek as she hugged me. "Would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow night? I'll be off for once."

"She's busy." Zayn intercepted.

"I would love to, Ms. Malik." I ignored him.

"Please, dear. Call me Trish." She laughed. "I'll see you...lets say 6?"

"Sounds great." I smiled.

"Alright. Go easy on the boy." She nodded to Zayn, making me stifle a laugh. "Bye, baby." She walked over to him, but he ignored her. "I said bye. Don't you ignore your mother, now." Her tone was serious.

"Bye, mum." He growled.

We both waited for the sound of the garage closing before a word was spoken.

"Why are you here." His eyebrows crossed.

"You didn't answer my call."

"So you thought 'Oh he doesn't wanna talk, let's just force him'." He mimicked my voice rather poorly.

"No..I...I don't know what I was thinking. I just couldn't stand being ignored when I didn't do anything."

"That's the problem. You didn't do anything."

"Why are you being so cold?" My voice was low, cracking at the last second.

"You shouldn't be here."

"If you don't want to be with me, that's fine. But you can't leave me wondering what's happened. I didn't even eat until just an hour ago. Not because I was so upset I couldn't eat, I just wasn't hungry. I didn't have the energy to do anything. My mind was elsewhere. My mind was on you. Wondering what I did. Wondering what you were doing. I had to brush my own hair and it was AWFUL." Disobedient tears were falling down my face. I wasn't even making complete sense, my thoughts were too jumbled.

"Don't cry." He sighed, walking over to the couch.

"Don't act like you care now." I scooted away from him.

"I never stopped caring, Daisy." He groaned, looking up to the ceiling. "Look at it from my side. What would you do if you saw me getting hit on by tons of girls? I mean, it's not exactly easy to see the girl I love with other men."

"Men?! It's not a plural thing, Zayn."

"Are you forgetting Christian?"

"...I had actually. I guess I just pushed that thought out...but it's not like I'm kissing back?!"

"That's not what it looked like, Daisy!" His use of my full name took another shot at my heart every time it fell from his lips.

"I was pushing as hard as I could..."

"We need to get you some dumbbells or something then. Get you bulked up. I'm sick of other guys kissing my girl." His girl. HIS GIRL. His choice of words left an imprint on my brain.

"I only want you..." I whispered.

"Please...stop crying." He wiped my cheeks, removing the tears I didn't allow to fall.

"I feel like I'm losing everyone."

"I'm not going anywhere." He cooed, pulling me into his arms. "Shh, baby. It's ok."

"I'm so...exhausted."

"Me too." He yawned. "Even though I slept all day yesterday and today."

"Really?" I pulled back, laughing. "Me too."

"Well I woke up for meals, but yeah. Lots of sleep."

"Lilly came over yesterday." I frowned.

"Why? To beat you up for kissing her boyfriend?" He laughed.

"According to Mik they aren't even dating."

"Bullshit."

"Thats what I said! But anyway, no. I called her over." He looked confused. "I just...I needed someone to talk to." He pulled me back into him, laying back so that I could hug his bare chest. "I told her Mik kissed me, and she went off. Called me a liar and all this nonsense...told me to burn her stuff and basically forget we were ever friends."

"She does know you still have a class together, right?" He asked and I shrugged. "What an idiot." I sighed. "Are you hungry?"

"I told you. I ate like an hour ago. I'm just...I'm really tired."

"Go to sleep, babe." He ran his hands along my back humming.

"Zayn?" I looked up at him, his eyes closed over.

"Hmm."

"Where'd you go during the party?"

"What?" He looked down at me. "I was just with some old friends, babe...why?"

"No reason. You were just gone awhile."