Someone Different [Zayn Malik Romance]

10. Messing Up

            I woke up in an annoyed haze the next morning, make-up smeared on my face and my pillows and my body wrapped in sheets. It had taken five minutes to stumble out of bed and into the bathroom to wash my face, trying to figure out what house I was even in. A knock on my door came, and I glanced down to see I was in Perries' pajamas.

            "Come in," I called, half certain I was in her house anyway.

            But Jem came in instead of a maid, and I scrunched my nose. I seriously needed to straighten out which house was which – and which I stayed at overnight. He came over to me, but I quickly realized his jacket was on and he was ready to leave.

            "Hey, Lela," He said with a half-smile. "I'm expecting you to come back home at the end of summer with an important story to tell. Got it?"

            I grinned. "Okay, deal."

            Even he was on team Lela and Zayn.

~*~

            It's been a week since Jem left, and like he was bad luck, Zayn had already been warming up to me a lot more. I suppose since most people already thought we were in love and stuff, it made everything a bit more complicated.

            But he would do things like hold my hand all the time and let me cuddle up to him while we watched a movie or TV. He was so adorable. Sometimes when he did these things in public the publicity stunt was always stuck in the back of my head – but then, he would hold my hand when we're sitting in the family room, and I melted.

            "I have something for you." I said with a grin while Zayn opened his front door.

            He raised his eyebrows at me. "And would that be a hello?"

            I rolled my eyes. "Hello, Zayn. But no, I have this for you. I had to find it in the bottom of my drawer, but I really wanted to give it to you."

            I handed him a book, and he flipped it over to see The Fault in Our Stars on the cover with a blue background, the authors' name printed on the bottom. Looking up at me, the One Direction boy looked at me for a second, his gaze smoldering before he half smiled.

            "You're really something."

            "What do you mean?"

            "You just... You aren't yourself anymore. You seem like a new person."

            I bit my lip. "Um... Sorry?"

            He chuckled, grabbing my hand and bringing me inside his apartment. "No, it's a good thing. You're cute."

            And there it was.

            The butterflies.

            Saving me from forming an awkward answer, my phone started buzzing, and I pulled it out of my Gucci bag to see it was actually Perries' phone. I slipped my hand out of Zayn's and said I had to take this, staying at the door while he walked into the kitchen. It was Perrie.

            "Hey, what's up?" I answered, almost defensively.

            The end of her line was kind of fuzzy, so it took a second before she answered. "Lela? Are you there?"

            I frowned. "What? Yeah, I'm here. What do you need?"

            "I'm – coming –"

            The line went dead, and I frowned at my phone.  Coming where? She probably wanted to tell me something of little importance, like she normally does, so I didn't pay much attention or look into it.  Shoving the phone back into the bag – neither of which were mine, by the way – I walked into the family room and heard popcorn being made in the microwave.

            Assuming he was in the kitchen, I plopped down on the couch but before I could get comfortable, there was a light knock on the door. Zayn definitely hadn't heard it, so I groaned to myself and got back up to walk over and open the door. Standing there was a mirror. Okay, maybe it wasn't a mirror, but the girl staring at me made me think it was a mirror.

            "Perrie?!" I whisper-shouted, eyes wide and panic kicking in.

            She narrowed her eyes and snapped, "What are you doing here?"

            "Perrie?"

            I could hear Zayn walking towards the door, so I panicked and pushed Perrie inside and shut the door, throwing myself into the closet and letting her deal with this. The second I saw through the slits of the closet what was going on, though, I almost face palmed.

            Zayn was grinning happily, popcorn in his hand before he looked at Perrie confused. "Did you change?"

            She snapped: "No, I didn't change."

            He looked half taken aback before he just nodded. "Uh, okay. Do you want to watch the movie?"

            Perrie Edwards – the real one – stood there, arms crossed, ruining everything I had in this little pretend game. For a second, her eyes flashed to the closet, and I wondered if she would expose me to Zayn.

            "You're cute when you're thinking," He said softly, and it occurred to me that I think he meant that to be in his head.

            I smiled, but then frowned. He was talking to Perrie, not to me – like there was even a difference, though – and it made me kind of jealous. Perrie looked at him straight on, her face completely blank.

            And then she slapped him.

            "Don't try to charm me," She snapped, and then turned and walked out of the apartment.

            Oh my God.

            Zayn stood there for a second in shock, not in pain from the slap. He just stared at the door where she had left in silence, the popcorn bowl still lowered in his left hand. After a moment, he sighed, and then turned around to walk away quietly. Even though I was silent as well, my mind was racing and all I could feel was anger and fear.

            Fear that Perrie messed everything up. Anger because Perrie messed everything up. As swiftly as I could, I slipped out of the closet and out the door, running down the pathway to catch Perrie just before she got back into her taxi. I slipped in beside her, a bit out of breath, but still determined to freak out at her.

            "What the hell was that?!" I shrieked, eyes wide and searching.

            She narrowed her eyes at me. "You've been having sex with him, haven't you?"

            I forced away a blush. "No! But you can't just slap someone for giving you a compliment! And you're ruining everything!"

            Perrie stopped. I realized that this is what everyone meant, when they acted so weirdly – like I had changed – and it was because Perrie was such a bitch. And then after that realization, I also realized that I was about to get it.

            "I'm ruining your fun? Your little game of pretend?" Perrie Edwards hissed. "Sorry, I didn't get the memo. Why don't you stop acting then? I can take it from here."

            Then she told the driver to take me to my dads.      

            How she knew the address, I didn't know.

            But I did know, however, that I just blew it.

______________

ahhh short but :( 

BY THE WAY

THIS IS GOING TO BE A SHORT STORY

OK