9

                                    

                                          
Zayn remembers the first time he saw Liam and how he immediately knew Liam would be the best thing that could've happened to him.
                          
He remembers his heart doing flips and his stomach full of butterflies when Liam had smiled at him, when Liam had accepted his friendship, even when Liam said yes to dating.
                          
But at the moment all Zayn can do is drink away the pain those memories bring him. 
                          
He bitterly laughs at the way Liam had no problem in shredding his heart to pieces. 
                          
He's been locked in the room for two days now, turning his pain into music.
                          
His boss Drake had just called him offering an amazing opportunity for him to feature on his album and he simply could not refuse. Zayn couldn't believe he was actually going to do this. 
                          
He felt like telling Liam since he was more obsessed with Drake than he was, but he decided against it immediately. 
                          
Zayn was sitting in the recliner that's in his room, notebook on his lap and writing some lyrics down.
                          
"I'm on my fuck that bitch shit,
you used to be the shit but now 
you ain't shit, bitch"
                          
He stared intently at those lyrics and deeply sighed. He took his pen and crossed it out. He didn't want to turn bitter over this.
                          
He got up from the recliner and walked to his wardrobe checking to see if he had anymore cigarettes, but unfortunately he didn't.
                          
"F ucking hell" he muttered to himself. This means he had to finally leave his room and face Liam. GREAT.
                          
Liam had been knocking on the door constantly since Zayn had locked himself up there. At first Liam had banged on the door trying to get Zayn to open it, but after realizing that Zayn wouldn't open, he gave up.
                          
Zayn left the room and closed the door quietly. He walked downstairs and saw Liam sitting on the couch, looking like a hot mess. His hair was disheveled, he had dark colored bags under his eyes, and was wearing a grease stained tank top. He looked like how Zayn felt.
                          
"Hey, you're finally out" Liam said once he saw Zayn approaching him, giving him a tired smile.
                          
Zayn cleared his throat and responded with a simple "Yeah".
                          
"You're leaving again?" Liam asked cautiously, voice laced with worry.
                          
"Yep."
                          
"Can I come with you?" Liam said with hope obvious in his tone and face.
                          
"No, I'll be right back" Zayn said, quickly getting to the door and leaving. He was ready to explode and decided to get out of there before he did. 
                          
He went to the little Liquor store around the block from his house and picked up his cigarettes. As he was about to pay for them his phone started to ring. 
                          
Sighing irritatingly, he answered the phone.
                          
"Zayn here" 
                          
"Zayn bro how are you?" 
                          
"Lou?! Thats actually you man?" he said, smiling a bit.
                          
"Yeah mate, I'm back from vacation. And lemme tell you, the new dude I'm with is just f uckin' amazing. I gotta introduce you two. Anyways, what's happened since I've been gone?"
                          
Zayn gulped. Lying to Louis was something he was never good at. "Ehm, everything's great man. Really good." 
                          
"Zayn" Louis said in a scolding tone. "You know you truly suck at lying, right?"
                          
"Yeah" Zayn responded, taking cash out of his pocket and paying the employee for the cigs.
                          
He left the store and quickly opened the pack, taking one out and getting his lighter out of his pocket. He lit up the cig and inhaled the smoke, feeling more at ease.
                          
"Zayn, what's wrong? I know something is up, your voice is so raw and depressing." Louis said, voice laced with worry.
                          
"I'll tell you when I see you man. Which reminds me, I got signed to a label" Zayn said, switching the subject.
                          
Louis left out the biggest gasp he had ever heard in his life. "Holy f uck! Don't f ucking lie to me man, I'm squealing like a little bitch right now!"
                          
Zayn chuckled at his friends enthusiasm. "I swear I'm not lying. And I officially want to put you in charge as my manager and publicist. My boss has no problem with it. He's actually looking for someone to represent his other new acts"
                          
Another gasp by Louis is all he hears. "Fuck! Are you serious??! I'd be so f ucking honored! Hold up one second" then Zayn heard the sound of Louis screaming in the background, "Babe, I just got a job! And my best friend Zayn got signed, I'm so happy!"
                          
Louis got back on the phone and cleared his throat. "Anyways, yes I'd be so honored. Who's your boss?"
                          
"How about I tell you in person? I'd rather see your reaction then having to hear you over the phone." Zayn said, grinning wide knowing that Louis would lose his s hit when he finds out that Drake is his boss.
                          
"Okay, okay. How about we meet up in a few. I'll text you later. And don't think that I won't forget about what's been troubling you. See you later Zed" Louis said, hanging up.
                          
Zayn felt a little better knowing that he finally had his other best friend back. 
                          
He put his phone away, only to have to take it back out of his pocket when he felt it vibrate. 
                          
|  From: My Darling 
|
|  are u coming home soon?
|  we really need to talk 
                          
Zayn rolled his eyes and decided against going home just to piss Liam off. He pulled up his contact list instead of answering Laim and called Lauren. 
                          
"Hey Zee" Lauren said  answering cheerfully.
                          
"Hey Lo, just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out with me and Louis tonight like the old times"
                          
"Oh Lou is back? Of course. Text me the details, I wanna see you uglies. I've missed you both"
                          
Zayn just laughed at that. "I'll text you everything, bye Lo" he said, hanging up the call. He knew that things at home were hell, and having his friends support was needed something he wanted. 
                          
He had a big storm coming, and he did not want to face it alone.
                          
×××
                          
- I finally updated! Next to update is "Fucking Young" which I'll have up later.
                          
- I have a prologue to a new fic called "Unorthodox" written down ready to post. I'll admit I'm nervous about the reaction of this fic as I haven't seen an idea like it before. But I'll post that fic up so if you want to check it out then please do :)
                          
- btw from here on out im adding random ziam gifs to each update because i miss them 😫
                          
NOT EDITED.