When Worlds Combine - A WWC Sequel

62; Beer, awkwardness, and memories

Zayn

If I had known this was her party I never would have come. Never in a million years. I wasn't even going to come anyway but Avery told me it was exactly what I needed. I didn't know at the time that she didn't actually mean the party.

Somehow through the awkwardness and the stench of beer, Violet and I were getting along. Perhaps that was because she was tipsy, edging drunk, and I was really stoked she had broken up with Liam, I don't really know. But I wasn't about to question it too much and make it all go away.

"You know something?" Violet says, sipping at her third can of beer. She points shakily at me. "I never expected to fall in love with someone like you."

I give her a full hearted smile, my lips curling and my chest tightening. My grip around my can gets tighter. "You and me both."

She smiles lazily, like she's focusing more on the thoughts in her head. "Yeah." She takes another sip. "Yeah. But, like, I've just realised that I've spent the last eighteen years of my life living a lie. I was living some sort of shadow to myself, living as some girl who I thought I was, but I wasn't actually." Another sip. "Because I just realised that I don't know who I am at all."

It's heartbreaking to hear but I've known this all along. Violet has always struggled to find who she is and where she belongs. And that's why I couldn't be with her anymore, I was only bringing her down. "I think you know where you're meant to be," I tell her.

"That's the thing." She shakes her head, spreading her arms out wide. "I don't! I spent my entire high schooling years not knowing where I was meant to be at all. I thought I loved Liam, and I didn't. I thought I loved you, but obviously that wasn't right. So then I went back to Liam and that still didn't work out. When are things going to become clear to me?"

"Look at where you're sitting, Vi. You're in your bedroom of your own apartment. Surely that has to account for something."

She smiles bashfully and then sighs. "I really don't know what I'm doing. And that's a first. I always know what I'm doing."

"You put too much pressure on yourself," I tell her. "That's your problem, it always has been. It's okay for even you to not feel okay sometimes."

She just looks at me as if studying me analytically. Like I'm really something to look at. The look brings back so many memories and my stomach starts to twist so I look away, clearing my throat. "I'm, uh, moving back here. To London."

'You are?" Her tone lifts.

"Y-Yeah. I decided it's better."

"Where are you living? If you want somewhere to stay I have this whole apartment and-" She falls silent, cheeks going red. "Never mind."

I awkwardly smile. "Yeah, probably not the best idea. No need though, I'm staying with Niall and Avery."

"Oh, you are? That'll be nice."

"Yeah. Yeah it will be. I'll, uh, I'll probably be seeing you rather often."

"Oh, yeah. You will." She clears her throat. "That's fine though. We're friends, right?"

"Of course," I stammer. 

"Like, I don't want anything to be weird," she continues, voice all kind of different tones. "It won't be weird, will it?"

"No, no. We just won't make it weird." It was most definitely going to be weird.

"Right. Good." She tries to grin but even I know it's forced.