My Brother's Best Friend

Chapter 19

Of course I had already forgotten about Liam I thought to myself the moment we walked in the apartment. To say the least, he wasn't happy and was going to make sure I knew that.

"Hey Liam," I said, dragging out the 'hey'.

"Hi Mandi," he replied, anger clear in his voice. Who it was directed at I wasn't sure.

On the one hand, I had kinda sorta slept with one of his best friends without telling him and then ran off when he found out but Zayn lied too and slept with me so I think we were about even.

"Well," I said breaking the awkward silence, "It's been a long day and I don't know about you guys, but I am exhausted so I'm just gonna... Leave."

Before I could make it even three steps up the stairs, Liam stopped me, "No you're not."

I silently cursed under my breath and turned around slowly, "Okay then, I guess I'm not sleeping tonight."

Zayn, who had pretty much been standing silently by the door since we'd got there, finally spoke up, "Is there something you'd like to say, Liam?"

"Um, yeah I guess there is," Liam replied, sarcasm evident in his voice, "I'm just wondering why exactly you called my sister a slut and maybe while you're at it you can explain why you slept with her and LIED TO ME about it!" I could tell this conversation wouldn't end well.

Zayn shifted uncomfortably, unsure on how to answer.

"Liam, it's late and we're all tired," I said, "Can we just save it for tomorrow?"

At first he hesitated. I could tell he wanted to talk now. Well not so much talk as yell at us, but he decided against it.

"Fine," he said, "But you better ave a good explanation for this."

I sighed and walked upstairs. I had hoped Liam wouldn't find out about Zayn and me. I knew I'd have to tell him sometimes, but I kept postponing and now that it was staring me in the face, I kind of wished I'd said something sooner.

As I lay down and willed myself to go to sleep I couldn't shake the overwhelming sense of dread I got from knowing what I had to do tomorrow. Great, I had avoided a fight so that I'd at least have some sleep before facing Liam and now I wouldn't get any sleep at all because I couldn't stop thinking about it.

After another hour or so of trying to turn my brain off I decided to take a walk to keep my mind off things. I knew it wouldn't be the best move to leave the apartment again, so I settled on walking  up and down the halls instead. Careful not to make any noise, I walked over to the other side of the hall. I'm not sure what possessed me to go to Zayn's room - it was definitely not the best idea under the circumstances - but I didnt give myself much time to think before I turned the knob and slowly padded over to the bed.

"Zayn?" I whispered, "Are you awake?"

Zayn made some sound of recognition before turning over to face me, "Yeah, what are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep," I said, shuffling my feet. I felt like a two year old who'd just had a nightmare. God, when did I become so..... Soft?

"Do you want to stay here?" Zayn asked, sounding a little confused by my actions. I couldn't blame him, I was confused by them to. It wasn't really a regular thing for me, obviously.

I nodded and climbed in next to him before I could change my mind. Cuddling into his side, I focused on his heart beat, beating perfectly in time with mine. The last thing I remember hearing was the soft murmur of Zayn's words in my ear.

"I love you, Mandi. Never forget that."