slow it down // zayn malik

chapter six // helpless.

sable's pov

 Andi and I continue to wait rather impatiently around the festival gates. People walk past us, shooting us confused looks as to why we're doting around the entrance and not enjoying the actual festival itself. 

I can't help but to grumble beneath my breath as I watch all these people driving in, knowing they'll be able to spend tonight however they'd like to. But me on the other hand, I'm stuck running around like crazy to get my best friend separated from some awful celebrity.

It's certainly not what I had in mind when I arrived here this morning. 

"I'm going to kill Linley, I swear to god," I mutter as a car full on ungodly hot men drive past us, waving to both Andi and I. 

Andi hops down from the fence we were both seated on to give me an incredibly unimpressed look, folding her tanned arms across her chest. I raise my hands in defense, not quite sure as to why she's giving me that look.

"Don't put this all on her," She snaps at me with her usual attitude, "You both were the idiots who thought they were just hilarious. You're lucky you're not handcuffed to Harry," She tells me, raising her voice just slightly.

She certainly has a point there. It was both Linley and my idea to throw our drinks on them. Linley just lacks any sort of filter, so I should have seen the argument coming and tried to stop it. 

I glance down at my own pale, bare wrist, gratefulness swelling in my chest at my own freedom. I honestly think I'd be trying to kill myself if I were attached to Harry Styles. I respect Linley for her self-restraint. 

"Still, how the fuck are we supposed to perform tomorrow night with a boy attached to Linley's arm?"I groan, burying my face in my hands with stress eating at me.

The moment I watched that man slap that handcuff around Linley's tiny wrist, my stomach dropped. How the hell is she supposed to play the keyboard and sing without the freedom of her left hand? 

We've worked far too damn hard for it all to go to shit the day before our performance, all because of some stupid, harmless little prank. I'm not going to let these prissy teen heartthrobs mess with our career. 

"Chill out," Andi sighs as she leans against the fence beside me, her curly hair tickling my bare legs, "You said Nathan should be here any minute, right? He'll know what to do," She tries to assure me, making me take my face from my hands.

That's right. As soon as Nathan gets here, he'll get right down to business and we'll be out of this mess before we know it. He's certainly not going to sit back and let us mess up our biggest performance of our lives. 

My eyes return to the constant streaming of people entering the festival. In cars and on foot, people enter the new universe that is Ragstock. I narrow my eyes as I scan the crowds of people, searching for Nathan's familiar face.

It's already starting to get dark, past the point of sunset. The sky is lingering on it's deep pink stage, on the brink of complete darkness. It becomes harder and harder to scan the stream of people entering.

I know Linley is going to be absolutely furious that we've left her alone with those two idiots for this long amount of time. We had tried to talk to some maintenance guys, but they wanted nothing to do with us and our problems. So, after bugging Nathan to hurry up with a million phone calls, we decided to camp out at the entrance to wait for him. 

I can't even begin to imagine what Andi and I will return to find. Either Zayn will be dead or we'll all be simply kicked out of the festival. I know Linley and Zayn aren't going to just sit there. It's going to be World War Three.