One Night (Book 1) - Zayn Malik

Chapter 61

Dark Side - Kelly Clarkson

Come In With the Rain - Taylor Swift

Dirty Paws - Of Monsters and Men

To Build a Home - The Cinematic Orchestra

Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood

(A/N: this chapter switches between flashbacks and the present, flashbacks are the italicized parts!)

____________

"No... Nothing's okay Matt." I let out a quiet sob, the tears and hurt breaking from the bottle I kept them in from last night.

"Julie? What the hell is going on? Are you alright?" I clear my throat and hold back the sobs, calming myself the best I can.

"Can you meet me?" I mumble into the phone, staring at the black leather pattern on the steering wheel.

"Of course... what's going on?" His voice rushes out.

"I just really need to talk to someone." I mumble. Someone who understands me - someone who understands me better than I do.

"Yeah I can be to Boulder in an hour." I hear shuffling in the back, as I know he's attempting to find his shoes and keys.

"I'm already here... I mean I'm in Fort Collins... I just... I really need-"

"Where are you?" His voice becomes more panicked. I know he's confused about why I would drive to see him, why I would do all the work just to talk to him. I shake my head, holding back the tears.

"I'm at the campus... I just need to talk." I quietly explain. I needed to talk to him, the boy who understood me better than I understood myself, the boy who appeared to me in a dream - a memory. A memory of how he would do anything to make me happy again.

"Alright, do you know where you are?'

"I think the main building." I answer, looking out my window the grand white building that stands tall. A dark green roof overtop and many windows lining it.

"Right do you see a gazebo in the midst of the flowers and courtyard stuff?" He asks as I hear a door shutting. I glance around a spot a dark green gazebo in the middle of the yard out front the building.

"Yeah." I nod.

"Meet me there. I'll be there in a few."

Quiet pattering of raindrops fill the apartment. I sit in the dark aside from the dim light coming from the kitchen. I stare out the window of Zayn's apartment. Overlooking the dark beauty of Boulder, the dark green trees, quiet streets, dark clouds, and the raindrops that slowly slide down the window.

I've been sitting on the couch like this for at least several hours, the sun was set and the darkness was taking over along with this quiet rainstorm. The silence of the apartment was overbearing and all too noticeable with the subtle drops of rain hitting the windows.

I don't know what to do. I'm stuck in this mess that I've helped created. We knew nothing about each other. That was the truth. We knew things about each other's past but I didn't know what his favorite food was. I didn't know what he did with his spare time - I doubt he'd tell me though.

We honestly knew very little about each other. A reason that these fights always occurred. The fights that always got worse - every time we have one we never truly resolve it, we just push it back until the next fight comes up.

I turn around on the couch, not able to stare at the darkness out the window I have memorized. I glance at the broken glass lying on the floor. The glass from the lamp Zayn had smashed in the fury of me admitting to see Matt.