One Night (Book 1) - Zayn Malik

Chapter 65

Titanium – Boyce Avenue (Cover)

___________

Zayn watches me; all I can do is stare at him. Did I hear him right? Did he say Eleanor was his sister? How does that even work? I didn't think it was that, I thought it was something along the lines of... Well I'm not sure what I thought but not his sister.

"What? How?" I fumble for words. "You just told me you had two sisters, now you're adding Eleanor in? How does that even work?" I try to straighten my thoughts out- talking out loud. They don't look alike, not even a little.

"That doesn't make sense. She doesn't have your accent you said her parents lived here in Aurora! Last time I checked Aurora was here in Colorado! I remember that!" I state with utter annoyance and confusion. Zayn tightens his grip around me – making sure I don't move from his lap.

"I mean she's my step sister..." He shrugs. I pause and shake my head, adding more confusion. Okay so that makes sense as to why she doesn't look like him. But if she was his step sister..."Her parents are divorced." He explains in a soft voice. I can see he's trying to figure out how to deal with my confusion.

"Who married... who married who?" I hope for Zayn's sake and Eleanor's mothers sake that it wasn't his father that married. I didn't even think he still had contact with him, I feel if he did that I would've known about it. Actually, I probably wouldn't know about it.

"Not my dad." He answers my unasked question. "He's been gone since he left... her dad married my mom when I was about... fourteen." Since he left – so he was still out there in the world. I wonder if he's ever tried to return back to Zayn's family...

"Why hide it?" I don't see why you would hide something like that. Eleanor wasn't something to be ashamed of. I doubt Zayn was ashamed of her though.

"It would just make people ask her questions just... imagine if you knew she was my sister from the start." He pushes. That's true, I would ask her endless questions. "It just made things easier." He explains in a soft voice.

"It kept people out of your business." I add with a frown - anything to hide his secrets from people.

"And hers." He counters with a low voice, but his eyes growing slightly angry. I take a deep breath; I didn't want to fight about this. He was open with me; he just shared this with me. I swallow and make sure my questions don't come out harsh.

"So... did she live with you?" I ask lightly. I wonder what it would be like to see Zayn and Eleanor grow up together. They were about the same age – though Louis' mentioned he thinks Eleanor skipped a grade. I could picture Zayn and Eleanor fighting over the bathroom, fighting in the car as they drive to school – I could picture them being a normal pair of siblings.

"No... we didn't get along too well when we were younger." I could see that too. Eleanor seems so calm and open compared to Zayn – she was Zayn's opposite from the attitude perspective. "She loved my sisters though." He chuckles. "She chose to stay in the states with her mom and her stepdad." He explains. "She would come to Bradford every summer though, spend it with us."

"How did... How does Louis' not know?" I think of Eleanor being Zayn in their relationship – keeping things hidden. I couldn't picture that, her and Louis' seem like the perfect couple, they don't seem to hide things from each other.

"She doesn't really care a bunch if people know... I just wanted it quiet so she agreed. And Lou... It just never happened, we knew each other a while but not enough to know about my family." He shrugs as he says this.

"Hasn't he met Eleanor's family?" They've been dating a solid three years, I can't imagine him not ever meeting Eleanor's family – the family that lives here that is.