Someone Different [Zayn Malik Romance]

7. Make Believe

                Okay, I'll admit it: there was an upside with having Jem and Niall knowing. One being that Jem was right there to back me up and cover me the second I fed my dad a lie about where I would be without hesitation. I sent him a grateful smile and he smiled back, nodding; I didn't know why he wanted to help me out, though.

                And the upside to having Niall know? Well, he was suspicious of me the whole time... and now I had him on my side. He knew how I really felt about Zayn and he also knew what everyone thought of Perrie, and I could safely say he liked me a lot more than her. But there was also a bad side, which included operation get-real-Perrie-to-hate-Zayn.

                "Hello my little twin," Perrie answered the phone with a relaxed voice.

                I fell onto her bed, rolling onto my stomach and saying: "Hey, Perrie. I have a few questions."

                "And they are?"

                "Does Zayn–" I stopped.

                I couldn't just bash lies on Zayn. I froze up right then, not knowing what to say and what to replace my words with, feeling bad just by saying his name and knowing I was about to lie about him.

                Perrie, however, seemed impatient. "Does Zayn...?"

                I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I meant," I said slowly, opening my eyes again. "Does the guy you're with... Is he hot?"

                And she cheered up immediately. "I can send you pictures of us! We're so cute, if you ask me."

                New plan.

                Make her like this guy enough to want to break up with Zayn.

                "Totally! He sounded cute," I fake-gushed, trying to make her more into it. "Imagine if you could just move to the island? Or take him here? Ugh, you guys would be the couple of the century!"

                She hesitated, "You really think so?"

                I smirked – my plan was working! "Of course."

                "Too bad he isn't famous," I barely heard her mutter. "Anyway, I'll send you pictures later, but I've got to go. Talk to you later, twin."

                And then she hung up, making me groan. I was so close! Sighing, I rolled off of the bed, leaving her phone there and pulling out my own phone to text Jem and see what was happening at home. I was currently in my sweatpants and a white tank top that showed some of my tan stomach and my blonde hair was in a bun on the top of my head.

                As I was texting a few minutes later, I felt someone's cold hands slither around my waist, pulling my tank top up an inch more to show more of my stomach. Shocked, I nearly jumped in their arms, turning my head to see a smirking Zayn at me. Eyes wide, I threw the phone on the bed and grinned, happy as ever to see him.

                "Hey!" I chirped excitedly, "What are you doing here?"

                "What, I can't surprise my girlfriend?"

                It was the first time he said it, which also meant it was the first time he said it like that. The way Zayn said 'girlfriend' was the same way I thought of him as a boyfriend – he wasn't actually mine. It was like he suddenly was actually saying that we weren't even really dating, and confirming that this was for publicity and he didn't care about me.