Thinking Out Loud ➵zauren

Chapter 19

*4 weeks later*

Lauren felt a sharp pain in her back as she woke up and turned to find Taylor's knee against it. Sleeping with her little sister the past couple weeks had been almost unbearable. Lauren had forgotten how much Taylor moved around at night when she slept; the worst night was in Cuba when she literally kicked Lauren off the tiny bed they shared in their families house. Taylor still somehow managed to be all over Lauren even now as they shared a queen sized bed in their hotel in Jamaica. Lauren sat up and straightened out her sisters body; on top of the fact she moved around like a mad woman, Taylor was a very deep sleeper, so she had no idea she was bugging Lauren. She hadn't even budged a muscle as Lauren moved her.

Lauren picked up the teddy bear Zayn gave her off the bed and stood up, seeing that Chris was also still sleeping. She grabbed her phone off the nightstand before making her way to the balcony of the hotel room she was sharing with her siblings. She closed the sliding glass door behind her and sat down on one of the chairs. Lauren squeezed the teddy bear and inhaled Zayn's cologne that she had doused it in before leaving. She looked at the inked Z on her right wrist and ran her finger over it. The past couple weeks had been hard after being pretty much inseparable with Zayn since they had met in December. She hadn't really been able to email him much while she was in Cuba, maybe three times total for the two weeks she was there and calls from Cuba to the United States were way too expensive so Lauren figured she'd wait till she got to Jamaica and had access to wifi at the hotel. Thankfully, she and Zayn both have iPhones and the miracle of iMessage could work off of wifi only. Still, this didn't mean much since the wifi only worked in the actual room and Lauren was only there in the morning, when she took her pill, and at night before going to sleep. They would talk for a bit at those times but sometimes Zayn was busy, whether it be that he was at work or practicing with his team, etc. The most recent busy day for him was the day he was moving into the apartment he had found with Harry down by the university. Zayn had sent Lauren some pictures and the apartment looked very nice and cozy, she couldn't wait to see it in person.

With the last couple days of her vacation approaching Lauren was yearning to hear the voice of the guy she loved after almost a month of going without it, so the night before she bought a calling card and was going to call Zayn now. Thankfully it was Sunday so Zayn probably wasn't doing much but sleeping right now.

Lauren pulled the card out from behind her phone case and dialed the access number before being prompted to enter the pin on the card. She then dialed Zayn's number and heard the phone begin to ring. As it rang, she felt butterflies fill her stomach, probably out of excitement.

"Babe?" Lauren heard Zayn's beautifully accented and sleepy voice come in through the phone.

"You don't know how good it feels to finally hear your voice," Lauren smiled.

"Am I dreaming?" Zayn questioned.

"No, it's me," Lauren laughed.

"Oh my god, it's so good to hear that laugh. How are you calling?" Zayn asked, he sounded a bit sick, like maybe he had a cold or something.

"I bought a calling card; I couldn't go another day without hearing your voice. I miss you so much Zayn, you don't even know," Lauren sighed.

"I have a feeling I do," Zayn responded before coughing.

"Are you sick?" Lauren wondered.

"Yeah, I woke up a little sick, but I'm okay. What about you, how are you, how's everyone?" Zayn replied.

"We're good, I just woke up now. Let me tell you, although Taylor is a heavy sleeper like you, it's no where near as comfy sleeping with her as it is with you. I'm surprised I'm not covered in bruises," Lauren stated making Zayn laugh, "Anyways, Chris and Taylor are still asleep, and my parents probably are too; they're in the room next to us. How's the independent living going?"