Paranoia (Zayn Malik) (editing)

Chapter 18: Car Seat Secrets

Luna's POV

"You have so much fucking explaining to do!" Zoey is practically growling, she has a grip on my wrist so tight I'm scared she might snap it as she drags me into the women's toilets.

"I know," I do my best not to stumble forward as we barge through the door "I'm sorry, Zoey."

"Sorry?! You disappeared for half a fucking year and no one would give me any answers as to where you had gone, even Tiago has stopped answering my calls!" She is on a line of concerned and furious and I don't know which to address first as my back presses against the blue tiles behind me "Then, you show up in a blue fucking Cadillac kissing a stranger!"

"Thunderbird." I absentmindedly correct her.

"What?" Her face is twisted in absolute confusion.

"It's a Ford Thunderbird, not a Cadillac."

"Fuck off, Luna."

"I'm sorry!" I grab her hand, trying to defuse the bomb that is Zoey in front of me "Zoey, I'll answer all of your questions."

Her nostrils are flared, jaw tensed as her electric green eyes scan over me. Her chest is rising and falling rapidly and I flinch as her arm moves slightly, anticipating a slap across the face.

Instead, she throws her arms around me, pulling me into an embrace I didn't realise I needed so badly. I hug her back, gripping onto her tightly as she begins to sob into my shoulder.

"I've been so worried about you." Her voice is trembling.

"I'm so sorry, Zoey." My knuckles must be white with how hard I am holding her dress in my fists.

"Where have you been?" She pulls back, wiping her eyes.

Zayn had walked me through the story I would relay to Zoey, he couldn't run the risk of me being bad at improv, as he so poetically put it.

"It's complicated." I sigh "My mum, she was involved in some stuff..."

"Stuff? She was a baker."

"The bakery was a front, a drug kingpin used it for money laundering." I recite the lines Zayn fed to me over and over again "The people she ran with, they're after money... money we don't have."

"Holy shit." Her face has dropped, but remains somewhat critical, as if she was expecting to say something else, like there is an answer I'm not giving her that she was anticipating.

"Zayn, the stranger with the car, he's the son of one of my mum's old friends. I've moved in with him to lay low, they want me specifically because my mother left all her belongings in my name, figuring my dad would leave all his to Tiago and Cara, given he always had more than her. Of course, he's burnt through that with alcohol but that's not relevant right now."

"Jesus, Luna, I had no idea." Her words feel rehearsed.

I hate to be skeptical of her, but something feels off.

"Neither did I. I wanted to tell you when I left, but I didn't know what to say. It's all so... confusing."

She leans against the sink, back facing the mirror "Is there anything I can do? I could lend you some money?"

"No, the police are getting involved." I lower my voice to a whisper "It's going to be OK, I'm just going to keep staying with Zayn for now."

Her interest is piqued, eyes flashing wider at the mention of his name "Zayn. The stranger you were kissing."

My body takes advantage of being out of Zayn's vicinity to blush freely "Yes."

"Does this mysterious stranger you're living with happen to be your boyfriend?"