Sweetest Goodbye

Chapter Six

~Chapter Six~

*Zayn's POV*

Liam and I are sitting on a whitesand beach, the water is a brilliant blue that if I wasn't seeing it in person, I would think it was fake. Somehow we are the only people on the entire beach, and I'm definitely enjoying it. Liam has his arm wrapped around my torso, pulling us closer together than we've been in weeks.

"C'mon Zayn! Let's go for a swim!" Liam hops up from our position on the beach and starts dragging me towards the water.

"Liam! I'd really rather not!" I try to pull against Liam, but he is too strong. "Seriously Liam! Stop it!"

"Awww! Stop being such a baby!" We're almost to the water.

We reach the water, surprisingly warm, and Liam continues to pull us farther and farther in; I'm fighting against him the entire time.

"I can't touch anymore!"

"It's not that big of a deal! Just start to swim!" With that piece of advice, Liam lets go of my hand.

"Liam I can't swim!" I start flopping around in the water trying to stay afloat. "Liam help me!"

The last thing I see before I going under is Liam's cold stare.

He doesn't even care.

And just as I feel as if I'm about to run out of oxygen-

I wake up with a tortured scream, a cold sweat in a thin layer covering my entire body. The other half of our bed is cold and empty, but I hear a rustling sound coming from the other side of the bedroom door, and then the telltale creak of the door opening.

"Zayn? Zayn are you okay?" Liam whispers into our bedroom door.

Still in shock from the dream, all I can manage is a whimper of a reply. Liam crawls into our bed and pulls me into his lap. "Shhhhh. Baby, it's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay."

I bury my head into Liam's shoulder. He starts singing what I dimly recognize as an Ed Sheeran song. I don't know how long he sang to me, but soon I fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up alone.

I haven't gotten much done today, unless lying in bed and watching old sappy movies counts for something. Last night, if it actually happened (I'm not 100% sure... it might've been a dream), made me believe that my Liam had come back, the one that cuddled me to sleep every night, the one that would come up behind me and surprise me with a kiss, the one that I loved.

At about 11 o'clock I get a telephone call from Niall. "Yeah Niall?"

"Well?! Have you talked to him yet?" I don't answer. "Zayn! You need to tell me if I need to kick ass or not!"

"No, no not yet. I haven't talked to him about it yet."

"I know you don't want to. It's not something anybody wants to talk about. But whether it's happening or not, you need to talk to him about the fact that you don't trust him anymore."

"I do trust him! It's just that-." I can't think of an explanation.

"Do you? Do you really? Zayn, if you really trusted him, truly, without-a-doubt trusted him, you wouldn't suspect him of this."

"I'm not sure, I mean I really don't think Liam would ever do anything like that, he's Liam for crying out loud! He cries during Disney movies!"

"God dammit Zayn! He might be cheating on you! And if you don't talk to him about it, I will!"

"Really Niall!? You hardly know what's going on!"

"I know enough to know that my bestfriend could get hurt." He pauses for a short time. "Talk to him. Soon."

"But-"

"I'm serious." And with that Niall hangs up on me.

I know I need to talk to him. I know I shouldn't be scared of how he answers, because the Liam I know would never do anything to hurt anybody, let alone me. Of course, the Liam I know also wouldn't simply ignore me for several days in a row either.

I'm going to make a deal with myself. If Liam gets home before 6 o'clock, then I won't talk to him about it. If he gets home after that... well, I'll cross that road when I get to it.

The rest of the day ticks by at a snail's pace. I try to get little things done around the house, just to try to help the time pass by faster, but I'm getting very little actually accomplished. Working on any kind of art is completely out of the question, I'm too anxious, too depressed, anything I tried to do would probably look like complete shit.

Now it's 5, and I've completely given up on getting anything done. This is when MY Liam would be getting home, he'd be walking through the door with a smile on his face. He'd be talking about what he had gotten done today at work, he'd ask if anything exciting happened during my day. He'd ask to see the projects I had worked on, and I would refuse to let him see them until they were done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up on the couch, and it's 7:38. As soon as I see the time I scramble off of the couch, and go to check if his shoes are in the house.

They aren't.

I'm going to have to confront him.

I can't let him do this to me.

I deserve better than this.

I don't have to cry anymore. Not over this.

I just need to know. I need to know if he still loves me. And I need to know if I still love him.

At 8 o'clock, the door opens. Liam strolls casually into the living room, surprised to see me sitting up with completely serious expression. "We need to talk."

A sad expression goes across Liam's face. He takes a seat next to me one the couch, but he's careful not to get too close. "Ok then. Talk." He hasn't looked me in the eyes yet.

"I want to know what you've been doing."

"Wait. What?"

"You've been getting home late every single night, even on days where you don't work. I need to know what you've been doing."

He looks slightly guilty. "We've... we've been busy at work. I've told you that. I'm just stressed out. It's not a huge deal."

It's quiet for almost an entire minute.

"Liam?" I wait for him to look up at me before I continue. "I need you to answer this question truthfully."

"Ok."

"Have you been cheating on me?"

He quickly stands up as soon as he's processed what I had said. "WHAT! That's what you think I've been doing! What would make you even suspect that! Do you even know me at all!!!!!"

I stand up too. "You know what! I don't know if I do anymore! I thought I did, I thought I knew you better than I know myself. But you're not you anymore Liam. And you haven't been for weeks now!"

"I can't believe that you think I would do that." Liam's voice has calmed slightly, and he sits back down on the couch. He puts his head into his hands. "What's wrong with me Zayn?" He chokes back a sob. "I've been such an asshole."

"Yeah, you kind of have." I sit down next to him, and I place my hand on his shoulder.

"I'm going to make it up to you. Let me have a chance to make it up to you." I don't answer him. "Please? Zayn, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, I don't know what I would do without you. Please, let me try to fix this?"

"Okay."

As we're laying in bed that night, cuddled up the way we used to, I realize something.

Liam never actually gave me a straight answer.

~End of Chapter Six~

Dedicated this to @intoyour_arms for being a fun person that I talk to occasionally (although I forget to check for new messages as often as I should *looks ashamed*)