Storms {z.m.}

Chapter 1

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Zayn

I put the glow-in-the-dark stars up when I was eleven. I never took them down even though they started to look a little odd in contrast with the posters of bands and singers that I plastered on the walls when I was fifteen or so.

I hadn't thought of it much since I had only slept in my own bedroom a handful of times since X Factor happened. Ever since the audition it had been rehearsals and a different hotel every night. Touring the country, then the continent, then the world. Sold out arenas, millions of pounds in merchandise, and seeing the thousands of fans every night screaming out “One Direction.” It had taken a toll on my relationship with my family since I hardly got to see them, but it took an even greater toll on my relationship with the love of my life, Perrie.

“Zayn, it's quarter eleven. Are you going to get up soon?” the familiar sound of my mum's voice entered my dark room. A sliver of light from the hallway entered with and flashed into my eyes. I turned over onto my side which was enough of a response for my mother who sighed and shut the door, leaving my room completely dark except for the glow-in-the-dark stars.

Perrie and I had become engaged last August. It was the peak of my life. My heart swelled up with joy when I saw our fans singing along to the songs we worked so hard to write for them, but whenever Perrie so much as hummed one of my lines, my heart ached in a beautiful way. I was just a boy from Bradford and I'd scored the lottery with this girl. She was my everything.

Then on the last day of out Where We Are Tour I got a call from her manager.

“Zayn, how are you babe?” she said in her thick American accent.

“I am well, how are you Lora?” I replied while rubbing my eyes in the back of the tour bus as it left the stadium. The boys were all in the front of the bus playing FIFA 2014.

“I'm good. Listen, there's gonna be a story hitting the press tomorrow morning about Perrie cheating on you with Nathan from The Wanted, or whatever. Don't worry about it, it's all lies. You know how the press gets when a couple is separated by time zones, they have to invent something. I'm taking care of it. Just wanted to give ya a heads up. Love you, babe. Muah!” she said non-chalantly.

I didn't think much of it. Rumors like that had happened before and they would continue to happen. The tabloids needed to feed the insatiable hunger of the British public for fabricated drama about their favorite celebrities. Normally Perrie would call me to let me know about this kind of thing, but I know she was probably busy recording Little Mix's new album.

The next day, I woke up to an outrageous amount of emails and tweets about my fiancee's cheating. As I scrolled through, I saw a photograph of Nathan with a beautiful blonde that resembled Perrie. I could see why people would think this was her. On closer inspection, I noticed the blonde had a large diamond ring on her left hand. And her left hand was position awfully close to his crotch. He was kissing her neck.

I scrolled to find more pictures until I could find a clear, high quality one. I had been propping myself upright on my elbow, but once I saw that it was clearly Perrie, my arm collapsed under me. I imagined my heart breaking would hurt, but it was just an intense feeling of numbness. I couldn't feel anything. The blood coursing through my veins may as well have stopped coursing for all I knew. I couldn't move my body, but then again I wasn't trying.

That's my girl. That's my girl with another man. The girl that I gave everything to. The girl that I spent a whole tour's worth of pay on to buy her the most lavish engagement ring I could find. That was my girl.

“Zayn, I saw the...are you alright, mate?” Liam asked, his hand on my bare shoulder. I don't know how long I'd been looking up at the blank ceiling of the hotel. I could see the worry on his face. I shook my head and he squeezed my shoulder and told me if I needed anything he would have his cell on. Harry, Niall, and Louis made their rounds too. I was too dumbfounded to speak, so I just shook my head. Perrie didn't call me that day. I just laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. Much like I'm planning on doing today, Day 3 of this whole process they call being brokenhearted.