i'll show you

thirty three

hi, talk to me :(

the whole world seems to stop as he stares at perrie.

fuck.

he wasn't planning on seeing her ever again, and if he was, it wasn't supposed to be like this: crammed at a table of 14 and the same guy he cheated on her with is right next to him.

perrie clears her throat. "hey zayn. how've you been?"

zayn sees the other girls finally notice what's going on in the corner of his eye. "good." is all he says.

perrie nods and looks down at her empty plate. "so, which one is he?"

zayn immediately knows what she's asking. zayn never really told her who he cheated on her with, only told her that it was a man.

"uh— it's... liam." zayn stammers.

"what babe?" liam answers to the mention of his name. his eyes soften, though, when he sees perrie.

"our real estate agent." perrie says, more of a statement than a question. her eyes fill with tears and she smiles tightly. she stands up from her seat and hurriedly walks out of the room.

should zayn follow her? this isn't a fucking movie, zayn thinks. but he feels like he has to. zayn rises out of his chair, along with leigh-anne, and follows perrie out of the room.

"i got it." zayn tells leigh-anne as they meet in the middle.

"as if." she scoffs. leigh yells perrie's name just as she's about to walk out the door. she runs after her blonde friend, stopping her from going outside.

zayn doesn't know what she says to her, but they both turn around and look at him at the same time, leaving zayn to stand there awkwardly. perrie nods multiple times, wiping her wet cheeks and pushing her blonde hair behind her ears.

zayn watches as perrie leaves the restaurant. leigh-anne, though, walks back to zayn and sighs. "you can talk to her outside, but just know i'll be watching your every move and if i see or hear you say some dumb shit, i'll–"

"i got it." zayn repeats, suddenly remembering how feisty leigh was. zayn walks out the restaurant in search of his ex girlfriend. ex girlfriend. this was so fucking weird.

perrie was sitting by the fountain that was in front of the restaurant. zayn sits down next to her and folds his hands in his lap.

"i'm sorry. i didn't mean to make a scene." perrie sniffs.

"it's okay." zayn says awkwardly. he regrets following her out here. yeah, he feels bad, but it's just so damn awkward. "listen–"

"how long after we met liam did you guys... start seeing each other?" perrie asks.

"right after." perrie winces, so zayn fixes his response. "no! not like that. i had him show me a few more houses after he showed us those two. i eventually took him on a date and i guess it all escalated from there."

"and he was okay with doing all of that with you when he was fully aware of me?"

zayn chuckles because "no, he refused to do anything with me at the beginning. but like i said, it changed after i took him on that date."

perrie sniffles and nods her head. "i don't think you understand how much you hurt me, zayn." perrie looks at him with tears in her eyes. "you broke me. my career was just starting to pick up and i was able to experience it with my best friends, but it was so hard to be happy about it because of you!"

"perrie–"

"no. i thought i was over it. i worked so hard to get to where i am now. the girls helped me so much and i'll forever love them for it, but then i see you after years with the same guy you cheated on me with!? our fucking real estate agent?"

"it's not like i planned to come to the same restaurant as you."

"it doesn't fucking matter zayn!" perrie yells and stands up. "how would you feel if you were in my shoes?"

zayn has been in her shoes. liam didn't necessarily cheat on him with harry, but it was absolute hell seeing them together.

zayn stands up and pulls her reluctant body close to his chest. he holds the back of her head as she cries. "i'm sorry." he says and kisses the side of her head. "i'm sorry."

they stand there for a minute until perrie slowly stops crying. zayn hears the door to the restaurant open and shut. assuming it's leigh-anne ready to collect her friend, he says, "everything is fine, leigh."

"no, actually uh–" zayn breaks apart from the hug to see liam standing there "i just wanted to make sure everything was alright."

"oh," perrie wipes her eyes for the umpteenth time, "everything's fine. didn't mean to hog your boyfriend."

"perrie–" liam starts.

"it's okay." she chuckles. "i guess i just needed to talk—well cry it out." liam looks at her with remorseful eyes. zayn walks over to him and grabs his hand, carressing his knuckles with his thumb. "you guys are a hot couple by the way. maybe you should do something with that." perrie winks before walking back into the restaurant.

ah, there she is.

"you okay?" liam asks softly.

"more than." zayn says and kisses liam's forehead. liam smiles and pecks zayn's lips, before they walk back in the restaurant as well.

when they get back to the table, perrie is no longer sitting next to zayn. instead, it's jesy. zayn already knows jesy has a lot to say and he prepares himself for it as he sits down. she smirks at him. here we go.

"hey hot stuff. did you like the song?"