Phantasmagoria (Ziall)

Chapter 1

There he sat, senior, Zayn Malik. He gave off this tough vibe, but I knew the real him. I had grown up with him as my next door neighbor. We would play together. Ride bikes together. Our families would even have dinners together. Everything we did before high school was together. But when high school came around, everything changed. 

Our high school was a combination of three middle schools. Our district was huge, which meant that we met a lot of new and different people once freshman year hit. Zayn went his way and I went mine, but we are still neighbors, so I know him.

He’s not so tough. He’s a normal guy. Most people, including his friends don’t even know that he likes guys. Yeah, he’s gay. He was hidden way in the back of the closet, but still gay. How did I know that? Well, I know only because he kissed me to find out for himself. 

So yeah, I know Zayn Malik. The hot shot senior with a cool attitude. I know him well and he knows me. But he found new friends and didn’t have time for me anymore. He had Louis and Liam, while I had Harry. Our separated friend groups hardly interacted with one another. So when Zayn approached me after school, I was a bit surprised. 

“Niall, wait up!” Zayn caught me just before I could get in my car and drive home. He jogged up to my car and smiled. I turned to face him and raised a querying eyebrow at him.

“Do you need a ride home?” I asked. It was the only logical reason I could think of for Zayn stopping me in the parking lot. I mean, we were neighbors. He had a car, but maybe it broke down or got a flat or something. 

He shook his head. “Nah, man. Thanks thought. I actually just wanted to ask you a question.” He nonchalantly leaned on the side of my car and dug around in his pockets. He pulled out a carton of cigarettes and tapped one from the box.  I grimaced. Smoking was one of those bad habits Zayn had picked up in high school. 

But he wanted to ask me a question? I blushed at the thought since, yeah, I had a thing for Zayn. Ever since that kiss. Ever since we had known each other I had always liked Zayn. And it was more than just a friendly gesture. No, my heart physically throbbed for him. 

“U-Uh sure. Go ahead.” I stammered, leaning against my car to look cool. It probably failed. I was far from cool. 

“So the boys and I were thinking about taking a little trip to the lake this weekend.” He nudged me and I gave him a shy smile. By “the boys” he meant Louis and Liam, and probably their girlfriends. Oh, and did I mention? Zayn has a girlfriend. She’s a cover up most likely, but the poor girl probably doesn’t even know. Her name is Perrie. She’s sort of a bomb shell and I can admit that I am jealous of her. Not because she’s beautiful. I’m not too bad for a guy, but because she’s with him. I had zoned out by the time Zayn reached the end of his question. “So?”

“Hmm?” I shook my thoughts away. “Sorry. What was that?”

“I was wondering if you and Harry wanted to go. It’s just gonna be a guys trip. The girls were going to some spa, I don’t know. I’ll never understand them.” Zayn puffed on his cigarette and blew the smoke away from me. “Women, you know…” He sighed and gave me this sad look. 

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand them.” I gave him a knowing look and he just chuckled. “What?”