'Red suits you btw.'

33.

Friday.
Alex.
Coming home to an empty house was never thrilling for Alex. He didn't like the silence, broken just by the echoing of his own steps and the occasional barks from his puppies.
He turned the key in the door and was immediately greeted by Otis and Leo. After petting them and feeding them, Alex put his dirty laundry in the washing machine and went upstairs to have a shower. As he did every day that week, he got straight into bed to watch a bit of TV before falling asleep. It had been six whole days since he last spoke to Perrie but he was still confused about the whole situation. She respected his wish not to call or text him, but Alex was slightly disappointed about it: the truth was that not even him knew what he really wanted. Now he had to face another dilemma: deciding if he wanted to see her or not that weekend.
He dreamt of her everyday that week.
Once they were home making dinner together and Alex was jokingly telling Perrie off for feeding some of it to the dogs.
Another time, Alex dreamt of Perrie in the bath, lots of candles lit and lots of bubbles. He always found really hot the way she laid in the bath with her hair up to avoid getting it wet and her arms out of the water.
But the best dream was the one he had the night before: he couldn't remember much apart from the fact that they were both at home in Manchester and they were painting a room in a delicate pastel pink.
Alex thought that was his subconscious telling him he wanted a a baby girl.
Maybe what his subconscious was really trying to tell him was that he wasn't really angry at Perrie.
He knew he couldn't stay mad forever.

Alex has been tossing and turning in his bed for hours that night, unable to fall asleep.
He picked his phone up to check the time. It was 1.50am and he decided to have a look at Instagram to catch up with the world, considering he had been trying to avoid anything and anyone in the last couple of days. As he passively looked through his friends stories, he came across Ellie's one. The video she posted was quite dark but he could recognise Perrie's bedroom and Perrie's eyes shining bright in the dark. That was the first thing he saw or heard about her in days. The video was captioned 'Another sleepless night for us zzz'.
Alex, although hated the fact his girlfriend wasn't happy, found comfort knowing Perrie felt the same way he did. He also hated to admit it, but he was glad she wasn't with Zayn.
It took a split second to make a decision: he quickly got dressed and walked downstairs, called the dogs and put them in the car.
He was going to London to sort things out.

Perrie.
'Alex watched my story.'
'It's not like him to be awake at this time.'
'Maybe he can't sleep just like you haven't slept in the past six days!'
Perrie looked at her phone.
'Don't do that to yourself. You can't keep on checking your phone every five minutes babe.'
Perrie knee Ellie was right but all she could think about was Alex and the fact he still didn't call her.
She tapped on his name on her phone so many times on the last week, starter to type something, then quickly deleting it. She really wanted to give him some space as she knew she was in the wrong.
'It's been a week and he's still MIA. I don't know how long I can resist Ellie. If only he'd let me explain...'
Ellie sighed. 'I'm sure he will call you at some point this weekend and that he's finding hard too but you really need to stop obsessing over it. And you really need to rest! Do you want me and Hatchi to stay with you in your bed tonight?'
'That'd be great. Thanks Ellie.'
'Anytime.'

Alex.
Alex has been driving for hours with no sleep and the tiredness was starting to kick in. It was almost six o'clock when he finally arrived in London. He could feel his eyes becoming heavier and heavier as he parked the car. He stood in front of the burgundy door starting to wonder if he was doing the right thing or if that would have messed things up even more.
After a couple of loud knocks, the door finally opened.
'What are you doing here?'
'We need to have a chat, man to man.'
'What time is it?'
'Are you gonna let me in or what?'
Zayn tolled his eyes and let Alex in.

[Soooo guys! My laptop officially gave up on me this morning so I had to copy the chapter onto my phone to publish it, apologies if there's any typos! As you can tell, I really don't want to finish this story lol but I'll have too in the next few days, the only thing is that the last few chapters will be published in the evening instead of in the morning as I'm back at work tomorrow! Enjoy xxx]