One Division

Prologue - All Alone

 Prologue – All Alone

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Couldn’t blame you, cuz I know I left you all alone.

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“You’re breaking my heart!” Happy cried out, her lip quivering slightly.

“I know, I know, Hap, but look at it this way. At least I gave you some notice so you can take up that other job offer before it expires.” David shrugged apologetically.

Happy nodded, as a sad smile flicked on the edge of her face. She didn’t like change, never had, never would. Change around her usually required change within, and she liked who she was, she was used to it. Little tweaks always put her in a bad mood, and this was a major tweak. But maybe, a certain somebody would be able to get over this extreme change that much faster.

Giving David her best pout, she said, “If I had known that getting married would make you shut down the club, I would’ve never introduced you to Lisa in the first place.”

David’s eyes lightened at the mention of his fiancée, and Happy could practically see the bubbles floating to his brain from the sheer happiness of mentioning him. When he opened his mouth to respond, she cut him off with a hand.

“Oh save it, you sap. I can practically see the rainbows you’re going to puke at me! Go get your lovey-dovey butt over to your lady.”

David scoffed and went to ruffle Happy’s caramel hair. “Like you’re one to talk about being in love, Haps.”

As an instinctual reaction to the thought of her boyfriend, Happy’s cheeks flooded with color and the smile on David’s face soon spread to hers, but it took on a far more embarrassed tone, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, you crazy.”

“Sure you don’t,” David played along sarcastically, leaning against the bar. “That’s why you don’t spend every spare moment you have texting him or calling him or video chatting him. Oh and who picks you up after your shift every day? Would that be Za-”

“Ok, Mr. Know-It-All! I get the point.” Happy grumbled, trying to keep her face angered and pensive, but her eyes still managed to sparkle brightly. The thought of Zayn always managed to do that to her.

David reached over the mahogany counter to pinch her nose affectionately, “Just want you to be happy, Haps.”

“I am Happy.” She quipped lightly as she shrugged her jacket on. “It kind of comes in the description.”

“Ok, smartass. Get out of here. I just wanted you to come over so I could tell you the news in person.” David whipped the towel he was holding at her lightly, his brow furrowed in fake annoyance.

Happy held her hands up in surrender, backing away from the counter as she shrugged her light peacoat on, fastening the belt around her tiny waist. “Fine! I’m out of here!”

“Bye, Haps! Love you! See you tomorrow, remember we’re opening early for our last day!” David called faintly to her retreating back.

Happy only waved an arm in response, signifying that she’d heard, tossing her hair up into a casual ponytail. Every time David said he loved her when she left, and every time she found a different way to respond to him without saying it back. She was afraid of the power those three… or four… little words could have over a person. You couldn’t take them back, you couldn’t hide from them. When she finally said those three words, it’d be sometime very special. To someone equally as special.

Right away, her mind flew to her boyfriend, Zayn Malik. To Happy, he was the epitome of something special. She had heard about him before she’d met him, that he was a player, a bad boy, that he cheated on his ex-girlfriend with some waitress at a club. Most of all, she heard rumors of his disrespect towards women. It’s what she’d reminded herself of when Victoria had thrown her under the bus all those years ago and made her wait on Zayn. But she couldn’t be more grateful to God or serendipity or fate for whatever force had let his phone fall out of his pocket in the booth, and for her to be the one to find it during the clean up after closing time.

Zayn had proven her wrong from the start, since he showed up looking sheepish at the Starbucks they’d met up to exchange the phone. He had shuffled in fully looking the part of a guilty school boy, an embarrassed smile on his face, and he had sat down with her and truly talked to her. No meaningless small talk or awkward silence. Companionable talking. The kind of guy Happy had heard about would’ve grabbed the phone with a quiet thank you and disappeared back into his celebrity, A-List life, leaving the little nobody feeling lucky to have met someone so famous. But he had decided to stay with her, hadn’t touched the phone he left once, and they’d had an adventure in the city they were both new in. When at the end of the night, he gave her a cheesy line about needing her phone number as insurance in case there was any damage to his iPhone, she knew that this boy was going to play a pretty big role in her life.

Her brown ankle boots clipped smartly down the sidewalk as she instinctually checked her phone. Scrolling to the bottom, she could read all the texts Zayn usually sent her after work:

Smile, you’re beautiful. Just your daily reminder xx

Wanna meet up later? I read of this new place that makes macaroons, I know how much you love them xx

Let’s Skype tonight. I miss your beautiful face xx

Just saw a girl wearing a dress like the one you wore on our last date and thought of you. We should have another one soon xx

But today, her inbox was heartbreakingly empty. Happy shrugged it off, pulling her coat a little tighter around her as if to remember the feeling of Zayn’s hug. He had been a little distant the past few days, but she wasn’t one of those clingy, overbearing girlfriends that needed to know where her boyfriend was all the time. Happy just chalked it up to being a little more busy because the tour was coming up in less than a week.

At the thought of Zayn being away from her for so long, Happy’s heart sank a little bit. But the day was still young, and she picked up her phone. Placing a call, she received a bored response from a female receptionist.

“Hello? Yes, I’m Happy Ewton. I was offered a position as Victoria Castillo’s gopher girls on the One Direction Just Stay Tour. On what day can I come in to sign the contracts?”

The rest of the week was spent at the Syco offices prepping her for the tour, outlining responsibilities, and finding endless amounts of paperwork for her to sign. The only thing she had asked of them was that they not tell Zayn or any of the One Direction members about it. She wanted to surprise them that first day when she showed up in their dressing room.

Finally on the last day of the week, Happy only had to come in to sign one more contract: A confidentiality agreement. Basically that whatever went on behind the scenes on tour, stayed there. Her bags were all packed for six months of touring, and she had maintained radio silence with Zayn, which scarily wasn’t hard. Her phone had only buzzed and rang from Victoria, David, and her other friends. Not once did she hear You Found Me by The Fray, Zayn’s personal ringtone on her phone.

That set off warning signs in her head that something wasn’t right, but she ignored them steadfastly, telling herself that they’d get to spend plenty of time together during the tour. The thought of being able to see him in his element nearly every night kept her satisfied and happy and blind.

Her hand was cramping as she exited the office, and she was just absorbed in getting home and double and triple checking that she had everything. As she pressed the elevator button, rolling her neck, and shutting her eyes that were swimming with legal terms, she could hear her name being called faintly in the distance.

“Zayn!” She cried out happily as he neared. A part of her worried about him figuring out why she was there, but the rest of her didn’t care. This was the first time she’d seen him in far too long, and the golden flecks in her eyes came out like little suns, just like they always had when she saw him.

Little did she know, as her lips went to meet his and yet only touched his cheek, that in the next few minutes those golden suns may be extinguished forever.

***

And so it begins! Book Two of the One Collision Series. There will be some familiar faces popping up in the next chapter! Don't worry.

xx, Victoria