The Pianist - One Direction

Chapter 40

Zayn and I hadn't really broken up, so technically I supposed we were still together. We just hadn't talked for about a week. I remembered how I had ignored him at the beginning of the tour because I didn't want to face my feelings towards him. It felt like a lifetime ago. It was just a couple of months. It was painful not talking to him then. I had no words for this feeling.

I noticed how Jared said something to Steven. I didn't try to hear what he said but Steven didn't ask why I was hiding in there nor did he try to talk to me. I got my silence and for that I was very thankful to Jared.

Soon, the two of them had to leave. Jared left the room with an easy smile and a nod to me. Steven put on his jacket and got his phone that had been plugged in the wall. He paused just as he was to close the door and looked at me.

"Hey, Belle?"

"Yeah?" I answered, curious about what he was going to say.

"I read a poem recently. I quite like 'em. 'Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.' Maybe that can make you feel a tiny bit better about whatever it is that's bothering you. Just don't tell people 'bout the poems, yeah?" And with those words he left the room.

+++++

It was the morning after that concert. We were going to drive to our next destination at 11 am. After trying to fall back to sleep for about half an hour, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't get any more sleep. I got my phone from underneath my pillow and saw that it was 8.30. in the morning.

The last time I had something to eat was before the concert the day before so I was starving. I climbed out of my bed fast - I had actually gotten way better on that - and got a hoodie over my T-shirt, a pair of pants and shoes before I sneaked to the front of the bus. I opened the door and leaned against the door when I closed it, making it as quiet as possible, and exhaled slowly.

It was cold outside. I held my arms around my upper body in a try to keep the warmth. Then I noticed a figure behind the bus that were parked beside ours. Zayn stood with his back towards me taking a smoke. He hadn't heard me so I kept walking. He would probably see me in a few seconds but for right then I could secretly admire how his hair was a complete mess and how he let the smoke flow out of his mouth. Making it look like he breathed out grey oxygen rather than blew out smoke.

He had only smoked a couple of times lately, because he knew I didn't like it and he said I made him less stressed so he didn't need them as much. It felt like it was my fault he was going back to old habits. Hell, it was my fault.

I turned my back against him and walked towards busier streets. After a fifteen-minute walk I found a place that served breakfast. I was greeted by a very sweet lady with a strong accent around the age of 50. She gave me a plastic menu with their options and showed where I could sit. Except for a younger man inside the kitchen, I was alone with this lady in the restaurant.

''Coffee?'' She asked and started pouring a cup with her back towards me. My face was in my hands and I looked up at her with a tired smile as she reached me. "Sure."

As she put the steaming cup in front of me, I thought about how Zayn had slept in their bus and not on a hotel. He had been so close to me the entire night. I wondered if he also had thought about the short distance we had between each other when we slept. It was far longer than I wanted to. I wanted to sleep next to him. But it was far better knowing he was ten seconds away, rather than ten minutes.

''You look upset, lady.'' The woman said. Risha, it stood on her name tag. I blinked and looked at her. She was very short and had black hair with strays of grey in a bun.