Astrid's POV
"So how's everything with the Direction boy?" Max asked smiling sweetly.
I made a gesture that made him realize that things weren't ok.
"Wanna talk about it?" He interrogated me.
"Nothing to talk about, Max. We arranged to talk every day, but for the past week, he has not even answered the texts."
"Have you talked to any of the other Directions?" I denied with the head "Maybe you should, Tri. I hate seeing you sad." He pressed his hand softly against my cheek. If I didn't know that he had a girlfriend, I would have thought that he wanted to kiss me.
"Maybe I should, but I don't feel like it. I don't feel like having another bunch of hot guys ignoring me, you know?" I explained and he nodded.
"When was the Liam's guy birthday again?" He seemed seriously concerned. He was really cute.
"It's tomorrow." I responded dryly.
"Then you're going to salute him as you said you would?" I denied with the head. "Tri, you promised him. He's your fucking idol, you have to do it!"
I denied with the head again.
"You know what, Tri? You said that you would do anything for me since I had gotten you to meet them. You know what I want you to do?" He dared me "Call Liam at 8 pm of today. Call him and be the nicest girl ever. Don't even mention the Zayn guy. Just wish him the bestest of the birthdays. Tell him you love him and fangirl."
"But" I tried to protest.
"No buts. You owe me this, remember?" He winked and smiled "Remember, today at 8."
"But he's in LA anyways! No time change indeed!" I responded and he waived me with the hand.
"Independent to that, you'll salute him UK time, remember?" He winked at me again and then kissed my cheek. "Go to practice, but don't forget to call him at exactly 8 o'clock".
"Okay dad" I joked and he smiled.
"I love you, Astrid." He said and my heart melted. I knew that he didn't mean it as couple kind of love, but I still liked to believe that a guy like Max could fall for me.
"I love you too, Maxi."
***
Snapchat, email, twitter and instagram.
Texts.
So many texts.
At 12:06 (UK time) he finally responded.
"Hey, darling?" He spoke and I smiled. I could tell that he was smiling too.
"Hello Liam Payne" I responded and he cracked out.
"How are you doing?" I hated how nice he could be even though he knew that I was calling to salute him for his birthday.
"I'm doing fairly. How about you?"
"I'm great" He responded.
I smiled, but I was jealous on the inside.
"Well, Liam Payne, I wanted to wish you THE HAPPIEST OF THE BIRTHDAYS EVER" I nearly screamed the last part and the whole campus saw me as if I was a weirdo.
Well, I was.
"THANK YOU" He screamed back in response.
"Any plans for tomorrow?" I asked and he chuckled.
"I love how you actually called me on UK time. Not really, I'll be chilling here in LA. It's a huge bummer that Zayn can't be here though."
What?
"Why isn't Zayn there?" I asked
"Oh. Then he hasn't talked to you?" No shit Sherlock. "He's in England...He had some ... family problems" He expressed and my heart melted "He hasn't called any of us, so don't feel bad." He talked as if he knew exactly what was on my mind.
"Why didn't he tell anyone?"
"Oh, that's my fault that you didn't know about him." I could feel his shame through the phone. I wanted to tell him not to worry, but in reality I wanted to kill him for not telling me "His mom called some nights ago and he had to run".
"Oh" I managed to formulate.
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. I totally forgot. I was on and abouts worrying about the tour that I haven't had time to call anyone. I'm so sorry." He apologized and I could feel he really regretted it.
"It's ok." I forced a smile but then I realized that he wouldn't be able to see me, so I stopped smiling.
Liam and I talked for hours about what had happened since the last time we had seen each other. He told me that he would see Zayn again in two days, up in London, where their first show would be. We fell asleep to each other on the phone. Liam was a sweetie, on the day before his birthday, instead of receiving it with cheer or with a big party; he fell asleep at 10pm.
Well, that was one of my idols and I was proud of him.
Zayn's POV
One word, four letters. Hell.
Nothing could describe the past week better.
Hell.
Not being able to be happy for a single second, a contrast to the week I'd had before.
I've had gone from a plane to the hospital, and days after, I managed to get from that hospital to the plane again. Not that I wanted to be on the road, but there wasn't a higher pain than seeing my little sister suffering like that.
What is even love?
What is even success?
Funny thing, you think you have it all, but then again there're some things you cannot do anything against.
Funny, ironic thing.
The days had passed painfully slowly, with no real sense of time. The same routine every day, tiring. Waiting in the waiting room, hoping to see Safa'a once or twice a day. Some days we couldn't see her at all.
Luckily, with the pass of the days, Safa'a's health started getting better and better and we could get to see her more often than before.
I tried my best to look happy, to cheer her up, but normally I couldn't. She would be happy anyways. Safa'a was the best little girl in the world. Although she wasn't that little anymore, it was clear that she would always be my little girl. My baby sister. I knew that I could trust her with my life and beyond. She was not only my sister, but my confident. My friend.
"So, is she pretty?" Safa'a asked me.
"Yes, very. Even more than that." I responded smiling at Astrid's memory.
"American?" She kept interrogating me and I let a small laugh out.
"Yes, very." She smiled.
"I got that. Your accent is changing." She mocked me.
"It's certainly not, my dear" I tried to sound the Britishest that I could, but only achieved my sister to break down in laugher.
"Yes, you are!" She kept laughing. Her laugh was precious. "From what part of America is she from?"
"She's from Florida but lives near Chicago" I touched her face softly. It was a crime that a baby girl like my sister had to suffer like this.
"Can we go visit her sometime? We could go to DisneyWorld" She clapped her hands "Which reminds me that Perrie and you never took me to Disneyland as you said you would!"
When Perrie and I were dating still, we went to Disneyland in Paris together. My sisters had never been and therefore all of them, but especially Safa'a, got sad that we hadn't brought them. Hence, we had to promise them that we would make another trip to Paris and that we would go with them. Safa'a, unlike Waliyha and Doniya, did not know what had truly happened with Perrie.
Actually, none of them knew what had truly happened with Perrie.
I guess that I didn't want them to feel pity, and most importantly regarding Safa'a, I wanted to protect her of the evilness of the world. I didn't want her to believe (or to know) that someone like Perrie, who had been so close to her, and even been considered part of her family, was capable of doing something as mean as what she did.
I wanted to protect her of the evil. She was too young for that.
"Sure we can go" I touched her hair and smiled. If I were able to give the world to this little one, I would do it.
"When will you see her again?" Safa'a changed the topic and I made a gesture with my mouth.
"I don't really know, darling. She lives far away, you know?" I touched her head and kissed it.
"But Zaynie" She tried to speak and I smiled.
"Princess?"
"I want you to be with her!" She protested and I let a small laugh
"I want that too, princess. But, sadly enough sometimes the things aren't how we want them to be."
"That's not fair!" She frowned.
"I know it isn't. I know it isn't"
I certainly knew that life wasn't fair at all.