I'll be there for you
These five words I swear to you
When you breathe I wanna be the air for you
I'll be there for you
Zayn's POV
"Okay babe, come here." I told Astrid who was now tidying my room "it doesn't need to be organized. I can survive with a dirty room, but I can't survive without you" I sounded the cheesiest that I could, causing her to giggle and to join me in my bed.
"Today was amazing." She said once I was hugging her.
"Yes it was" I smiled "But only because you were there"
"I bet that anyone could have made it be pretty awesome." She stated and I rolled my eyes.
"Nope" I kissed the back of her head and she chuckled. I could feel her soft hair on my face and it made me smile. I could tell that she was smiling, even though I couldn't see her face. I felt it coming, but this time it didn't come like vomit. It came beautifully, like a soft, perfect love story. I needed to let it out. While I was considering whether to say it or not, my tongue worked before my brain could decide. "Hell, Astrid, I love you".
And then it started.
She moved without being able to control her body. She started getting off the hug rudely, as if she wanted to get off it, and she wanted to get off it now.
I had fucked it up.
"What's wrong?" I asked naively, although I already knew the answer.
"Let me go" she almost screamed, making me let go off the hug. She proceeded to get out of the bed and sit on the edge.
"What happened?" I asked and sat next to her.
"Nothing, Zayn" she responded annoyed. I could feel her tears coming out.
What the fuck had I done wrong?
"But I think that it's better if I go to my room now" she said to which she stood up.
"No, love, stay" I plead but she didn't obey. Instead, she opened the door and without turning around pronounced.
"Please don't follow me, I'll see you tomorrow"
"Okay" I said sadly and grabbed her hand "I'll pick you up at eight, okay?" I asked to which she nodded. "Night babe" I tried to kiss her cheek, but she quickly looked at the ground.
"Night, Zayn"
Sophia's POV
The LA gala had been amazing. We had had fun and also raised a lot of money for charity. We got to the hotel early, but everyone seemed to be tired, so each of them went to their respective rooms. Li and I weren't as tired, so we had chilled in the pool for a while. When we were going to our room, a heartbreaking scene faced us. Tri was running out of Zayn's room. As soon as she closed the door, she broke up in tears.
"Tri" I shouted, "What did that asshole do?" I got closer to her and hugged her. She didn't say a word, but just cried. Li took her room's key and opened the door; we then entered and sat on the bed.
"Tri, please talk" Liam had his hands on his head; he didn't know what to do. Tri just sobbed and sobbed, making him and I grow preoccupied.
But what could Malik do anyways? He loved her, and wouldn't be able to hurt her or anything.
"I'll go hit that asshole" Li finally said, to which Tri finally spoke, or better said screamed.
"NO! HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING" She reached to pronounce in between sobs.
"What happened then?" I asked while Liam relaxed. He laid on the bed, but still had his hands on his face.
For some reason, Tri had become our little sister and we somehow felt the imminent reason to protect her.
"He didn't do anything wrong" He finally confirmed a bit calmer. "He just said that he loved me"
Liam immediately sat down and both of our jaws dropped to the ground.
"Well, that's amazing!" I exclaimed happily, to which Tri's tears intensified.
"Okay, Tri" Liam touched her hair softly and pulled her into a hug. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked to which Tri didn't respond.
"I should talk it out." She stated letting a final sob out. "Although it's really hard"
"Okay" I hugged her too "But you have to calm down. We're here with you, just don't freak out"
"It'll take some time though" She sighed and Liam and I sat right next to her.
"Time is our friend" Liam retorted cheesily making both of us let a small giggle out.
"Well..."She started
Astrid's POV
Flashback
It was Michael's and I's one-year anniversary. Our relationship had had ups and downs, as always. More downs than ups, to be honest, but I exaggerated the ups and forgot the downs. I loved him, without a single doubt. I saw him as the perfect gentleman that I had never had, the perfect gentleman that I never thought I deserved.
During the first months things had been great. We had lived the fairytale story, in which boy meets girl and they seem to head to live happily ever after, but then it changed. He changed. I didn't know why.
He didn't like surprises: neither giving nor receiving them. He had told me that we wouldn't do anything for our anniversary, so I believed him. I really wanted to do something special, but I knew that there was no use in trying to convince him.
"Sweety pie" He said as he entered my house. My parents trusted him so much that they had given him my house's key. Of course that my parents weren't aware of Michael's behavior in the last months. Mom started to suspect, but of course that she wouldn't see it. She was never home anyways.
I, however, was madly in love with that boy. That boy that sometimes ignored me at school. That boy who sometimes denied me. I was in love with him.
"Hey Mikey" I responded, to which he approached me and kissed me.
"Happy one year anniversary!" He said handing me a small bag. I looked at it baffled.
"You remembered" I opened my mouth. As he had been acting weirdly in the last weeks, I doubted even if we were still together.
"Of course" He kissed me again "How would I forget my anniversary?" He responded "Open it" He pointed at the bag and I followed his instructions to only be faced with a beautiful bracelet with a small charm.
"I love you" I read what was encrypted on the small charm. "It's beautiful"
"Well, it is true" He looked at me. "I love you, Astrid"
"I love you too, Michael"
In that moment, without even realizing it, I ruined myself.
Michael Smith was the first boy I had told that I loved to. He had been the first boy that had laid his eyes on me. With those three words, he won me. He won me, and he knew it. He knew that he could do anything with me then.
And he did.
That day I made the worst mistake of my life. I gave my everything to a boy who didn't love me. I gave my everything to someone to deceived me.
I lost myself.
Some months later, when I finally started seeing and broke up with Michael after he had broken every little piece of me, it hit me.
Michael wasn't the one who was wrong here.
I was.
Why would someone love me?
Why would a guy like Michael love me?
The last words that Michael said to me after I finished our relationship hit me hard.
"Leave, but nobody will ever love you, bitch. And if they say they do, they're just trying to get into your pants. No one would ever want more than that with you."
"Hell, Astrid, you won't tell me that you believe what an asshole good for nothing told you! You are more than just worth it! You are a beautiful, smart, funny, amazing, nice young woman that deserves a lot. A wonderful guy that will take perfect care of her." Liam seemed to be angry. He hugged me and I kept crying. Remembering was never good.
"I understand what's going through your mind, Tri" Soph pronounced and I looked at her directly. "I know what it is like to feel worthless, but sometimes you have to open yourself to love. I know that it is hard, but you have to try hard."
"I can't." I sobbed.
"Astrid, you can." Liam grabbed my face "You have to get over what an asshole told you years ago. I know that it's gonna be hard, but you have to try." He paused "Zayn loves you truthfully, I would tell you otherwise. I had never seen him so into a girl, not even his ex-fiancée." He finalized.
"I can't tell him that I love him back." I whispered.
"You don't have to, darling" Soph touched my cheek "He never said that he wanted you to love him back now. He just said that he loved you. That means a lot"
"I fucked it up" I gasped "And I am not strong enough to just go and talk to him and tell him the whole story now" I bit my fingers nervously.
"You are more than strong enough." Liam looked at me in the eyes and held my hands, so that I didn't eat my fingers anymore. "But if you want to, I can go talk to him, so that you don't have to repeat the story" He suggested, for what I felt thankful.
"That'd be amazing" I whispered kinda ashamed. It should be me going to apologize with my boyfriend, but I was sending Liam instead. He kissed my forehead and told us that he'd be right back.
"Don't worry, Tri" Soph told me, as if she was reading my mind "Zayn will understand".
Liam's POV
"Oh" I reached to pronounce as a bloodshed eyed Zayn opened the door. "Tell me that you were crying and not..."
"Crying" He responded as we both sat on his bed "I haven't done the other thing in ages"
"I know, Zayno" I hugged him and he started crying.
"I fucked it up, mate"
"No, you didn't" I calmed him down. "I'm actually here to talk to you about Tri" I gasped and he looked at me in shock "Look, Zaynie..."
***
"I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE IT" He screamed.
"She didn't know how to react, mate" I tried to calm him down.
"I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT HER. I WOULD HAVE REACTED LIKE THAT IF I HAD HAD AN IDIOTIC BOYFRIEND TALK TO ME LIKE THAT. I'M FURIOUS, BUT BECAUSE OF THE BOY. THAT ASSHOLE BROKE MY GIRL'S HEART" He kept shouting.
I didn't know what to say.
"You know, Malik, I think that you should talk to Tri. She loves you too, only that she won't be able to express it until you totally win her heart. But I know that you'll do it"
***
Zayn's POV
I knocked on the door of Astrid's room, Liam was already gone. Sophia opened and gave me a sympathetic smile as she left the room.
"She's in the bed".
I nodded and silently thanked her. As I entered the room, I saw what seemed a dead body laying. I sat on the edge of the bed and started touching her head softly.
"I'm sorry" I heard her say "I was so stupid"
"Shhh" I calmed her down "I understand baby. I just don't understand how an asshole can be so mean to a girl like you, or to be fair to any human being" She raised her head and kissed my hand. "I won't be like that, you can take that for granted." She just looked at me like a lost puppy.
"Why would you love me?" She asked softly in what seemed a sob.
"Why? I think that you should ask why not!" She chuckled lowly. "I love you, Astrid Taylor, for so many reasons that I can't really remember. I love your smile, the way your eyes shine, the way that you look at me, how you tease me by biting your lip. How you're fucking sexy without even trying. How you don't even try and are the most beautiful girl in the world. Girls wear tons of make-up and then there's you not wearing make-up because you're too lazy. I love that by the way, that you're lazy and are not ashamed to admit it. How you sleep until 1 in the afternoon. How passionate you are and how ambitiously you think. How you're perfect and don't even care. How you're willing to help the others. Hell, how fucking smart you are. I admire you, Astrid Taylor. I wish that I could go to Northwestern and be top on it. I wish I had as many talents as you do and was humble enough to still live on earth. I love how you always influence me positively, how you're my reason to smile and to wake up every day. I love how you inspire me by everything that you do. And here's the thing, Astrid Taylor, I love every single little thing of you, no matter how negative it could be. I love that you're mine. I love you, Astrid Taylor. I love you and all your little things." I laughed and she did too. "I love you and I would never do what that asshole did to you. I don't see you as a sex object, I see you as the love of my life." I touched her cheek softly. "I know that it may sound obsessive, but I see a future with you. I want to have a future with you. No." I stopped. "Astrid Taylor, I want you to be my future, and I want to be yours. I will put myself the personal and ultimate goal to turn you into Mrs. Malik. Darling, if you saw things like I do for one second, you'd understand how perfect you are. You'd understand that I love you more that I have loved anyone ever. You'd see that you're my world. Hell! I've known you for 3 months, I must sound obsessive. But you know what? I don't give a hell! I love you, Astrid Taylor. You should take for granted that I won't hurt you. Ever. To be honest, if I hurt you in any way, I would be hurting myself at an exponential level. I love you, and I won't stop loving you even if you stop loving me. Don't get me wrong, but I have never felt this way, Astrid Taylor. No matter what you do, my love won't cease."
She didn't speak; instead, she got out of bed and crashed her lips against mine.
"Zayn, I like you a lot but..."
"I don't expect you to tell me that you love me back yet babe. You take your time. When you're ready, I'll be there" I kissed her again "So now, can I sleep here?" I asked to which she scooted to one side and I laid to spoon her. "I love you, Astrid Taylor, and never doubt it" I could feel her smile although I couldn't see a thing.
I loved her, and now she knew it.
Now I had to win Astrid Taylor's heart. Not an easy mission, but good things didn't come for free.