LIMA, PERU
11:30 AM, JANUARY 10TH (GMT-5)
"ARE YOU sure that you've got everything with you?" Liam asked through the screen.
"Yup, I reckon." Astrid responded throwing the last piece of clothing inside her suitcase. "I should seriously win a prize for packing. I'm so quick at doing it."
"Ha, I bet that I'd bet you." Liam mocked her.
"Probably." She laughed. "But I'm all set anyways. I've already called the cab. It'll arrive at my front door in three minutes."
"Perfect." Liam smiled. "How long will it take for you to get here?"
"My flight departs in about three hours. From then on, 'bout a complete day. My schedule will get messed up because of the jetlag though." Astrid admitted, sighing at the thought of spending 24 hours on a plane. "It'll be worth it. I'll get to see Zayn."
"And us...don't forget about us..." Liam pretended to be hurt.
"Of course that I'm excited to see you! It's just that I want to fix things with Zayn, you know? We left off at a horrendous place. I want to explain him the real reason why I left."
"Good." Liam stated. "Our driver will take you to the stadium after you land here."
"Are you serious?" She pretended to be outraged. "But I won't even get to shower!"
"True." Liam laughed. "But otherwise you won't make it on time, so no shower for Miss Taylor."
"Ugh." She groaned. "Alright."
"Does your flight stop in any city?"
"Yup." Astrid pronounced. "Sao Paulo, but just for about an hour."
"Right, great."
Suddenly, Astrid heard a car horn.
"Taxi's here." She smiled. "I've gotta go. I'll see you in a bit."
"See you." Liam smiled right back at her and disconnected from the chat.
This would be an interesting surprise...
20 HOURS LATER...
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.
4:30 PM, JANUARY 11TH (GMT +4)
"WHY WOULD someone do that?" Zayn spat in anger. "From all the days of the year, you had to choose my birthday to do a special event."
"You know how it works, Zaynie." Paul spoke, obviously not willing to talk about the secret motives of their sudden change of schedule. "You'll receive your birthday on stage, that'll be great!"
"Sure, that'd be great!" Zayn screamed loudly. "That'd be great if I didn't have someone to share the moment with. Someone who has been- just by the way - MIA for two weeks now."
"Zayn." Liam sighed, trying to hold back his laughter. "Your struggle with Astrid will get better. Just wait a while and you'll see."
Being completely honest, Liam wanted to tell Zayn their whole plan. Zayn had been gloomy since Christmas (and even more after his talk to Brad), and had not even dared to facetime his girlfriend yet. Liam knew that what he was planning would cheer him up, but it was a surprise, and it had to stay like that.
"No can do, Zaynie." Louis laughed.
Paul had just informed the guys (well, more like informed Zayn, because the rest of the guys already knew about this), that that day's concert - January 11th 's - would take place later than usual. Normally, the guys' concerts would start at 8pm, but this one would start at 10, so that they could receive Zayn's birthday on stage (the guys all had a surprise for their friend, obviously).
"Whatever." Zayn shrugged.
At that moment, Zayn was a mixture of feelings that not even he could describe. He was sad for not having talked to Astrid in weeks, and he was also mad that she had not called him yet. Above everything else, he was confused. The next day would be his birthday, and even though he didn't use to celebrate it with a big party, he liked being recognized.
"Chill, bro." Niall laughed obnoxiously. "Everything will end up great."
"Shut up, blondie." Zayn coughed.
"Stop insulting Nialler and go get ready, Malik." Harry spoke, dimples showing.
TRADE CENTER ARENA
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.
11:56 PM, JANUARY 11TH (GMT +4)
"ARE YOU WITH ME, DUBAI?" Harry screamed and the crowd cheered back. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I ASKED, ARE YOU WITH ME, DUBAI?" This time the crowd shot back their response, shouting their lungs out.
"Well, now that we have that cleared out." Harry continued. "I want you to shout out loud for my pal Zayn right here." He laughed. "That'll be turning one year older today."
The crowd kept screaming, Zayn faked a smile, but it was more than obvious that he didn't want to be there.
"Now the question is... where is Liam?" Louis laughed. Just at that very moment, the four guys on stage looked around to realize that they had lost one member.
"Probably taking a wee." Harry responded and Niall laughed obnoxiously.
"Anyways..." Louis kept talking. "Our brother Zayn's getting older by the second and we wanted to make you a surprise, pal." He smiled.
"Yeah." Niall agreed. "Something that you may not see is that when we're on tour, we miss loads of people." He clarified. "You, our fans, are our main support, but we also need some other people to take charge of us."
"And to put it out like that, we wrote a song some years ago." Harry stated. "Even though it was written under other circumstances, we believe that it has a lot of impact in our current situation."
And just at that very second, Liam appeared on stage. The crowd immediately noticed and started cheering to show him their support. Even though the screams around him were to make him happy, Liam wore a frown on his face. Immediately after that, he got closer to Louis and whispered something on his ear.
"Shit." Louis spoke lowly. "Haz, we have a problem." He talked, to which the green-eyed boy turned around. His prominent smirk fell when he saw the look on his friend's face.
He knew what was going on.
"Late? What the hell!" Harry then looked at Zayn. "Oh shit."
Niall, who wasn't present in their secret conversation, still got the implicit message that it carried.
"Shall we sing it anyways?" The blonde spoke and Liam, Louis and Harry nodded.
"Yeah, I guess." Liam whispered.
"Well, then, to everyone..." Harry faked a smile. "This is GIIIIIIRLLL ALMIGHTTTTYYYYYY!!!!!!"
The music began playing and, immediately after that, Liam started singing.
"(Hey hey, oh no, no, no)"
"Her light is as loud as as many ambulances
As it takes to save a savior, oh (whoa whoa whoa)"
And as he sang so, pictures of Liam and Sophia - his girl almighty - filled the gigantic screen. The look on Zayn's face was priceless. It was hurt, without a single doubt.
"She floats through the room on a big balloon
Some say, "She's such a fake,"
That her love is made up
No, no, no, no"
"Let's have another toast to the girl almighty
Let's pray we stay young, stay made of lightning"
Because Harry - just like Niall - had no girlfriends to call their "girl almighty", the screen showed the thousands of fans that were on the stadium right now. In the end, they were their girls too.
"Am I the only, only believer?"
And as Zayn sang his part, and Astrid's face appeared on screen, he couldn't help but want to cry. He was thinking that she should be there, she really should. He was thinking that he had fucked up, that he wouldn't be able to fix the pain he caused to her. He was thinking of the words that Bradley had spoken to her, and finally concluded that maybe, just maybe, he should think of letting her go.
*
"WHAT WAS that all for?" Zayn asked in a high tone. "What was all that for?"
The four lads in front of him sighed. Their plan of making Zayn happy had failed miserably.
"We wanted to take Astrid on stage, but..." Niall talked softly.
"She didn't come." Zayn pronounced the words that hurt him more than he could've imagined. "She didn't fucking come."
"It's not like that, man. I'm sure that her flight is running late, but she'll be here sooner or later." Liam tried to calm his brother down, but it was of no use.
"Whatever." He spoke, obviously hiding the millions of feelings that he had inside his chest. "You can go to the after party if you want. I'll take the van with Naughty Boy."
"Zayn, man, it's your birthday!" Louis tried to convince him. Ever since the beginning of the year, Zayn and Louis had been partying in every place they went.
"Yeah, it is, and I am therefore choosing not to go to a stupid party. I'm very tired and I just want to go to my room." Zayn replied sassily.
"Then I'll go with you." Liam proposed.
"Yeah, we'll go with you." Harry supported Liam's idea.
"No, you can go wherever you want." Zayn stated, walking away to where Naughty Boy was. "I don't want to be with you. Not today, and not in a long time either."
BURJ AL ARAB HOTEL
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.
1:24AM, JANUARY 12TH (GMT +4)
"I DON'T KNOW why your lads always give you shit when you smoke. They're turning to be more and more like your girlfriend." Naughty Boy mocked, but Zayn didn't shoot anything back. "'m surprised that you won't defend your little girlfriend, Malik."
"Nah, not worth it." He got out of the van, attempting to hide the blunt that he was holding, but accidentally dropping it. "Whoops, that's mine, that's mine." He laughed as he bent down to pick it up.
"But seriously." Naughty had another drag, not minding what the people around them - in that 7-star-hotel - would think of him. "Why are you still with her?"
"Dunno man." Zayn laughed. "She was a good fuck, but maybe it's time to let go. It's not that she'll stick with me for much longer anyways." Zayn spoke sadly.
Even though he was trying to act, as if he didn't care about Astrid not coming on stage tonight, he did care. He cared a lot. But, on the other hand, his conversation with Bradley of some days ago had made him realize that maybe Astrid and him did not seek for the same thing in a relationship.
"For fuck's sake, you're Zayn Malik, you can get any bird that you want." Naughty stated.
"Probably." Zayn shrugged, not really caring about whatever his friend was telling him. "We should head upstairs to my room." He commented. "People here are starting to look at us." He laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, let's head up."
And so they did. Zayn's room was on the 34th floor, which was a bit exhausting to think about (seriously it wasn't. They had elevators anyways).
"There are SO many rooms on this place." Zayn spoke as he got out of the elevator. "Imagine doing a hotel for dogs. How many dogs could you fit in a room?"
"Dunno, probably just one, you know? For the privacy." Naughty responded.
"Yeah, you're right." Zayn replied, as he kept walking through the hallway.
"What's your room number anyways?"
"3469" Zayn laughed. "Sixty-nine"
"You're an ill man." His friend laughed back. "Guess you haven't had that in a while anyways."
"You're so right, man." Zayn chuckled, as he opened the room with his key.
What - or better said - who was inside the room, was the birthday surprise he had been needing.
"Zaynie!" She screamed and he almost screamed back.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" He shot back in shock, as she approached him and tried to embrace him.
"I- um- I thought that it would be nice to come visit you for your birthday." Astrid doubted.
"Get off me, now." Zayn stated harshly, but Astrid couldn't believe what was going on.
"Zayn I-"
"Get. Off. Me" His voice was stern, so she understood and backed off.
Astrid didn't know what to do, so she stayed away and got closer to the bed. She instinctively grabbed her suitcase.
Naughty Boy had already flown away. Even though this may seem like a total coward move, it was the best thing that he could've done. When he was running away, Liam and Harry had seen him, so they were now on their way to Zayn's room.
"Za-" Astrid tried to speak, but Zayn wouldn't bulge.
"Don't fucking talk." Zayn was mad - more than that - he was furious. Astrid had never seen him this enraged in her entire life.
"Just let me explain." She whispered. "I had a reason to leave."
"The fuck you had a reason to leave! I told you! If you left, you didn't need to worry to come back!"
"Yeah, but I did! What the hell are you talking about, Zayn! I love you and you know that!" She tried to look into his hazel eyes, but there was something off about them at the very moment. She couldn't point a finger at it, but she knew that the man in front of him wasn't her boyfriend.
"Shit, don't get at me with these stupid love excuses. Love's not that and you sure know that." Zayn's voice was angered and it scared Astrid. In a way, this whole situation made her remember her past with Michael.
"Then please do enlighten me on what love is! You wouldn't even answer my calls! You went to see Brad, but didn't even bother to call me!"
"Oh, excuse me that I didn't want to ruin your fun with Max in South America. I'm sure that he fits much better into your parents' profile of what a boyfriend for their perfect daughter should be!" Zayn's eyes were red.
"Why are you even putting my parents into this mess? You know that they've accepted you! If there's a family that hates one of us it's yours! Your sister was straight bullying me, Zayn! I felt as if I was in the primary school all over again!"
"Oh, but maybe she had a reason to bully you! Maybe she was not as blind as me and could see that you were a low-life cunt that would run away at the first opportunity that she got!"
Those words were enough to make Astrid break. Low-life cunt? That was certainly not her.
And just as if it had been schedule, the room's door flew open showing Harry's lanky figure.
"Zayn, mate, stop." Harry talked slowly as he saw Astrid's state. "This is not you, you know that."
"You don't fucking know me, Styles! Stop fucking pretending that you know who I am, that you know what I want, because you don't! None of you know anything about me so just fuck off!"
"ZAYN!" Liam's voice now sounded. "You will fucking stop this craziness right now!" It was clear that Liam was used to dealing with Zayn on this state, but this was too much. Zayn had always messed with random people on the street, never with people he truly cared about - people like Astrid -.
"STOP SAYING ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO!" Zayn was losing it and everyone could see it. "YOU KEEP SAYING THAT I SHOULD DO BETTER, THAT I SHOULDN'T SMOKE POT. Guess what, Liam?" He calmed himself down a bit. "I don't fucking care! I don't fucking care about you, I don't fucking care about the stupid band; and most importantly, I don't care about this stupid cunt!" Zayn pointed at Astrid.
"Zayn, I-" Astrid was not giving up. She loved Zayn - she really did - and she did not want to let him go just like that. She was willing to sacrifice everything she had to get him back. She walked closer to him and tried to caress his cheek.
But no one thought that he'd react like that.
"I...fucking...told...you...not...to...mess...with...me...!" Zayn's voice incremented in tone.
"Yeah, but-" And just like that, Zayn's hand flew and made contact with Astrid's cheek. It wasn't too hard, no. It was obvious that he had not even used a fraction of his real strength, but it was enough for Astrid to realize that it was over.
She touched her cheek, trying hard not to believe what had just happened before her. Zayn was breathing hard, obviously not processing what he had just done.
And after that, everything happened in slow motion. Harry throwing himself over Zayn, throwing punches at him; Liam trying to console Astrid, but also calling the rest of the guys to separate Harry and Zayn. Liam taking Astrid out of the room, so she should calm herself down.
He opened the door to his room, the 3460, and let her get inside. He didn't dare to talk to her after what had just happened and being completely honest, she didn't feel ready to talk either.
In that silence, there were implicit agreements, but no one really paid attention to them. Liam just stared at the girl who had grown loads on him in the past months - the girl who had nearly saved his best friend from the darkness -.
"I'd like to throw all the guilt on his drugs, but I know that I can't." Liam finally disposed himself to speak. Astrid looked at him with wide-eyes, showing that she had no idea of what he was talking about. "Yeah, after your fight, he began taking drugs again." Liam sighed, showing defeat.
Astrid's hand flew to her mouth. She couldn't believe what she had just learned. She had been dating this guy for a long time, and she had just put him one condition: not to do drugs, and he had disobeyed that. Well, there goes the trust.
"He was getting much better after he met you, you know? I felt that it was almost childish that he made a promise to a completely stranger to not get close to drugs again, but I guess that you were important to him since the beginning. He even quit smoking, and I thought that it was great. I mean, no matter how hard I'd tried, I could've never gotten him to quit smoking."
Astrid nodded with everything that Liam said, but she didn't utter a word.
"I don't know what happened in Bradford, but I'm sure that whatever it was, it wasn't you. I don't know. He gets really aggressive when he smokes."
There was a long silence. Astrid couldn't stop sobbing and Liam was sitting right next to her, just like he'd been sitting some months ago in the gym of the Peninsula Hotel in Chicago. It was funny to think how many things had changed ever since.
"It reminded me of Michael, the way Zayn was treating me. It was like having a deja vu of every horrible thing that has ever happened to me." She finally expressed and Liam gulped hard. He knew that his friend had hurt this girl, but he couldn't imagine how much.
"It was my grandma. She died some days ago, that's why I had to leave Bradford." She whispered. "I didn't tell him because I didn't want to make it all about me. I'm like that, I don't like sharing." She paused.
"I didn't want him to miss the chance of playing in Times Square. Brad has told me how that's every artist's goal, and I didn't want him to bail on you to come with me. I knew him well enough to know that he'd do that."
There was another lengthy pause. Liam stared at the girl next to him and he couldn't believe how his best mate had hurt her so much.
"So what are you gonna do?" Liam muttered.
She coughed, to then look at the ground.
"I love him, Liam, I really do." She admitted. "But I've learned that before loving anyone else I have to learn to love myself." She mumbled.
"So...?"
"It's over." She sighed. "It's just over."
A/N:
DON'T HATE ME! But I think that it had to happen just like that! :(
It's soon to be over!
-I