Zayn's P.O.V.
"And remember Zayn, no drugs, no sex, and minimal drinking. Don't disappoint us, son." Yaser reminds me for the 20th time.
"I know, no need to keep repeating it!" I groan in frustration as I stand at the front door with my three suitcases. I can't believe I'm finally leaving home and going off to uni.
My father shoots me one last stern glare before stepping away and allowing me to say goodbye to my family.
Mum has tears in her eyes as I pull her in for a hug and peck her cheek. "I love you, mummy." I mumble into her hair as she sobs.
"Don't do anything stupid." She begs me.
"I won't, I swear. Walihya, come gimme a hug before I start crying too." I say and jokingly ruffle up my mums hair.
She groans and playfully shoves me, causing me to fall into Walihya's arms. She hugs me tight. "Don't be falling for any guys, I've seen the way you look at guys at the mall. It's disgusting." She whispers into my ear and I freeze.
"What are you talking about? I'm straight and you know it." I say with a confident tone as I pull away from her skinny arms.
She shrugs. "Okay then I must just be seeing things. Bye Zayn." She says and I can feel my blood boil.
I turn back to my dad who's burning holes into the back of my head. "She's just making stuff up-"
He interrupts me. "Gay people are fake. They just want attention." He says and closes his eyes.
I huff and pull Safaa and Doniya in for a quick hug before walking out the front door. I love my family and I will miss them, yet I am so happy to get a break from them.
I get into the taxi and buckle up. I tell the driver to take me to the airport and he quickly types the location into his GPS and drives off.
I see my family waving from inside our small home and I wave back, tears burning at the back of my eyes. I'm a quiet guy, making friends is not easy for me. What if I don't make any friends at uni and I'll just be lonely for the whole year?
I don't even want to go to uni. I'm majoring in English even though I've never been too good. I'm into art and other things that my parents say are a "dumb hobby" and it "won't make me any money".
I've never been on a plane before and I'm scared shitless. I won't show it though. I'm good at hiding my emotions and cover them with the blank look on my face that I always carry around.
Maybe this is a good thing. I've never been very far outside of Bradford yet I've never felt like I belong. Maybe moving out to California will be a good thing.
Half an hour later, the cab is pulling up in front of the big building that I've driven by numerous times, yet I've never been inside.
"Thank you, sir." I tell the older man as I pay for the ride.
"No problem, do you need help with the bags?" He asks me.
"No it's alright, have a good day." I say and shut the door behind me. Honestly, I could've used some help since I'm not the strongest guy. But I hate asking for help. It makes me feel weak and useless.
The driver props open the back of the car and I quickly pull out my bags. With one last wave to the driver, I turn around and head into the air conditioned airport.
Checking in and security is stressful, as predicted. They make sure to check me extra well since I've got brown skin. I don't mind too much, I've got nothing to hide.
About an hour later, I'm sitting in one of the plastic and uncomfortable terminal chair. I've got my backpack with me. It contains my favorite sweatshirt, along with my phone, charger and headphones, and my sketching notebook. It's just stuff to keep me entertained on the 15 hour plane ride.
Honestly, I'll probably sleep most of the time since I didn't sleep much last night. I've been up worrying and adding extra little things to my suitcase that I might need.
I move to sit on the windowsill and I watch planes taking off and landing. I wonder what it's going to be like when the wheels are off the ground and we're just flying through the air. It must be terrifying.
I grip onto the straps of my backpack tightly as they call our flight to the gate. I pull out my ticket from the back pocket of my jeans and hold it in my shaky, clammy hands. I'm all the way in the back of the long line.
I can see our plane parked at the end of the tunnel and thankfully it's large. Hopefully that means less turbulence and a smaller chance of dying.
"Mate, your knuckles are turning white. Chill." I hear a high pitched, yet manly, voice next to me.
I turn around to find an intimidating, yet small guy next to me. "Uh...sorry?" I say and loosen my grip on the two backpack straps.
"Is it your first flight?" He asks me and I study his fluffy brown hair and bright blue eyes.
"Erm yea, I don't really know what to expect." I chuckle.
"Don't worry about it. The only weird part is the flip that the plane does after we take off. You barely feel it but you might want to be aware of that so you don't freak out." He says, causally and my eyes widen.
"It does a flip?" I sputter out, more scared than ever.
"No biggie, it's like a roller coaster." He says and nudges me with his shoulder to move up in the line.
"I bloody hate roller coaster." I mumble and run a hand through my messy hair.
Suddenly, the guy starts laughing. "I'm totally joking." He gasps. "I'm sorry, you're very gullible though."
I glare at him and turn back around. I'm too stressed and worried to deal with annoying people like him right now.
Thankfully, the guy doesn't try to speak to me again so I keep my eyes focused on the lady at the desk, taking everyone's tickets before they step into the long tunnel. I keep inching forward, my heart beating faster and faster.
Before I know it, I'm at the front and the busty lady takes my ticket. I take one last deep breath before stepping into the cold tunnel. I'm surprised to find another line at the end of the tunnel.
I stand on my toes to try and find the cause of the jam. My eyes widen when I see the inside of the plane. So this is how I'm going to die. I'm going to fall thousands of feet out of the sky in this metal death contraption.
A couple minutes later, I finally make it inside and find my seat. I'm all the way in the back, the last row actually. I can hear the loud engine and the nasty toilet is right next to me. I guess this is what I get for booking my flight last minute.
I set my bag down at my feet and put the u shaped neck pillow around my neck. I got it from Safaa as a going away gift.
Just as I'm beginning to get cozy, I hear a movement next to me. I open my tired, aching eyes to find the annoying blue eyed kid taking the seat next to me. I should've seen this coming.
"Oi, it's you again." He laughs and I give him a polite smile before turning to look out the window.
"I'm Louis." He says and plops down in the seat next to me. He reaches out his hand for me to shake.
"Zayn." I say and shake his hand.
He laughs again. "You're shaking and all clammy, mate I promise you'll be fine."
My cheeks burn in embarrassment. "It's my first time so just piss off." I mumble.
"You're in luck because I'm good at distracting people. Just focus on me and you won't even notice the wheels lifting off the ground. You won't even feel how we hurtle through the air, getting higher and higher with each second." He says and my stomach churns.
"Gee thanks." I groan and lean my head against the cool window of the plane.
About ten minutes later, the plane begins backing up and the safety video starts playing. My heart is rattling against my ribs and nervously bounce my knee.
Louis noticed this and rips his earphone out of his ear, handing me one. "Are you into 1975?" He asks.
I bite lip as loud music fills my right ear. "1975?" I ask, unfamiliar with the name.
He nods. "It's a band. They're called 1975 cuz that's the year the band was formed."
"Really?" I ask. "They must be old."
He laughs. "Nah, I'm just kidding. What kind of music are you into?" He asks.
I try to ignore the fact that we've stopped backing up and we're now moving forward, right towards the runway.
"I'm into like...r&b and stuff." I say.
"Wow Zach, you're very interesting." He says, copying my tone and deep accent.
"It's Zayn and I actually am very interesting but everyone else is too bland and caught up in their 21st century technology to notice." I tell him.
A smirk forms on my lips as I watch the smaller boy be lost for words. "Wow, that's the most I've heard you say so far." He jokes.
"Well we've only met 20 minutes ago." I remind him.
He nods. "I take that back, Zayn. I like you and I think we're going to be good friends."
I sigh in relief, my earlier worries of being lonely slowly fading away. "I think so too, Louis."
"Guess what." Louis says with a smirk.
"Chicken butt?" I say. I've heard my sisters use this phrase many times.
He shakes his head, his eyes sparkling with pride. "I've succeeded in my mission because we are now flying and you're not shaking anymore."
My eyes widen and I whip around to look out the window. I gasp as I watch the ground getting farther and farther away from me. "Holy fuck. This is really happening." I whisper.