A/N Zayn has always been my favorite and I already really like writing this. It's a second favorite under MOMENTS. :)
Zayns POV
~Flashback~
“Come on Ariel, it’s just water,” I said, trying to pull my best friend into her own pool.
“You’re lucky you got me in a swimsuit Zayn Malik,” She hissed, resisting my pulling. I rolled my eyes - she always seemed to forget how many times the two of us had bathed together as kids.
“Yes, now take the t-shirt you have on over said swimsuit off and get in the pool,” I said, pulling her closer to the pool. She pulled loose from my grasp, and backed away, crossing her arms over her grey t-shirt clad chest. A grey t-shirt that belonged to me, might I add.
“Why won’t you just get in the damn pool?” I asked, running a hand through my hair in frustration.
“I...” She started, shaking her head, her blonde locks falling into her face, “I just don’t okay!” She grumbled, walking back toward the sliding glass door leading into her house.
“Ariel,” I said, shaking my head, “You know I know when you’re lying to me.”
She turned around to look at me, her face red with a mix of embarrassment and what I couldn’t peg as anger, or sadness.
“I’m just... self-conscious... is all,” She mumbled almost inaudibly. I looked at her skeptically - Ariel Fielding self-conscious? that was like saying elephants aren’t big.
“Ari, I’ve known you since we were kids, why are you so embarrassed all the sudden?” I asked, moving closer and wrapping my arm around her shoulder, the two of us moving toward the bench swing her father had set up the summer before.
Ariel shrugged her tiny shoulders, her head still cast down, “I dunno... it’s just... I’ve never had a boyfriend, or even been kissed, and I just think, there’s gotta be something wrong with me, you know? I work really hard to be skinnier, and prettier, but,” She paused, lifting a hand to wipe away a tear that had fallen from her eyes, “Nothing works! I’m still so god damn ugly!” She said, looking up at me with tears in her eyes.
I ran my hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face before moving my hands to brush the tears off of her cheeks. She looked up at me with sad pain stricken eyes.
“You’re beautiful, Ariel,” I said, looking straight in her eyes as I spoke.
“You only think that because you have too,” She said, trying to look away but failing under the grasp of my hands.
“No,” I whispered, moving my face closer to hers, “I think it because it’s true,” I whispered, before kissing her lips.
I pulled away from her, a smile planted firmly on my face, “And now you’ve been kissed. So will you please get in the pool? It’s hot as hell,” I said. Ariel looked at me wide eyed, before bursting out laughing. I grinned at her she peeled off her shirt and ran toward the pool, jumping with a splash.
God, if only this girl really knew how much I loved her.
~End flashback~
Two years. It had been two years since I’d seen the girl who’s first kiss I’d stolen on the porch swing in her backyard. Now, here she stood, her long blonde hair still its same golden color. It even still reminded me of the sun. She had a pair of black jeans on, as well as a “The Ramones” t-shirt. Only she would wear something so casual to meet her new boss for the next few months. I watched her eyes dance from each other boys, and then land on mine. My eyes widened, and suddenly I felt... nervous? This was definitely a feeling I hadn’t felt in a while.
“Hi, I’m Ariel Fielding,” Ariel said with a wave, “It’s nice to meet you all,” she finished, a friendly grin forming on her lips. I watched her eyes turn into a cool, professional mask. I hated how good she’d always been at covering up what she was feeling, even in her eyes. I watched her for a while, wondering if she’d all but forgotten about me.
But how could she? I’m Zayn Malik. But not just any Zayn Malik, I’m the person she grew up with. I’m her first kiss, the one who’s shoulder she cried on after every douche bag she’d ever dated broke up with her. I’m the one who spent every waking minute with her - who had a sleeping bag permanently placed on her bedroom floor.
We made eye contact again as we were all set free - her and that Lauren girl being told to make themselves comfortable with us. She was standing awkwardly next to Lauren, as the two of them, or moreover, as Lauren spoke to Niall and Harry. She looked like she wanted to move over to me, as much as I wanted to move over to her, but somehow we both had our feet cemented to the floor.
Suddenly, I felt my hand move up and wave at her, an awkward smirk forming on her lips. She grinned back at me, looking down at the floor then and brushing her hand through her hair. God how I wanted to touch that hair of hers, to push it out of her beautiful face. I saw her growing closer, and before either of us could actually tell what we were doing we were standing directly in front of each other.
“It’s... it’s nice to meet you,” She said, a pain in her voice I hadn’t heard since Vince stole her virginity and then dumped her.
“Yeah...” I said, looking down at her. When had she gotten so short? Had she always been this much shorter than me?
Do you remember me at all? I wanted so badly to ask her, I wanted to let it out, to wrap my arms around her and hold her again. It had been two years since I’d had an Ariel hug, and dammit if one of her hugs didn’t sound damn good right about now.
“I need to take your measurements now,” She said, holding up a tape measure. I nodded, allowing her to wrap the thing around my waist. Well, if this was the closest to a hug I could get, I’d take it for now.
Ariel’s POV
“I think the black shirt looked better on Louis,” Lauren said, examining the boys in the outfits we’d put them in. I shook my head.
“Louis said he likes stripes,” I said. A grin formed on Louis’ face.
“None of the other boys can wear stripes! They’re my thing!” He exclaimed. I looked smugly over at Lauren, making her roll her eyes.
“You boys are so hard to work with when you keep dancing around!” I exclaimed as Harry fidgeted with the buttons on his navy blue blazer.
“Cuz’ we’re bored!” Niall exclaimed, his face dropping into a sad pout.
“And I’m not?” I mumbled a bit too loud, causing all of the boys to break out into a fit of laughter. I allowed my eyes to surf over to Zayn, who even had a small smile on his face. I allowed a smile to form on my lips at the boys laughter - they were surprisingly easy to get along with, considering how famous they were.
“Can we stop and get something to eat?” Niall asked. I heard all four other boys, as well as Lauren mumble agreeing questions. I let out a light chuckle and nodded.
“I only really need Louis and Niall back for wardrobe adjustments, and we can do that in like ten minutes tomorrow,” I grinned.
“YES!” All five boys chorused, beginning to rip the clothes we’d put them in off. I rolled my eyes, turning to Lauren with a grin.
“Ready to go, then?” I asked, pointing at the exit door. She nodded, and as we began to move toward the door, Liam called out to us.
“Do you two wanna get dinner?” He asked. I gave Lauren a questioning glance - I wasn’t exactly sure what was off limits and what wasn’t with the boys, outside of dating them, obviously. We were told to make friends with them, considering how much time we’d spend in close proximity together.
Lauren nodded her head excitedly, and I grinned, “We’d love to get dinner with you guys,” I said, turning to to Liam who was pulling a t-shirt over his head. He smiled happily at me, turning to the other boys to discuss where we’d be eating. I watched Zayn for a while, his head turned to look at Niall as the two spoke.
I sighed, somehow finding the lyrics to the boy’s song Moments hitting my ears, “If we could only have this life for one more day, if we could only turn back time,” I hummed the tune, shaking my head to try and get the thoughts to leave.
~Flashback~
I lay in Zayn’s bed, him on the other side of it, tapping away at the keys of his laptop. I sighed, rolling over on my side to look at him. My parents had gone away on holiday for the weekend, and his parents had gone out to dinner.
I felt my phone vibrate, and pulling it out of my pocket, I flipped it open, seeing as I had received a text messaged.
“I think Jake is cheating on you,” A message from my friend Lulu read. I looked at it wide eyed, responding quickly.
“WHAT!?”
“Yeah, I saw him kissing some girl in the park, Sorry babe. xx” She responded. I stared at my phone for a while, feeling my heart rate pick up and my cheeks flush, a tell tale sign that I was going to cry.
I sat up, trying to calm myself down before Zayn saw me, but failing as his head whipped over to me and a tear fell down my cheek.
“Ariel what’s wrong?” He asked, concern soaking his voice.
“Jake is cheating on me...” I said in a small voice, repeating the words out loud making it all to real.
“I’ll kill him,” Zayn said, standing up from his bed immediately.
“What!? No!” I called out, standing up and wrapping my arms around his waist in attempt to stop him.
“But he hurt you!” Zayn called out, anger in his tone. I shook my head, my face planted firmly against his back.
“But you can’t kill him!” I said, my voice coming out muffled from my face being pressed into his shirt. He smelled good - he always smelled good.
“But Ariel,” He said, breaking my hands off of him and turning around. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes, not having the strength to ask him to stop anymore.
“I don’t need him,” I said, shaking my head, “He doesn’t deserve me,” I said.
“You’re lying to yourself, aren’t you?” Zayn asked. I nodded my head, wrapping my arms around him once more. His strong arms wrapped around me, and he planted a kiss on my forehead.
As his lips hit my forehead over and over, all I could really think was how much I wished they’d been my lips, and how I was sick of dating ass holes to get my feelings for him to go away.
~End flashback~
We all sat in a Denny’s, myself sandwiched between Lauren and Niall, who was happily eating the cheeseburger he’d ordered. Across from me was Harry and Louis, and then Liam. Next to Niall sat Zayn, who I’d been doing a pretty good job of avoiding since our small encounter back in the hotel.
“Hey!” I exclaimed as Niall picked up a few french fries from my plate and popped them into his mouth. I leaned over and took some off of his plate, putting them in my mouth. He took the opportunity to hiss at me and pull my plate over toward him.
“Niall I understand not sharing food but stealing someone else’s is something completely different,” I laughed, pulling my plate back over to me. He shrugged his shoulders, taking more of my fries.
“Hey Ariel,” Louis said, catching my attention. I looked over at him, and noticed his finger pointed at my neck, “I like your necklace!” He grinned. I looked down at my heart shaped necklace, the one my father had given my mother for their 25th anniversary.
“Thanks,” I grinned, rolling the pendant between my fingers, “It was my mom’s,” I said.
“Was?” I heard a familiar bradford accent ask. My shoulders tensed - my mom had died shortly after Zayn and I had stopped talking.
“My mom died right after....” I stopped myself, realizing what I was about to say, “A big car accident,” Lauren added, saving me. I gave her a thankful grin.
“Oh I’m so sorry,” Louis said, a sheepish blush hitting his cheeks. I shook my head vigorously, “No worries! You didn’t know, and it doesn’t really hurt anymore,” I shrugged.
“Well I still like the necklace,” He grinned, and I allowed a laugh to escape my lips. I didn’t have to be awkward around all of One Direction just because of Zayn, right? Well, that’s how I was gonna treat it.
“I definitely think you’re the best stylist yet,” Harry added, a happy grin on his face. I looked over to him, a blush hitting my cheeks at the compliment, “You’re not old.” He smiled happily. I rolled my eyes, laughing at what wasn’t quite a compliment anymore.
“Well you’re definitely the best clients I’ve had,” I said, looking over at Lauren who was nodding her head in agreement, “You’re not dead.”
“Yet,” Lauren added, a devious grin hitting her lips. I leaned over and smacked her upside the head.
“OW!” She exclaimed, gaining a laugh from the boys.
“Hey, so, considering your accent definitely isn’t american,” Liam started, looking over at me, “I gotta ask, where’re you from?” He asked.
“Er, Bradford,” I said, looking down toward him and doing my best not to sound awkward about it.
“Like Zayn!” Niall added, and I nodded.
“Yeah, like Zayn,” I grinned at him. He smiled back at me.
“Did you two know that?” Louis asked, and I looked over at Zayn.
“Nope,” I added, smiling at Zayn, “Though I definitely bet he’d be a pretty kick ass friend,” I grinned. He smiled back at me. I wanted to be mad at him for leaving me when my mom had died, but something in me wouldn’t let me. I still loved Zayn, and not love like best friends see each other after a few years, but like, loved him. Like we’d never lost touch.
“He is,” The boys chorused, making a slight blush appear on Zayn’s cheeks. I grinned at how confident the boys were with their words. My best friend had really met some good friends, and if he was going to leave me, I was happy knowing he’d left me for such great people.
“What’s your twitter Ariel!? I wanna follow you!” Harry asked, whipping out his phone. I tapped my chin, trying to remember the twitter I’d made ages ago but never used.
“PrincessAriel” I answered with a smile. Louis grinned.
“I like it!” He added.
“Me too,” Zayn said. I looked over at him, smiling at the memories of the two of us watching the Little Mermaid together for the first time, and having him call me Princess Ariel for a good month. We were eight, and he’d only just learned the beauty of teasing girls. Though I was always stronger than him by far.
I rested my head against Lauren’s shoulder, a tired smile forming on my lips. I was happy for my best friend - I really was.