Marisa's POV
KNOCK KNOCK KOCK. KNOCK KNOCK KOCK.
I lifted my head off my pillow and glanced across the room. Charlotte was sitting under her covers with her headphones stuck in her ears. She wore a pair of old sweatpants and a tight fitted t-shirt. It had been the same thing every day for the past week.
She was depressed. There was no other word to describe it. Her smile was weak and her eyes constantly looked tired. I began to wonder why she had told Liam she wanted a break, but I didn't question it. I figured it would be better to leave it alone.
KNOCK. "Marisa?" KNOCK. "Char?" KNOCK. "Are you guys in there?" A deep voice traveled into our room.
I rolled out of bed and unlatched the door.
"Zayn?" I whispered. Sure enough standing in front of me was my boyfriend. He was dressed in light khaki pants, and a dark blue t-shirt with a grey v-neck sweater over it.
"Get in here!" I yanked his arm and drove him through the door. Closing the door safely behind us I turned to scold him. "You could have been mugged. What were you thinking walking through a campus plugged with female fans?"
He stepped towards me, snaking his arms around my waist and pushing me back against the door.
"I wanted to see you." His warm cinnamon breath hustled across my face sending chills down my spine.
"Mmm," I hummed into the skin of his neck.
He fingers crept of my side, making theiri way to my chin. He tilted my head up towards him, giving him better access to my lips. Slowly, he brought his head down to meet mine. My whole body pulsed as he slipped his tongue between my lips. I twisted my hands in his hair pulling me closer, before I suddenly stopped.
"What?" he whispered into my mouth.
I pulled back just enough to shoot a glance at Char, who had turned her body so she was facing the wall, unable to see us.
Zayn let out a frustrated sigh. For the past week we had been incredibly careful not to rub our relationship in anyone's faces. We had managed to escape on a date with Niall and Amalia, but they were really the only ones we could be couplely in front of. Louis, Lauren, Liam and Charlotte weren't up for it, and if you did anything in front of Harry you never heard the end of it.
"Breakfast?" He suggested. Once again my eyes dropped to Char. Zayn shook his head and made his way over to her. He pulled her top arm so that she was lying on her back. Her eyes shot through him demanding to know what he was doing. Zayn ignored her nasty look and pulled her iPod away from her. He then stood up, took her hand and pulled her off the bed.
She didn't even try to protest.
Once she was standing, Zayn pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. Suddenly, soft quiet sobs filled the room.
Zayn tightened his grip pulling her closer. I smiled as I watched him comfort her, giving her the affection that no one else had been able to provide.
"Shhh," he whispered into her ear. "It's okay, Char. It's okay!"
Zayn sat down on her bed, with his back against the wall. He pulled her down onto him so her head was resting on his chest. Both of his arms instinctively wrapped around her, as if it were his job to hold her together.
A good ten minutes passed, but Zayn didn't move. He let Char cry on his shirt, and when she was finally done and went to sit up, he pulled her back for another hug and kissed her cheek.
"Feel better?" he smiled.
"Thanks Zayn. I needed that."
He kissed her forehead before shuffling off the bed, "Anytime my dear."
He straightened himself out and walked over to me. "Char did you want to join us for breakfast?"
I shot her an accepting glance, telling her it would be fine if she really wanted to.
However, she denied. "You two love birds go on. Go have a good time and don't worry about anyone but yourselves."
I chuckled, running to her side and engulfing her in a hug. "You are the best!"
"I know," she chuckled hugging me back. "Here," she stuffed something into my head. I looked down to see my favorite vanilla lip gloss.
"You little," I smack her arm. She just smirked at me.
I shoved the lip gloss in my jean pocket and grabbed my coat from the closet.
"Ready?" I asked as I swung my coat over my shoulders.
"Ready," he smiled. "Bye Charlotte!"
"See ya Zayn." Even though she and Liam were giving each other space, she was determined not to let that affect her relationship with the other four boys.
I had seen a few texts to both Harry and Niall when messing with her phone, and I was proud of her for that.
"Mad dash?" I chuckled as we emerged outside. "Me and you is a sure fire way to be ambushed."
"RUN!" he grabbed my hand and took off towards where he had parked.
When we got to the car I slipped my hand out of his making my way to the front seat.
I didn't notice him following me.
I opened the door and went to get into the SUV, but his hands caught me by the waist. He spun me around, his face was just inches from mine. He pushed me gently backwards so I was leaning against the seat.
"Hi," I chuckled at his urgency.
"Hi," he smirked.
"How are you?" I giggled.
"Meh," he shrugged his broad shoulders.
"Oh? Why meh?"
"Cause I could be doing something like this."
He bent his head down capturing his lips in mine.
"Cheesy," I murmured pulling back.
"I know." His lips brushed down my jaw to my throat as a moan seeped from the back of my mouth.
Zayn chuckled as I pulled at the back of his neck, reconnecting out lips.
Lauren's POV
"Lauren?" Harry called to me. I turned around gripping the inside of his car through the window. His eyes glistened in the night. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Don't you think she's probably mad at you?"
I sighed, "Yeah Haz, she probably is. And that's why I have to do this. I have to explain this from a girl's point of view."
He nodded.
I turned my back to the car and walked through the unfamiliar campus. Thank god Marisa had sent me directions on how to get around.
As I walked away, I straighten out my blue plaid shirt and black shorts. My stomach was starting to pulse with pain. I was really nervous.
I walked straight into their dorm building with a group of people. I took the stairs up to her floor and walked through the endless hallway searching for her room.
I stopped at the door and knocked. No answer. I knocked again.
"Char? Are you in there? It's Lauren."
Still no answer.
"Are you looking for Charlotte McDermott?" a voice echoed causing me to jump.
"Um yeah," I turned to face a shaggy blonde haired boy. "I kinda have to apologize for some stuff I've done."
"Are you Lauren?" mystery boy asked.
"Um yeah."
He smiled, "I'm Charlie," and extended his hand to me. "She's not in there. But if you follow me, I'll show you where she is."
"Ok."
I followed Charlie back through the dorms and outside into the unusually warm November night.
"That's her right over there," he pointed to the common area. Sure enough there was a figure smack dab in the middle of the grass, lying on a blanket.
"Sucha thing she would do," I laughed. "Thank you!"
"No problem." He waved and then left me alone.
I made my way through the grass, careful not to get my heeled ankle boots stuck.
"Char?" I called out to her. Instantly her head snapped towards me.
"Lauren?" she asked in disbelief.
"Hey," I breathed. I winced at her unwelcoming expression. "Can we talk?"
Her face dropped and she nodded. She moved to one side of the blanket she was on, making room for me.
"I am really sorry this all happened. I'm even sorrier you found out that way, but please believe me when I tell you that it is over. The feelings are gone –mainly because they were never there, but I'm just going to ask this straight up," I looked her in the eyes once I sat down. "Why are you on a break?"
Charlotte's POV
"Why are you on a break?" she stayed silent waiting for an answer.
I took a deep breath, "Over the past week, I haven't been stalked, threatened, asked for pictures. I've stayed here on campus, done school work with friends, and done things that normal school girls do. Plus, I've talked to my parents more this week than I have in months."
"But you're miserable." It wasn't a question; it was a statement. "I can see it in your eyes, Char. You don't like happy."
"I'm not." My voice cracked."I'm not happy." Saying it out load made all the difference; it was a weight off my shoulders. I flipped my hair off my shoulders anticipating her next words.
"Then why are you putting yourself through this? Why don't you just go see him?" Her voice was frustrated, as if she was upset with me for something I had done.
"Because I need to think." It was a lame reason, but it was true.
The fact that I didn't have a really good reason for staying away was something lots of people had called me out on.
"There's a bigger reason. I can just tell," she whispered.
"I don't know," I shrugged.
"Look Char, I've seen Liam really broken. Like more broken than most people have, but right now he's just beating himself up. He doesn't want to lose you."
"Well why did he save that picture in the first place?" I snapped out the question that had been tormenting me.
Lauren nodded slowly understanding. "I see... He did it for me actually."
"You?"
Her eyes darted away, focusing on a random object to her left. "I think I might have some stuff to explain to you. How much has Liam told you?"
I reminisced the conversation with Liam and told Lauren what I already knew. She listened closely.
When I was finished she chuckled, "Always a gentleman, not telling anyone else's secrets. Did he tell you why I went along with it?"
I shook my head. I had just figured it was because the feelings were mutual –whatever feelings those were.
She inhaled deeply. Her chest fell heavily as she started to speak, "I was in a fairly bad place six months ago. Not physically but more mentally. For years I have thought of Louis as more than a friend, I have wanted him to be more than a friend. For a while I just dealt with it. He had Hannah, then he was busy with X-Factor, and then he had Eleanor. I didn't have the right to be upset when he was dating Eleanor, because I had a boyfriend too. But after I broke up with my boyfriend, and then he broke up with El a few weeks later, I thought maybe it was our time."
"The signals I sent him, I thought, showed that I was interest. He returned them with really mixed signals and it never happened. I convinced myself that I wasn't good enough for him –that I was too young, and not pretty compared to the model he had just been dating. I started working out, losing weight rapidly, and wearing make out caked to my face."
"Lauren you know that's not true," I was struck by her sudden honesty. From the four months that I had spent with her I would have never guess she was so insecure.
"But at the time I didn't." Her eyes glazed over in remembrance. "Not until Liam came along." She paused and closed her eyes. "Liam came and, and well he made me feel like I was worth something. It wasn't who I wanted to love and affection from, but it was affection none the less. And let's face it he knows how to treat a girl." She winked and I nodded in agreement. It was true.
"You know my mom told me the other day that she could tell I was happy, and she's right. I was. I started taking care of myself. In just two weeks, Liam snapped me back onto the right path. If he hadn't been there for me, I don't even know where I'd be now."
"Does Louis know?" I shuddered. I was having difficulty taking in what she was saying.
"Nope, Liam and my sister, and now you, know. I know you are probably asking why I would do that for one boy, but for me it wasn't just one boy."
"It was Louis," I smiled.
"I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I just wanted so desperately for him to see me the way I saw him."
"Why didn't you just tell him?"
She cackled, "I didn't have to guts to, so instead I tortured myself."
"And Liam was there..." my voice trailed off.
"Char, he kept the picture to remind us that even when times suck, there are still friends who are going to be there to help you get through it. We were both in a rough patch, but we helped each other out. Maybe the relationship path we took wasn't the right one, but we saved each other from really bad places, and I will be forever thankful of that."
I didn't know what to say.
The wind whipped through the commons area, fluttering both of our hair.
"So please don't hold that against him. I have the same picture hidden under my mattress. All it is is a reminder. It doesn't mean anything more than that."
"Okay," I whispered.
"So will you go and see him? He's slowly dwindling back to that place and I don't want to see him there again."
"I can't Lauren. I just can't."
"WHY?" she threw her hands in the air. "Why not?"
"I don't have a good reason, but I just can't. My stomach feels sick when I think about going to see him and I just don't know what to do."
Her voice dropped to a whisper and she suddenly became the defending friend I had assumed she would be, "He didn't do anything wrong."
"I know. It's all me. I think I'm just using this whole situation as an excuse for myself to get the space I need. When I saw that picture, the pain was something that I've never felt before, and I worried that I'm falling fast and hard."
"Is that bad?" she asked confused.
"It is when you are putting a lot at risk. My family, my friends, apparently my social life because people seem to recognize me everywhere I go. I'm putting all of these things on the line and I don't know if he's really in this."
"Seriously? You're kidding right?"
"I don't know. I think I'm giving myself too much time to think about everything, but I can't go back yet. I have relationships to patch up before I get to him. I just, I just need time."
"Sure," she winked. "I get it."
"So how is everyone?" I lay back on my back looking up at the stars –suddenly reminded of the night at the bungalow.
"Well, let's be completely honest. Louis socked Liam in the eye and they aren't talking right now."
"What?" I sat back up. "Why'd he do that?"
"Neither of us are really sure and since he won't talk to either me or him we can't find out."
"He won't talk to you?"
She nodded.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I bet that's not too easy to deal with."
She shook her head. "It's not."
"So you still like him like that?"
"I never stopped. Even when I was with Liam, he wasn't Louis."
"Mmm," I hummed. "What is it that you like about him?"
Suddenly, the conversation had turned to gossip girl talk, and I was just fine with that.
"What's not to love about him?" she giggled.
"Go on then. Tell me," I pushed.
She lay back as well as she began her list.
"He always makes me smile. He does all this random crazy stuff and I just wonder why but I'm sure he's thinking why not. He makes everything fun and funny and doesn't waste energy on being negative. To him, it's like everything in life has potential to be good."
I sat up to examine her facial expression. Her eyes were closed but her face was bright with a smile. You could just tell that she completely loved him.
"You know I'm leaving," she kept her eyes closed. "I can't take it anymore –the way he's been treating me this past week. He's been completely ignoring me, making snarky rude comments. I need to leave. I guess, like you, I need some space to think. I'm going to my cousins' to distant myself from the situation."
I knew exactly how she felt. I didn't want to be away from Liam but it's what I needed to do.
"So I guess we are in the same boat now, huh?"
She opened her eyes slowly. This time, the hazel was accompanied by a splash of pain.
"I guess so," she sighed. "The same damn, rocky, unstable boat."