Chapter 5.
*Zayn’s Point of View*
I was sitting in the living room with the lads and Jane, we were all debating on what to do for the rest of the evening. Honestly I just wanted to be alone but I knew that wasn’t an option with everyone here though. It was beginning to get dark now and Aria still hadn’t come home. I was getting worried.
“It’s almost 8 o’clock,” Liam said sounding a bit worried “Maybe you should go look for Aria.” His brown eyes met mine. She wouldn’t listen to me, if I went afterher she’d probably run away even further. I was really tired of her always running away from me.
“She won’t listen to me. I tried talking to her earlier. I apologized and everything, she doesn’t want to hear it.” I said.
“Zayn you know she still loves you.” Jane said playfully messing up my hair. Normally I’d be really angry about my messy hair but right now I don’t care.
“Really? She still loves me? Right that’s why she’s never mentioned me to you at all in the past three years and didn’t go to any of our concerts when we sent her family tickets. That’s why she won’t even talk to me, and that’s why she’s so willing to forget about me and everything we ever did together.” I exploded not being able to keep those words in anymore.
Everyone looked shocked at me, I could tell by their looks that nobody knew what to say. Harry gave me a sympathetic smile, “You did break her heart, mate. Just give her some time. Everything will go back to normal.”
I inhaled a deep breath, “It’s too late for normal. She’s not my Aria anymore she’s-“ The sound of the front door opening caused me to silence myself.
*Aria’s Point of View*
I opened the door to the lake house and immediately regretted it as I entered the living room. Jane and Zayn were sitting awkwardly on one of the couches, a blonde haired guy was sitting lazily in the recliner, someone with messy, wispy hair was sitting on the floor going through some movies, trying to pick one out, I assumed. Two other guys were sprawled out on the other couch, one had curly brown hair and the other had a buzz cut.
I was never told that four other guys would be joining us, ugh. From what I assumed they were the other members of One Direction, I knew enough to know that there were five of them, but I never cared to learn the lads names or anything like that.
“You’re back! We were really worried about you.” Jane said running up to me, pulling me into a hug. “It’s almost 9pm, you should have called.” She scolded.
“Sorry” I muttered.
“You must be Aria.” The boy who was previously looking through the movies said as he walked over to me, “I’m Louis.” He flashed me a perfect smile reaching his hand out to shake mine. I awkwardly took his hand and shook it, plastering on a fake smile. “These are my lads” he said gesturing to the boys around the room.
“I’m Niall.” The blonde smiled from the chair.
“I’m Liam. I’ve heard loads about you, Aria.” The short haired boy gave me a genuine smile.
“And I’m Harry” The curly haired boy looked up at me. I found his smile mesmerizing, it was almost hard to get lost in his cheeky smile and his gorgeous eyes.
“It’s nice to meet all of you.” I ran my fingers through my hair. My eyes shifted over to Zayn who was sitting on the couch alone, scrolling through his phone. “I think I’m going to go to my room.” I said awkwardly.
“Come on Ari!” Jane begged “Watch a movie with us.”
“If you want me to go upstairs or something, I will.” Zayn said “Why don’t you stay down here?”
“It’s really okay. I want to go upstairs and be alone.”
“You’ve been alone all day.” Jane whined.
“We can watch a movie or play a game.” Liam suggested.
“Come on, Aria. It will be fun.” Harry joined in.
“We won’t let Zayn bother you.” Niall smirked.
After endless begging, I found myself agreeing to spend the evening with Jane, the boys and even Zayn. I was sitting on the couch between Jane and Liam, we were all watching Despicable Me since it was the only movie we all agreed on. We all watched the movie in silence, and soon the credits started rolling.
“What should we do now?” Harry asked .
“Watch another movie?” Zayn suggested. I was secretly hoping that everyone would agree that way we could spend another few hours not talking.
“No.” a smile grew across Harry’s face, “Let’s play Truth or Dare.”
“No.” Niall whined “I always get dared to do really stupid things, and you guys chicken out of all of the good dares.”
“Yeah, and dares always get us into trouble.” Liam said agreeing.
“Then let’s just play Truth then. Without dares, like we just answer questions.” Jane smiled.
“Fine. No dares.” Zayn clarified.
“Sounds good to me, are you playing Aria?” Niall asked.
“No.” I said quickly.
“Please?” Everyone begged in unison.
I rolled my eyes knowing that I would regret this. “Fine.” I said.
Everyone chorused their “Hoorays’” a few of the lads fist pumped the air.
“I’ll be back.” Louis said skipping off toward the kitchen. When he came back he had some sort of alcoholic beverage in his hands and a stack of plastic cups. “The truth comes out best when everyone’s a bit tipsy.” He winked.
I got a worried feeling, I knew this wasn’t going to turn out good. I have never drank before, ever. I gave Jane a worried look. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked as Louis started pouring the alcohol into cups.
“We’re not going to get drunk, just tipsy.” Harry said, “And we aren’t going to drive or go to the lake or anything.”
I still wasn’t so sure about this.
“It will be fine, Aria.” Jane smiled.
“Have you never drank before?” Niall asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
“No, I haven’t.” I said honestly. I never saw the point in getting drunk, it just made people sick the next day and I hate getting sick.
“You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to.” Liam smiled at me encouragingly, “I don’t drink.”
I thought for a second, “I guess it won’t hurt to try it once.” I said picking up a cup and taking a big gulp. The alcohol had a bittersweet taste and burned my throat on its way down. Everyone else started drinking as well.
“Okay!” Louis said eagerly, “Whatever happens in this circle stays in this circle.” He motioned around to the seven of us who were sitting in a circle on the floor. I was comfortably sitting between Harry and Jane. We all nodded.
“I’ll start.” Harry said, “Okay Lou, if you had to snog anyone in this room, who would it be?”
Louis smirked, “It would be you, Harold.”
I sat there awkwardly, “Wait, are you guys gay?”
The whole room filled with laughter. “No,” Niall said “It’s just something they play up for the fans.” Oh. That's normal.
“My turn!” Louis cheered. “Aria, are you a virgin?”
My cheeks turned red as I felt everyone staring at me. “No.” I answered honestly, instantly thinking of my boyfriend. I looked up, my eyes meeting with Zayn’s. He looked a bit surprised by my answer. I don’t see why though, I’m not the little sixteen year old girl he knew.
About an hour had gone by, I had actually found out a lot about the boys. We had all had more than enough to drink, I should have known the boys were lying when they said we’d only get a bit tipsy.
“Zayn, this one’s for you.” Jane slurred, “Why did you leave Aria after telling her you loved her?”
Zayn’s eyes widened, he was silent before he said, “I j- just wasn’t ready for a commitment, I guess .”
I felt my heart tug, he left me because he wasn’t ready for a commitment? He ruined everything over a stupid commitment. If he was never ready, he shouldn’t have kissed me, and lead me on.
“Okay then..” Liam said “Aria, do you think you’ll ever forgive Zayn?” He looked at me carefully.
I took another big gulp of probably my fourth drink. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Zaynie,” Louis said “Do you still have feelings for Aria?” Louis gave me a creepy smile.
Zayn’s face turned pale, “Honestly, yeah.” He said with his eyes looking distant, “I think I always will.”
“Awe,” Harry said poking Zayn’s stomach, then turning to me. “Aria, do you still like Zayn?”
I watched Zayn tense up, awaiting my answer. Since when did this game turn into being just about Zayn and I? “It’s not your turn, curly.” I smirked.
“I don’t care, answer the question.” He shot back.
“Come on, Ari.” Niall said. “Just answer the question.”
There was no ways I was going to say if I still had feelings or not for Zayn after three years, especially in front of everyone. I wasn't even sure of the answer, myself. I could feel everybody’s eyes glued to me. I chugged the last of my drink and took a deep breath knowing I would instantly regret the words I was about to say. “Zayn,” I exhaled deeply, “Can I talk to you alone?”
Zayn’s features filled with concern, “Um yeah.” He said quietly.
Jane whispered something to Louis causing him to laugh, “Good luck, mate.” He said.
I stood up, waving goodbye to the boys and Jane before trying to walk in a straight line through the house. I could hear Zayn’s light footsteps trail behind me as I stumbled through the kitchen. I opened the sliding glass door and stepped out onto the beautiful porch.
Without saying a word, Zayn and I both took a seat on the wooden porch swing. I let a few minutes pass by while I played with my fingers. I could hear the soft sound of Zayn breathing next to me. I wondered how things could change so quickly. In such a short time, he went from being my best friend, to something way more, to absolutely nothing. It felt foreign to be at loss of words when I was with him. Even when we fought as kids, we never stayed mad at each other for more than a few hours.
“So,” I said taking a deep breath. “Um. It was really awkward in there. Uh, sorry.”
“It wasn’t you’re fault.” He replied suddenly, “Sorry about the questions they were asking you, I didn’t think they’d turn it into a game where they would only ask us questions.” He sighed.
I was silent. This was so awkward. That whole thing was probably a setup by everyone inside. I wanted to slap myself for agreeing to play that game, and asking Zayn to talk to me. We couldn’t work this out.
“Aria?” Zayn asked, his voice sounded distant.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“What is happening to us? I mean, like why are we just letting everything go.” His voice was small.
“I don’t know." I thought for a second, "Things have just changed.” I said slowly.
He took a deep breath, “I’m really sorry for hurting you. I never meant for any of this to happen. Aria, I-“
I felt the alcohol taking over my brain. I couldn’t think straight. Before I could stop myself, I found myself leaning in towards Zayn. The world began spinning as our lips slowly met. Our lips formed perfectly together. I felt like nothing could be even more perfect than being here with Zayn, right now. I felt his tongue slide across my lips asking for entrance, I immediately opened my mouth. This kiss was different than our first kiss; this kiss had so much more emotion in it. Our tongues moved in sync. Everything was completely and utterly perfect.
A picture of Austin quickly popped into my head. I felt guilt run across my mind, but I didn’t care. How was I doing this to him, all Austin has done is loved me and been there for me when I was a mess and this was how I was paying him back. I was cheating on him with the person who broke my heart in the first place.
I abruptly pulled back from Zayn, feeling disgusted in myself.
“Is everything okay?” Zayn asked between breaths.
I felt tears sting my eyes. “This was a stupid mistake.” I said breathing heavily.
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