When I Think About You

"Can we sleep over at your place, Louis?" Niall pleaded with Louis as I watched from the sidelines.

"Yeah, Lou. It'd be less troublesome if we all stayed at one place." Liam, aka Daddy Direction, said with a smile.

"Hell yeah, Daddy D.!" I said with a fist pump which made all the boys look at me weirdly.

"What!? I was just routing Liam on." I said innocently.

"You're very hyper today." Harry pointed out. I pretended to press a button on the side of my arm and drooped my head to the side a little as a serious look crossed my face.

"What are you doing?" Zayn asked with a chuckle.

"Lil has this 'mood meter' on her arm. She likes to adjust her mood according to it. Right now, it says that she's on number 4; seriousness." Louis exclaimed before swatting my hand away and pressing the upper part of my arm four times.

"8? What does that stand for?" Harry asked.

"Happy. Extremely happy!" I shouted before tackling the nearest person in a hug; which happened to be Zayn. Then, I pressed my lips to his before crawling over the table to hug the others.

"Row row row your boat!
GENTLY DOWN THE STREEEEAM!" I sang at the top of my lungs which made it sound like a shriek more than anything.

"Stop her! My ears!" Niall said dramatically as he clutched his ears.

"NOOO!" I screamed at Niall before hopping off the table and running out of the house with the boys hot on my tail; if I had one. "Jimmy protested!"

"Guys, catch her! She might get injured or something!" I heard Louis yell frantically.

"You'll never catch me alive, fuckers!" I screamed at them over my shoulder. Suddenly, I lost my footing and twisted my ankle before dropping to the ground in a heap.

"Mother of FUCK! Like.. what the hell.. call the PRIEST! The NAVY! The Royal Air Force! I need a motherfucking exorcist here! The Queen! I need the Queen! Louis, call the Queen! I'm dying!" I said on the verge of tears as I clutched my twisted ankle. All the boys chuckled before crouching down next to me.

"We better get you to the hospital." Zayn said softly before helping me sit up. I bit my bottom lip and shook my head.

"Don't tell me that you're afraid of hospitals.." Zayn said with a chuckle. I flushed with embarrassment before looking away. Louis caught on to my actions and helped me up to my good foot.

"She's not afraid. She just had a bad experience in them. We can just take her home and call a doctor for her." Louis said softly before hoisting me up in his arms and carrying me to the car. Sometimes, it's good to have an overprotective older brother.

"Why not go to my place, instead?" Zayn asked.

"Lil will feel more comfortable in her own room." Louis somewhat snapped. I touched his cheek gently and shook my head.

***

"Get some rest, Miss Tomlinson. If not, I'll be forced to make you stay here tomorrow. We don't want that, do we?" The elderly doctor, Dr. Mather, said softly before patting my shoulder and leaving the room.

"Wait, doctor.. can I go down to the kitchen and cook dinner? The boys will most probably burn the house down if I let them." I said softly. "And, I don't want them eating pizza on the day before their flight to the US."

"Just.. don't over-exert yourself." He answered before nodding curtly and closing the door gently behind him.

I laid down in my bed and closed my eyes to ease the pain that was radiating through my left ankle. Then, I blacked out.

"Lil, wake up." Louis' unmistakable voice hummed in my ear.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily.

"Summer time." He answered with a smile. I glared at him and scowled.

"What time is it?" I asked; irritated at him. I don't know why I'm suddenly irritated, maybe it's just my hormones or something?

"Three in the afternoon." He said softly before stroking my head.

"Lou, can you carry me down to the kitchen? I need to make dinner." I murmured.

"The doctor mentioned that. Just don't over-exert yourself, okay?" He repeated Dr. Mather's words.

"Okay." I answered quietly before he helped me off the bed and guided me down the stairs. Zayn was in the kitchen, slicing something on the chopping board. It was touching that he was going to make an effort to start dinner even if he was a terrible cook.

"I'm okay, Lou. Why don't you hang out with the boys?" I said and nudged him towards the exit of the kitchen. He nodded reluctantly before leaving me there.

I clutched the counter's edge and slowly limped towards Zayn. He looked back and carefully helped me stand beside him. Then, he continued assaulting what I assume to be tomatoes.

"How are you?" He asked me softly.

"Physically.. it hurts like hell. Emotionally.. a tad embarrassed and sad." I murmured and looked down at his hands which gripped the knife tightly as he sliced a tomato in half. But, his hand slipped and, slowly, blood started oozing out of his index finger. I reached out to hold his hand but he yanked it away from me. I felt hurt and rejected as tears welled up at my eyes. Why was he being like this? Did I do anything wrong?

"Zayn, I think that that cut's deep." I murmured quietly as he clutched his hand close to him. He didn't answer as I limped closer to him; he only turned away from me. "YOU ARE SO STUBBORN!"

"I'm stubborn!? Speak for yourself!" He hissed at me. I felt like I'd just been slapped.

"I was just trying to help you!" I said quietly as I looked down and angrily wiped the first tear that fell from my face with the back of my hand.

"Well, don't." Zayn said as he gritted his teeth. "Not when I'm always hurting you."

"Hurting me? What the hell, Zayn!?" I burst out in complete anger. He just shook his head and looked away from me as Louis and the boys entered the kitchen.

"What happened?" Liam asked as Louis walked over to me and wrapped his arms protectively around me. I clutched his shirt and silently let my frustration out on his chest.

He tucked me up in my bed and kissed my forehead before giving me a small smile and walking out of my room. I turned to my side with some difficulty; facing away from the door.

Suddenly, it opened and closed quietly. I heard somewhat heavy footsteps padding against the hardwood floor and my heart raced in my chest. Was this person a murderer? A stalker? Maybe he's one of those ghosts that I see on 9GAG. I haven't checked my 9GAG account in ages. I wonder what's happening? Why the hell am I thinking about 9GAG when I'm possibly going to get murdered tonight?! I'm hopeless.

But, it never came. I expected a pillow to be pressed against my face or a knife to be driven into my heart; but, nothing happened. Instead, the bed shifted and another person laid next to me. I closed my eyes in fear of being discovered that I was awake. The stranger's scent wafted through my nostrils and, instantly, I recognized the stranger next to me: Zayn.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered before letting out a choked sob which made my heart break in half. For half an hour or so, he cried his heart out. With every sob, and every tear that presumably fell on his pillow, my heart ached and broke a little bit. By now, I think my heart is laying crumbled to a million pieces in my chest.

Hearing Zayn cry like that made me want to reach out to him; hug him and tell him that he was an idiot for believing that he hurt me so much with his words from earlier today; the words he said when he mocked me about fearing hospitals. For half an hour, I listened to the love of my life let his frustrations out in the form of tears. The worst part of it was knowing that I couldn't do anything. Not when he thought I was sound asleep thinking that I was mad at him for mocking me. I wasn't angry at him. Not for those words, anyway.

***

The morning went by in a blur. I didn't see Zayn next to me in bed which made me assume that he left some time around 3 AM. He didn't even leave any indication that he was there. If I wasn't awake when he came in, I never would've known that he cried himself to sleep.

"Lil, come on. We need to get to Heathrow in an hour." Louis said softly as he ran around the house; packing last minute things.

"If you don't remember.. I can't really walk." I answered with a teasing smile on my face. I had to keep up the act of being normal for all their sakes. One wrong move and they will mostly blame Zayn. I don't want that to happen to him. I love him too much.

"Oh, right. Well, come on. The Tommo express is now fully functional." He said with a grin before hoisting me up on his back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and snuggled into the crook of his shoulder.

Let's just say that the ride to the airport was really awkward and tense that you'd think we were all strangers that were shoved into a van.

"Are we going to ride a private jet?" I asked Louis quietly.

"Yeah. I know that it's going to be awesome!" He said excitedly. Everyone looked at us and cracked some smiles.

"We're here." Paul, their bodyguard, said before hopping out of the front seat and opening the door for us. Louis got out first and placed me on his back which made the stalking paparazzi people take lots of pictures.

"Great, now the whole world will know that I have the poise and grace of a peanut." I muttered and Louis laughed loudly.

"A peanut has more poise and grace than you, Lil." He answered which made me pull his hair.

"Ow. Okay. You have the same poise and grace as a peanut. No more, no less." He answered as he climbed up into the jet using the stairs. Once we were inside, I was awestruck at the interior. It looked.. EXTRAVAGANT! Leather seats, drink holders, in-flight entertainment, and the list goes on and on! This totally beats the economy class in a public plane by a long run!

"Zayn will be sitting down beside you." He whispered as he sat me down on a window seat. I looked at him in confusion.

"Why?" I whispered back.

"As much as I want to beat him up and throw him out of this plane... I know that you'd hate me for that.. and I also know that you two need to patch thing up right now before this gets any bigger. He loves you and you love him. It's only right." He said softly and kissed my forehead before smiling at me and setting off to his own seat. As much as Louis is an idiot.. well.. acts like an idiot.. he gives the most reasonable advice in the universe! I told you that he's the best.

"Can I sit here?" I looked up and saw Zayn with a small smile on his face. I turned away from him and bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.

"I believe that the proper way to say that would be 'May I sit here?'." I answered and he chuckled before he sat down next to me. He knew that he was already somewhat forgiven.

"Lil?" He asked softly before taking hold of my hand which just rested limply on the arm rest between us. I looked at him and saw that he was blushing madly and that he looked guilty.

"I'm sorry for acting like that yesterday." He whispered. I nodded and let a smile adorn my features.

"The question is why, though?" I asked softly.

"When you twisted your ankle.. I mocked you and I thought that I had hurt your feelings badly because Louis kept shooting angry glares at me. And, the look on your face.. it just tore my heart out." He murmured.

"What hurt me was the way you acted when we were in the kitchen." I whispered and squeezed his hand.

"I'm sorry. I got so angry at myself when you said that you were embarrassed and sad. I kept thinking that I was the reason why you felt like that. And I.. I just hate knowing that I hurt you. And I.. I'm just so sorry." He continued softly. I smiled and placed a hand on his cheek before leaning over to kiss him gently.

"Just shut up. You're already forgiven. As for why I felt like that.. I was sad when you questioned my fear of hospitals since I remembered that my grandpa.. y'know... died in a hospital. And.. I was embarrassed because I tripped on a flat surface." I admitted and we both chuckled.

"Ah, the lovebirds are back!" Niall exclaimed as he shot out of his seat and started bugging us.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts and we will begin take-off." The captain said through the speakers and I grinned at Zayn before fastening my seatbelt.

As the plane ascended into the air, my mood went up with it. The higher we went, the better I felt. I can't wait until we get to America.

Zayn squeezed my hand and I looked at him with a smile plastered on my face.

"I love you." He whispered. I blushed and whispered and 'I love you, too.' back at him. Then, he leaned over and gently kissed me.

At that moment, I only had one thought in my mind: This is the most amazing after-fight 20,000 feet in the air kiss in the history of forever.