Yours Truly

The next morning, I woke up tangled in Zayn’s arms, with his face mere centimeters from my own. I studied his face, smiling at how serene he looked, and kissed the tip of his nose before trying to slide out of bed without waking him. His right arm had just dropped from my body, when he mumbled something, making my breath hitch in my throat. I stayed still, not wanting to wake him, and finally let out a breath when he rolled onto his stomach, still fully asleep. I crept out of the room, trying not to slip on the wood floors, and grabbed my smoking hoodie from its spot on the arm chair.

I slid the gray jacket over my tank top as I made way out to the living room, in search of my phone and MacBook, deciding to catch up on my facebook since I had been neglecting it. I finally found them on the couch, still in my bag from the trip, and I plucked them out, along with my cigarettes, making my way onto the balcony. I fell onto the lounger, hungrily lighting my Marlboro, and let it dangle between my lips as I got situated. I kept my bad ankle propped up on the opposite arm of the lounger, and bent the other one under me, using it as a platform for my computer.

My facebook was full of notifications, all from close friends and family, and it took me a while to get through all of them. I smiled as I read a post my aunt had left, she always like to randomly stop by and tell me about the happenings in her life, and left her a detailed response about my time in America telling her I’d come visit her soon. I was aimlessly scrolling through my timeline, only half reading the statuses, when my phone went off, scaring me. I picked it up, a ridiculous picture flashing on the screen, and smiled as I hit the green icon.

“Well hello, Bettie darling,” I said, using the greeting I always did for my best friend.

“Good day Miss Barnes,” she said, still sounding half asleep, “I know it’s early, but I had to know if you were okay?”

“I’m fine, just jetlagged,” I said, twisting a strand of hair between my index finger and thumb, “What makes you ask?”

“Well, you know how I always have to check the gossip sites when I can’t sleep,” she rambled, allowing me to make a noise of agreement, “Well, you and Zayn are on the front page of a few, and it looks like you had been crying.”

I groaned, typing Zayn and I’s names into the google bar, and clicked on the first result to pop up. Just like Bettie had said, my makeup smeared face was the first thing you saw, along with a ridiculous headline.

“’Trouble In America For Britain’s Favorite Young Couple’, are you kidding me,” I said, irritated with the gossip site already, “I feel asleep, and rubbed my eyes for Christ sakes, it’s not like I was sobbing for 7 straight hours. These people will literally make a fake story out of anything.”

“I know, babe,” Bettie said, sounding a bit more awake, “How was the trip, anyways? I know things weren’t all glitter and rainbows before you left.”

I bit my lip, thinking of the fight Zayn and I had right before he had left, and how I had almost not gotten on my flight to New York. Bettie knew that our relationship was often on the rocks, but she also knew how much we loved each other, and would fight to make it work. Now that I looked back on the fight, it was stupid and trivial, and I made the right choice in getting on my flight.

“It was amazing, Betts,” I said, a smiling creeping onto my face, “We didn’t fight, or even get close to fighting for those two weeks. That’s never happened, well on my part at least. It felt like it did in the beginning, but I’m honestly just scared that the feeling won’t last forever.”

“Just face it, you two are endgame for each other,” she said, a laugh in her voice, “And I fully expect to be stood next you in a beautiful bridesmaid dress one day.”

I laughed, promising her that she’d always be my maid of honor, and proceeded to listen to her ramble about what I had missed during my vacation. She was in the middle of telling me about a rude client she had the day before when Zayn walked outside, shirtless and ruffling his hair. I smiled, mouthing Bettie’s name when he sent me a questioning look, making him nod, and light his own cigarette. He sat on the lounger, moving my bum ankle onto his lap, and massaged it lightly as he stared out into the distance.

“So yeah, that douchebag didn’t even leave a good tip,” Bettie said, snapping me out of my trance, “Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch later or something? I need my best friend back in my life.”

“You know I can’t say no to seeing you,” I said happily, “Pick me up around 1 or so, since I can’t drive right now, and I’ll buy you lunch wherever you choose. Deal?”

“And you know I can’t say no to free food,” she said, causing me to laugh, “See you later, dear.”

I gave her a quick goodbye, tossing my phone onto my stomach, and nudged Zayn softly with my foot. He snapped out of his daze, turning his head towards me, his half-awake eyes meeting my own. I leaned up, brushing my fingers through his tousled hair, and left my hand against his cheek, pressing a kiss to the other. He smiled, a look of wonder flashing in his eyes at my sudden affection, but didn’t question it as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I let my head fall to his shoulder, my gaze now out to the private courtyard in our complex, and contemplated on whether or not I should tell him about the gossip sites. I knew that he didn’t like them, almost as much as I didn’t, but he still had a right to know that our relationship was the main topic of the day.

“So, I forgot to wear sunglasses at the airport,” I laughed, trying to lighten to mood before I dropped the news, “And the paps seemed to have had a heyday with it.”

“Is that why Bettie called so early?” he asked, earning a swift nod, “And what exactly are they saying about you now?”

“They’re saying that ‘Britain’s favorite young couple had trouble in America’,” I said, using airquotes around what I had read, “Which is bullshit, considering we had the time of our lives over there.”

“They’ll believe what they want, but we’ll know the truth,” he said kissing my hair softly, “Plus, how could they think we’re having trouble when they see a picture of us all close first thing in the morning?”

I knitted my eyebrows together, and looked at his phone, realizing he had snapped a picture of him kissing my hair sneakily. It made my heart melt, seeing as we both looked so serene, and I watched as he posted it to twitter, my phone going off quickly after. I picked it up, instantly retweeting it, and watched as the number on my mentions tab kept increasing. I closed the app, knowing I would glance at the @replies later, and pulled Zayn up, telling him I’d cook us pancakes. He eagerly followed me inside, and turned on the kettle as I pulled out the stuff to make pancakes with. I made a mental note to thank Bettie for coming and restocking our fridge the day before, and tossed everything onto the counter, getting to work quickly.