Yours Truly

After our breakfast, I had to have Zayn help me wash my hair in the tub, since I couldn’t stand on my ankle without the boot for long periods of time. I thanked him profusely when he was done, and he left me to get ready while he went and cleaned up our breakfast mess. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a black camisole, leaving my hair up in its towel, before walking to the vanity to do my makeup. I kept it simple, using only foundation and eyeliner, and decided to top it off with a sheer lip gloss. I decided to let my hair dry naturally, thankful it was almost perfectly straight, but quickly realized that my bangs had a mind of their own.

I grabbed the tin from the top drawer of the vanity, knowing I had to have thrown some bobby pins into it at some point, and paused as I opened it. Sitting on top of all the useless clutter, right where I had put it a few weeks prior, was the promise ring Zayn had given me the Christmas before. I picked it up, the cool silver feeling almost foreign in my hands, and traced over the infinity diamond design softly. I had taken the ring off during our last fight, and thrown it in there, forgetting to put it on before going to America.

I slipped it onto my left hand, smiling lightly as I did so, and finally found the bobby pins I was in desperate need of. I twisted my bangs back, securing them in place quickly, and hobbled into my closet to find a sweater to place over my camisole. I flipped through my sweaters, none seeming appealing, and finally grabbed a baggy gray on, slipping it on while trying to not mess my bangs up. I succeeded, and eyed my walking boot warily, figuring I could always put it on right before Bettie picked me up. I picked it up, along with one of my Uggs, and made my way to the living room to find Zayn. He was sat on the couch watching TV with his back to me, so I walked up behind him and slid my arms around his neck.

“Look what I found,” I said, extending my left arm a little further, “I’m sorry I didn’t have it on in America.”

“I probably would’ve taken it off after the fight we had too,” he said turning around to look me in the eyes, “But I’m really glad it’s back on, I love feeling it on your finger when we’re holding hands.”

I blushed, kissing his cheek softly, and walked around the couch so I could sit next to him. I propped my foot on the coffee table, something I would normally not do, and lazily watched the TV as I waited for Bettie to arrive. When she finally told me she was on her way up, I pushed myself off of the couch, and carefully shoved my foot into my walking boot. I muttered angrily under my breath, already hating how it felt, and shot a glare at Zayn as he laughed lightly at me. There was a knock on the door as I shoved my other foot into my real shoe, and Zayn waltzed over to let Bettie in.

“You should really stop pushing her down the stairs, Zayn,” Bettie joked, shoving his shoulder lightly.

“Well, if she would just stay in line,” he said laughing with her, “Good ‘t see ya again, Bettie.”

“Good to see you too,” she said with a smile, “Thanks again for keeping my man under control over there, we all know how reckless he can be.”

“Oh, like drinking one beer?” I asked, standing up to join them, “Come on, you know Liam is the one who keeps us all in line. He’s the sensible one, remember?”

She laughed, knowing we were completely right, and motioned for me to grab my bag so we could get going. I did just that, giving Zayn a quick peck, and followed her to the lift so we could go to the garage for her car. We chatted lightly about America, knowing that we would be talking a lot more at lunch, and she took every chance to call me ‘hop-a-long’ during our walk. I pretended to be mad at her, failing when a smile kept creeping onto my lips, and fell into the leather seats of her Audi gratefully.

“Since your flat still smelled like syrup, I’m assuming you aren’t that hungry,” Bettie said, pulling onto the main road, “Luckily, I’m not that hungry either, so how does Starbucks sound? I need my morning coffee still.”

I told her Starbucks would be fine, and pulled my phone out as we drove along the familiar route. I clicked back onto twitter, scrolling through the new tweets first, and hesitantly hovered over the mentions tab. I clicked over, having hundreds of new replies, and skimmed them cautiously. A few stood out, actually showing support for Zayn and I, causing me to tweet them back happily. However, like I had expected, the majority of them were hate tweets, telling me to leave Zayn, that I wasn’t good enough for him, and even a few telling me to end my life. I threw my phone back into my purse, huffing at the audacity of some people, and caught Bettie glancing at me quickly.

“Angry fans again?” she asked, pulling into a spot near starbucks.

“Always,” I said shaking my head, “How do you do it, Betts? You don’t let it get to you, or at least you don’t let it show.”

“They’re just stupid most of the time,” she said cutting the engine, “The way I see it, they’re jealous in a sense. We’re the ones who, in a way, got lucky and landed some of the most sought after guys in the celebrity world. When they send me those tweets, I just ignore them, because I know that what Liam and I have is real, and they don’t know how our relationship really works.

“Just like they don’t know everything about you and Zayn’s relationship. Sure, they may read the gossip magazines, or rumors made up online, but they don’t see you guys in real life. They see what the media wants them to see.”

I looked at her, once again in awe at how much of her “I don’t give a fuck” attitude showed in her confidence, and followed suit as she hopped out of the car. I followed behind her, and thought to her and Liam’s relationship. He was the ‘sensible’ one in the group, and all of us had expected him to find a shy, quiet girl to call his, something Bettie wasn’t. When he brought her to meet us for the first time, we were all shocked by her tattoos, and contagious personality. I remember that I was skeptical of her at first, worried that she wasn’t right for Liam in the least bit, but changed my mind as soon as they interacted on their own. They fed off of each other, Liam bringing out her sensible side while she brought out his carefree side, and always wore smiles that stretched to their eyes.

She instantly rattled off her order to the barista, her order sounding more complicated than my favorite recipes, and I added a tea to hers, handing over the gold card I adored so much. The girl told us our orders would be out soon, and I ushered Bettie to a table with two plush chairs by it. I sunk into the crushed velvet, and watched as Bettie removed her jacket, showing off a new tattoo wrapped on her shoulder.

“When did you get that one?” I asked, pointing excitedly.

“Last Monday,” she said with a smile, “And let me tell you, it was a pain in my arse to sit that long, but so worth it.”

“I love it,” I sighed, tracing the design with my eyes, “I’ve been craving another one so bad, but can’t seem to decide what to get. Kind of like our friendship tattoos we’ve been talking about for a year now, and still haven’t made a move on.”

“We’ll figure it out one day,” she said as our order was brought over, “It’s not like I’m going anywhere anytime soon, and if you did, I could easily catch you since you can’t run that fast currently.”

I jokingly kicked her foot, causing her to laugh, and sipped at my tea while she ate her breakfast sandwich quietly. I entertained myself with people watching, letting my mind wander as I examined the occupants of the dimly lit coffee shop, and snapped out of my gaze when she asked me what had made America so amazing for Zayn and I.

“I think it was the return of the butterflies,” I said with a shy smile, “When I saw him at the venue, and he finally made eye contact across the room, I full on ran at him. It was like when Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling reenacted the Notebook kiss on TV, basically. It was like, in that one kiss, everything was okay again. I felt happy, and from the look on his face, he was happy too.

“And we actually got our first proper date in forever on one of his nights off. He bought me a whole new outfit, took me to some fancy restaurant, and acted like a gentleman the whole time. Then, we actually made love instead of the normal ‘oh we’re horny, let’s fuck’ sex that had been happening for way too long.”

I finished, looking down with a blush across my face, and could hear Bettie aweing and squealing with happiness. I hushed her, only blushing more, and was glad when she said she was done and we could go shopping for a while. We threw our trash in the bin by the door, and walked into the brisk air, the smell of rain wafting over us. The sky looked promising of rain, and I silently hoped it held off until we were done shopping, or at least inside of a store.

We walked into a few boutiques, ogling the clothes and shoes they held, but didn’t buy anything because we both knew we already owned too many clothes. We did this in nearly every store, Bettie finally caving and buying a new pair of shoes, and eventually made our way back towards her car. We were nearly there, the rain still holding off; when I remembered I needed a birthday gift for one of the girls I looked after at my nannying job, seeing as she turned four right before I returned to work. I pulled Bettie into the shop for children, heading towards the girls side, instructing her to pick out at least one outfit. I busied myself doing the same, settling on something simple, and was glad to see Bettie had chosen a dressier get up. I quickly paid, grabbing the large bag from the counter, and pulled Bettie outside into the sprinkle of rain. We got to her car as fast as we could, the rain coming down in buckets as we slid into the car, and I couldn’t help but to laugh at how much of hot messes we looked like. Taking full advantage of the situation, Bettie pulled her phone out, snapping a picture of us, and tweeted it while saying we were obviously the best catches for the boys.

“Thanks for today, Betts, it was fun,” I said happily, as she pulled into the complex, “Are you finally going to see Liam?”

“Of course!” she exclaimed, pulling into one of his designated parking spaces, “Just like you’re going to go make sweet, sweet love to your boyfriend.”

“Oh, hush,” I said hiding my face with my hair, “I’ll see you soon though, yeah? I’m sure we’ll all be going around some bar for drinks soon.”

She nodded, stepping into the lift that would take her to the right floor, and waved as the doors closed. I waved back, waiting for my lift to arrive, and slunk in, tapping my foot along to the music playing through the speakers. I finally reached the floor, only a few from the top, and fished out the keys that always seemed to be the last thing I touched in my bag. The main room was empty, our bags now missing from it, and I could hear the sound of the washer and dryer from the laundry room. I smiled, happy that I wouldn’t have to worry about all of our laundry, and headed towards our room, only to find Zayn surrounded by folded clothes and soundly asleep. I held in a laugh, knowing he always had a tendency to randomly knock out, and put the clothes away before snuggling up beside him and allowing myself to take a nap as well.