Take a Good Guess

“Tell me Liam, am I a betrayer?”

“No,” Liam stated, turning to me from his phone, “You’re just a bad sister.”

I sent a glare at him, while he only responded with a smile. He tossed his phone to the bed before wrapping his arms around my shoulders. There was nothing I could do but to give in to him, so I rested my head on his chest, slowly breathing in his scent.

“I’m kidding, Hannah,” He said, “I know you love Emma so much.”

“I’m starting to think coming here was a bad idea.”

“Don’t say that,” Liam said, planting a kiss on my head, “I know she’s the first reason you came here after all.”

“I know, but—“

“You needed the money, Hannah,” he said, letting go of me. I sat up straight and looked at him, his face was full of concern. “You can’t possibly stay working at that bookstore for the rest of your life while she always checks herself in and out of rehab.”

As much I wanted to respond to that, nothing came out of my mouth. I’ve been fighting back the tears from streaming down my cheeks; it felt like if I say something else I would burst. And I hated looking so fragile in front of Liam.

“I’m sorry to say this,” He said again, shaking his head, “But I’m the only one you got.”

I didn’t say anything else; I was a bit too frustrated and tired just to spit out a word. I really didn’t know what to think anymore. As much as I hate to admit it, but what Liam said was true. I got no one else; he was probably the only one I could trust.

“Can you just—“ I forced myself to speak, “leave me alone for a while?” I looked up to meet his warm brown eyes. His eyes never left mine, I saw a flash of confusion for a second there, but it was immediately replaced by a sympathetic look after he let out a sigh.

“Okay,” he said, “I’ll be in my room.”

I watched Liam as he dragged his feet towards the door, he didn’t even bother glancing back at me. I turned my gaze to my hands as I heard the sound of the door closing. Now it was only me in the room.

My breathing began to become unsteady as I buried my face in my hands; the tears were slowly falling down to my cheeks. I couldn’t bear the pain anymore, it’s like countless of knives were stabbing inside my chest. My thought was full of Emma, oh, how I hate that girl. She really didn’t give a damn thing about her own sister, always wrecking herself up while I was the one who worked her arse off just to put some food in our plate.

I felt a slight vibrate from my jeans’ pocket; I have been ignoring the calls and the numerous texts that Paul has been sending me. Maybe because I was supposed to get ready to head to the Rockefeller Plaza right now. I forced myself to stand up, bringing my feet to the door and head to Paul’s room, I didn’t really care on how bad my eyes looked, I wiped out the tears that started to go dry but they still looked like a pair of raccoon’s eyes. I hesitated to go outside my room because I really didn’t want any of the guys to notice I’ve been crying, their attention was the last thing I needed right now. I finally decided to come out anyway and slipped into Paul’s room, wishing he were there.

“Paul?” No one answered me as I scanned through his messy living room, various of clothing has been strewn here and there, beer bottles and red plastic cups were scattered in every corner of the room, my mind immediately thought of Harry and Louis, there was no way that Paul was the one behind this.

“Paul? Where the hell are you?” I muttered to myself, I would go check his bedroom but I had a terrible feeling that I would see something more horrifying than seeing Harry’s bum, and I really didn’t need that kind of sight right now.

I decided to go check later and head back to my room, but as I was about to turn around my body collided with another figure. I looked up to see who it was; my heart sank when I took a good look at the person was.

“Hannah?”

“Zayn?” I shot up, “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for Paul,” His eyes trailed down my face, “Hey, have you been crying?” his hands were on my shoulders now, I tried to hide my face as I struggled to push myself away from his grip, but he was no match for me, he only tighten his hand around my shoulders.

“Hannah, what’s wrong?”

“I’m fine, Zayn,” I answered, “I really am.”

“No, you’re not,” he put his hand on my chin, lifting my face so I had no choice but to look at
him, “You’ve been crying.”

“It’s really nothing,” I choked out the words, “I’m okay.”

“Then explain those eyes.”

“Now’s really not the time, Zayn,” I said turning away from him.

He let go of his hands, but his eyes never for a second left their gaze on me. I hated it when he did that, it’s like he could see right inside my mind and I had no control whatsoever.

I was about to open my mouth so say something, but the door swung open and Paul and Liam entered the room.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Hannah!” Paul said when his eyes landed on mine, “We’ve been looking all over for you.”

I caught the sight of Liam and Zayn stealing glances at each other, but Zayn only shook his head and turned to Paul, “Paul, about that—“

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll talk about it later, Zayn,” he said, “Now you, missy, will you go get ready? We’re already behind schedule.”

I only nodded and slipped myself out of the room; ignoring the stares that Liam has been giving me. It took about fifteen minutes to make sure everything was in place, I’ve been constantly shouting at Louis for keeping myself from doing my job right, blame his sudden presence in my room, now he was casually sitting in my couch with the biggest ear-to-ear grin on his face.

“You seriously need anger management, woman,” he laughed, tossing a pillow towards me.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Louis!” I groaned as I tried to button down my coat, “That’s like the last thing I need.”

Louis only laughed and sent a smirk in my way, “How’s yesterday, by the way?”

“What do you mean?” I turned to him as I struggled tying with my boots’ lace now.

“Don’t act like you don’t know, Adler,” He rolled his eyes, I laughed at the way he talked with his thick British accent that I adored so much. I must say of all five of them, my favorite had to be Louis.

“It was—, fine, I guess,” I shrugged, “it’s not like anything happened—“

“What about that little snog then?” He cut me off, smiling mischievously towards me.

“How did you—“ I left my mouth opened and turned to him, “You little shit, you saw that?”

“Zayn and Hannah sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i—“

Before he could even finish that sentence a flying pillow hit him straight in the face, I only laughed at how stupid he looked. Louis only stared at me with a most devious smirk that started to grow in his lips.

“Oh, you asked for it,” he said, he then literally launched towards my direction and grabbed me by the waist and sent my body flying to the bed along with his, tackling me with numerous flying pillows, I only managed to let out a scream which sounded more like a choke as Louis kept hitting me with those gigantic cushions, I really had no idea how he managed to grab two of those and hit it towards me at the same time. I couldn’t even lift one up for Christ’s sake.

“Louis!” I shouted, “I swear I’m going to kill you!”

He said nothing, only letting out a deceitful laugh as he now tried to attack me at the most ticklish spot on my body, which was on the side of my waist. He grabbed me by the area and I cried the most tortured laugh I’ve ever managed to let out. I started to wonder if the whole floor could hear me screaming.

“Louis, for fuck’s sake!” I yelled, “Stop it!” I tried to get a hold of him as I grabbed his hands from my waist, but it clearly failed because he was obviously no match for me.

“Say it, Adler!” He said, laughing, “Say it!”

“Say what?” I cried out, he was entirely on top of me now, making my attempt to get away from him practically useless.

“I fancy Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson is the most attractive person I’ve ever met!”

“What? I would never—“

“Say it!” he literally screamed at me now, followed by an uncontrollable laugh as he gripped my waist again sending me to let out another screech.

“No!” I laughed, hitting his chest

“Or I’ll tell him myse—“

“I fancy Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson is the most attractive person I’ve ever met!” I plainly spat out the words to him with only one breath, now I was laughing uncontrollably as he finally let go of my waist and fell to the empty spot beside me.

I heard the sound of a knocking on the door “Is everything alright in there?”

“Everything’s brilliant!” Louis shouted, I only laughed and smacked his hand playfully.

“I hate you.”

“Really, now?” he raised his eyebrows at me, the smile for once never fade out his lips.

I only rolled my eyes playfully at him, silently thanking God that my eyes went back to normal. At least Louis wouldn’t have to realize I’ve been bawling my eyes out before. Now I was really thankful that he even decided to pay a little visit to my room after all, he was probably the reason why I could put a smile on my lips again from that little inconvenience I had.

--

“Break a leg, you guys,” I said as I gave each of them a brief hug before the guys went on stage. I rolled my eyes at Louis as he sent me a knowing smirk in my way; Liam shot me a questioning look.

“Later,” I mouthed.

He only shrugged and walked towards the stage, my gaze fell to the last person in the
dressing area.

“You know you owe me—“

“I really do, I’m sorry, Zayn.”

“Wait, why are you sorry?” he said as he tried to put on his in-ears, “You didn’t even do
anything wrong.”

“I promise I’ll tell you everything later.’”

“Promise?” He asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

“Promise.” I smiled, walking towards him to give him a hug; he wrapped his arms around me
as I buried my face in his chest, slowly breathing in his scent. He gave me that little squeeze that I loved so much every time we hugged each other. I giggled as he planted a kiss on my forehead. I wanted to stay like that forever, not ever letting go from his arms.

“Zayn, let’s go,” I heard one of the TV crew shouted, reminding him it was almost show time. Zayn sighed as he let go of me and started for the door, messing my hair up on the way there.

“Later, kiddo.”

I only chuckled when he said that, even though our age gap was only a year, he kept on calling me with that name. At first I was annoyed by it, considering that I wasn’t really a kiddo, but something about the way that Zayn said it made my heart flutter, so I made a statement that only he could call me by that nick name.

I decided to wait for the guys to finish at the dressing room for about two hours, occupying myself by munching infinite chocolate chip cookies by the order of Niall Horan, of course, I think he’d kill me for finishing it though, and flipping various of magazines I found in the room. Boredom got the best of me so I decided to take a little peek on what’s going on outside.

The guys were singing my favorite song of their album, ‘One Thing’. I hummed along the lyrics as Harry sang his part of the song; the crowd went crazy as he sent a wink towards the direction of the crowd. Typical Harry Styles, I thought to myself.

It was finally Zayn’s part of the song, he carefully sang out the lyrics with such a strong voice that I loved so much. He walked in front of the stage confidently, as the camera trailed along behind him.

“Something’s gotta give now, ‘cause I’m dying just to make you see, that I need you here with me now. ‘Cause you’ve got that one thing.”

Before the whole group joined in to sing the chorus of the song, I caught the sight of Zayn’s eyes were on mine for a brief second, his smile grew wider as he continued to sing out the lyrics with everyone and just before the chorus ended, his index finger shot straight towards me.

“And you’ve got that one thing.”

--

“Here’s to another successful show!” Paul shouted as he popped another champagne in his hand. We were celebrating at some club that Sam has suggested us to go; for once Paul and Sam were really in a good mood and gave the lads the permission to go celebrate. Harry, Niall and Louis were starting to go tipsy as they kept bringing countless of shots to their lips. Constant shouting of ‘Another!’ has been ringing inside my head for the last couple
of hours.

Liam, Zayn, and I were probably the only ones who stayed sober considering that I wasn’t a fan of alcohol and I didn’t really want the last time I got drunk to happen again. I would spare myself the humiliation and only ordered a virgin mojito instead, while Zayn was having his second beer and a ginger ale for Liam.

“Want to bail?” Zayn whispered as he sipped his drink after Liam excused himself to answer Danielle’s call.

I looked at him questioningly, “Where do you have in mind?”

“Anywhere but here.”

“You know, Paul will kill us if—“

“He won’t notice, come on,” He said, grabbing my wrist and led me outside as the cold air hit
us, making me shiver because I only had my cardigan with me.

“I don’t think going anywhere would be such a good idea, Zayn.” I said, hugging myself from the cold. “It’s freezing.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, scanning the view in front of him, “But I’m not going back there.”

“You don’t have to,” I said, “Wanna head back to the hotel?” I asked, nodding towards the direction of our inn.

His face lit up as I suggested the idea, “And ordered room service? That might just the best plan I’ve ever heard.”

We immediately stopped a taxi and rushed in, giving the address of our hotel and waited patiently from the busy traffic of New York. Maybe Zayn and I’s little getaway was starting to become our regular routine, always making our own little party just the two of us from the others. And I really didn’t mind, spending the rest of the day with him was probably my new favorite thing other than dressing him up.

We entered the hotel and went straight to his room. I ordered some room service and changed into Zayn’s grey baggy sweatshirt and some loose pants. I was casually lounging in his bed as Zayn turned the heater on. We finally decided to spend the rest of the night watching Disney movies in my laptop. He shook his head when I showed him how complete my movie collection was.

“You never stop to amaze me,” he said, chuckling.

“Oh, this is nothing,” I laughed, “You haven’t even seen my Star Wars collection.”

I felt the other side of the bed sunk and saw him sitting down beside me, “Shall we?”

I grinned and put Lion King on. Zayn offered his hand and I casually made myself comfortable in his arms around me. We watched the whole movie as we fell in a comfortable silence, his arms never left my shoulders all the way through.

“You know,” Zayn suddenly said as I turned off my laptop after we finished the movie, “You promised me something.”

My heart sank as I remembered what I promised earlier, talking about it would only ruin everything that has happened perfectly today. But in the end, I’ve promised to him to tell everything, so it didn’t really give me much of a choice.

“I know,” I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair, looking up to him. His face was full of concern now.

Zayn patted the empty spot beside him and I carefully crawled back to his arms. We fell to a short silence before I managed to croak out the words.

“It’s about my sister,” I said, forcing my voice to sound a little bit ‘cheery’ just because I really didn’t want to tear up again.

“You mean, Emma?” he raised his eyebrows, looking down at me. I was taken back when he said that, I really had no idea he knew about Emma.

“You know?”

“No, but I accidentally heard you and Liam talking about her.”

“You little eavesdropper!” I shot up, looking up to him.

“Hey don’t blame me for having a room exactly beside Liam’s! These walls aren’t exactly as thick as you think, you know.” He responded, knocking on the bedroom wall behind him.

I only laughed at his sudden reaction. I fought the urge to pinch his cheek just because he was too adorable.

“Okay, please continue,” he said.

I only stopped laughing and went on, telling him everything from my parents went their separate ways and my Mom died five years later because of a terrible car crash. I told him my Dad didn’t want to take care of his own children and decided to be an alcoholic instead. I told Zayn this was why I hated alcohol in the first place, but my sister seemed to get the note wrong; she immediately fell being one instead. My dad has been constantly checked himself in and out of prison a couple of years back until they found his body laying helplessly at some small bar.

I would stop once in a while just to catch my breath and Zayn would always squeeze my arm, telling me it’s okay, I even surprised myself I didn’t shed a single tear.

“So, from all that, you’ve been working your arse off just for your sister?”

“Yup,” I muttered,

“You sound like you’re okay with this,” he said, turning to me, “Wouldn’t anyone burst if they have problems like yours?”

I only laughed at his words, “Those aren’t my problems, Zayn, those are my past, and there’s nothing you can do about it but to move on.”

Zayn only looked at me meaningfully, I could see a smile starting to graze his lips, “That’s pretty deep.”

“I know, I can’t believe myself saying it either.” I said, almost a whisper. “Thank you, though.”

“For what?”

“Listening the whole time,” I said, looking up to him, “Most of the time people would just try to change the topic.”

He tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear, smiling down at me. “It’s always a privilege to hear your story, Miss Adler.”