Another World

"Valarie wake up...Hey Valarie."

My eyes slowly opened to see Jason hovering over me.

"Go away." I mumbled as I turned over to face the wall and closed my eyes.

"Come on, I want to get a few things from the sports shops. There's one store that they say is the best to buy baseball bats. You know I need new ones for my softball tea-"

I groaned before I got up, not wanting to hear any more of his explanation.

"Fine, fine, fine." I repeated as I dragged myself to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take a shower.

When I got out I still felt a bit sleepy which made me head to the kitchen, quietly passing Sleeping Beauty's room, to grab a cup of coffee.

"Can you get dressed? I really want to go and I don't know when they'll close." Jason said when he saw me leaning on the counter drinking my coffee in a towel.

I rolled my eyes, it was way too early in the weekend to be dealing with him. 

"I felt tired so I wanted some coffee, but I'm almost done and I'll get ready in a bit, okay?"

He sighed and walked up to me. "Okay, and I'm sorry about before with the whole interrogation," He stroked my cheek as his ocean blue eyes looked into my normal brown ones. "Just know that I love you. A lot, which is why I don't want to ever lose you."

"And I love you," I broke our gaze as I looked down at my almost empty coffee. "I'll go get changed." I added, walking towards my room.

"Wait,"

I felt a tug on my arm which caused me to stop and turn around. I faced Jason and he placed a soft kiss upon my lips.

"Now you can go." He said with a smile.

I laughed and went back to my room to get dressed.

"Are you finished yet?"

"Yes, let's go." I said as I hit send to the text I left Kate telling her where I was going to be.

* * *

"Are you coming inside?" Jason asked as he held the door open to the sporting goods store.

I made a face and shook my head as I crossed my arms over my chest.

He shrugged. "I won't be long." He told me before going inside.

I leaned against the big glass window of the store and absentmindedly took out my phone to play a few games.

I heard a bunch of screams and a couple of girls running passed me. I looked up from my game and connected my eyebrows as I looked over at the girls huddling around something. I tried craning my neck to see what all the fuss was about but most of the girls blocked my view.

Eh, why not. I thought, putting my phone away as I walked towards the girls.

They began to annoyingly giggle after a mumble was heard. I got closer, my jaw dropping when I saw Zayn standing in the middle of the circle the girls formed inhaling and exhaling smoke, his hair perfectly made up wearing a white shirt with a light blue denim jacket and dark blue skinny jeans. He looked good but seemed uncomfortable with all the attention.

He looked my way and saw me standing there. His golden eyes lit up as he smiled that smile, his tongue sticking out through his teeth and I couldn't help but laugh and give him a small wave. He began to walk towards me but I raised my hands silently telling him to stop. He knew what I meant when he saw all the girls turned to stare at what he was looking at which was what I was trying to avoid, causing me to be majorly nervous. I quickly turned around, taking out my phone pretending I had a call. I heard his deep chuckle and I felt myself smiling.

I proceeded to walk back to my spot in front of the store when I heard Zayn calling out for me.

"Hey, you!"

I froze and turned slowly. "Yes?"

"You dropped this." He said as he jogged to me and handed me my earring. I looked at him confused and touched my ear feeling nothing.

"Oh thank you- Oh my god you're Zayn Malik from One Direction! Hi! I'm your biggest fan!" I called out before the girls began to assume anything.

"Are you now?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Can I get your autograph?" I asked trying to refrain from laughing.

He quietly laughed. "Of course," He turned away from me and faced the girls. "Does anyone have a pen and paper?"

Sure enough a bunch of them reached to him with a pen and paper in hand.

"Thank you," He looked down, began writing and handed it to me. "Here."

"Oh gosh, thank you!" I grabbed the paper and hugged him. "I am having way too much fun with this." I said in his ear as I covered my mouth with the paper.

As I let go, the girls began to huddle around him again and his smile faded. I laughed and turned around seeing Jason walking towards me with his hands full of bags causing my smile to fade.

"I thought you were in front of the store, where did you go?" Jason asked.

"I just went to take a walk since you took so long."

"Shut up," He said as he playfully hit me with one of the bags. "Come on, let's go home."

While we walked home he looked down and saw the paper Zayn gave me.

"What's that?"

"Oh, garbage." I lied as I crumbled the paper in my hand.

I opened the door to the flat and immediately collapsed on the couch. I looked at my phone seeing a text:

3:24 p.m. Kate: I'm at Harry's flat if you need me

3:25 p.m. But don't..

I laughed and noticed the paper was still in my hand. I opened it and saw what he wrote:

Good one Val

(020) 5555-8549 x

I began to blush. I put it away when Jason walked in.

"What are you doing?"

I shook my head as I looked at him. "So, uh, when do you think you'll be going back to New York?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"When do you-"

"Why do you want me to leave so much?"

I opened my mouth to speak but he continued.

He took a step closer balling his hands into fists to calm himself down. "Is there something I should know?"

"It was just a questio-"

"Dammit, are you hiding something from me?! Or should I say someone?!"

"Oh god, really? Are you really going to go there again, Jason? Why are you so damn paranoid that I'm cheating on you?!"

"Maybe because you're not answering my questions!"

I sat up. "For the last and final time, no, no, no, no, NO! I am not cheating on you! And I don't plan to! Now cut the drama, I have neighbors."

"I don't give a fuck about the neighbors!" He explained as he raised his hands up in exasperation. "But maybe it's good that they call someone after I'm done with you!" 

That made me a bit nervous but I wasn't going to let him know. I got up to look at him right in the eyes. "Don't threaten me or I'll be the one calling someone!"

He grabbed my wrists and roughly brought them close to his chest. "You aren't going to call anyone-"

"Jason, let go."

"-because you're going to be too busy begging fo-"

"Jason."

"WHAT?!" His grip became tighter.

"YOU'RE HURTING ME NOW LET THE FUCK GO!"

"TELL ME THE TRUTH!"

"FUCK OFF!"

He raised his hand and it felt like things were going in slow motion as I watched his hand gain it's speed to my face.

"HEY!"

I turned, getting out of the hiding position I was forced to be in, seeing Zayn with a serious and angry face.

"Zayn what are you doing here?"

Jason dropped his hand and looked at him with a slight chuckle. "I know this isn't the guy you've been fucking behind my back."

"And what if I was?" Zayn said with no emotion shown.

"Then I would have to break your face." Jason threatened as he basically tossed me on the couch and was at eye level with him.

I ran up to them and brought myself in between them. "We've never done anything! I'm not cheating on you, dammit! Why can't you believe me?"

Jason brushed me aside.

"Why don't you tell her the real reason, Jason. Tell her the real reason why you're so paranoid." Zayn said, his eyes still locked with Jason's.

"You don't know what you're talking about, kid. Shut. Up." He hissed.

I looked at both of them with confusion. "Jason, what is he talking about?"

Zayn looked at me. "He's ch-"

Jason punched Zayn in the face which made me scream and grab the object nearest to me to strike him.

Maybe too hard.

"Oh god, did I kill him?!" I cried out as I kneeled to check his pulse.

"No, but I think he's out cold." Zayn muttered as he bent down to my level.

I looked at him and gasped at the cut on the corner of his eyebrow. "Zayn, you're bleeding!" I ran to the kitchen and back.

"It's nothing, it's nothing." He shooed my hand away as I tried to wipe it with a rag.

"I'm so sorry." I said quietly.

He looked at me with concern. "Valarie, does he always hit you?"

My vision began to become a blur. "No, never...he just...always grabbed me too rough."

It looked like something clicked in his mind. "When I saw you and your wrists were all red, was that....?"

I slowly nodded, causing the tears to escape and fall.

He seemed angry with himself. "No one should touch you that way. Valarie, you should be treated like royalty not like some dog he can toss around."

I noticed that I was crying harder. "I know," I choked out. "But he always made things better by constantly telling me he loves me and that he's sorry."

"So you won't leave him, love."

It all made sense now. 

"I really don't want to be here when he wakes up." I said after a moment of silence, my voice shaky.

"Come on. We'll go to my flat." He suggested as he stood up and held his hand out for me.

I sighed deeply and took it.

* * *

He held the door for me while I walked in, looking around.

"You can sit, I'll be right back."

"Actually, um, where's your bathroom?"

"There's one upstairs to your left." He answered with a sincere smile.

"Thank you." I hurried upstairs and into the bathroom.

I looked at the mirror which showed what I was dreading to see, my eyes red and puffy from crying so much.

Oh God, how could he even stand to look at me?

I made a face at my reflection and tried my best to fix myself up.

When I finally finished, I headed for the stairs when I heard mumbling.

"He doesn't deserve her." I heard Zayn say.

"And why not?"

Was that Harry?

There was a moment of silence.

"He just doesn't. Trust me." Zayn answered, his voice firm.

I tip toed to the top of the stairs as Harry said something that I couldn't understand. Zayn's back facing me.

"There's just something about her, mate. I don't know what it is. I haven't tried anything ever since I found out she was with that bloke but it's hard not to."

Harry responded but once again I failed to comprehend it.

Dammit, Harry. Speak louder!

"Haz, I could've taken him but his punch just took me by surprise."

Harry laughed. "Maybe next time, mate."

"There won't be a next time. He's leaving London and, hopefully, leaving out of her life."

Harry casually looked up at my direction and did a double take when he saw me at the top of the stairs. I tried to run back to the bathroom but I took a wrong step and skidded down a few steps which made my heart skip a beat.

Harry and Zayn stood up but Zayn ran to me, putting his hand on my back. "Are you alright?"

I cleared my throat and composed myself, quickly getting up on my feet. "I'm fine." I replied with a forced smile.

Harry looked at me as he shook his head with a smirk obviously knowing about my eavesdropping.

"Um, so Harry, where's Kate?" I asked, trying to distract him from making any comments.

He chuckled. "She's over at my flat, I wanted to show her our Brit award and mine was over at my mum's so I came over to borrow Zayn's."

"I see. And sorry to interrupt, I'm a bit of a klutz." I said nervously playing with my hair.

"Well I'm going to go back to Kate," Harry said with a grin. "Bye!"

Zayn chuckled as he closed his front door, facing me with his face suddenly changing to a more serious expression. "Does Kate know?"

I frowned, I almost forgot about the whole situation. "No, I don't want her to think less of me."

He sucked his teeth at my response. "Kate loves you too mu-"

"Zayn, please don't say anything." I said quickly.

He sighed and looked down at me. "Your secret's safe with me, babe."