Another World

"Alright, what else do we need?" Kate mumbled as she looked at the clothes that dangled on her arm.

I set my eyes on the liquor store across from where we stood in the mall and smirked. "I don't know about you but I would love some sweet wine right now."

She let out a laugh, sifting through the shirts that were carelessly placed on the rack. Desperately trying to find the perfect dress for Liam's birthday party, to no prevail.

"We've been here in the UK for only a couple of months now and you already turned out to be an alcoholic."

"You're not that far behind, don't even go there," I chuckled while mindlessly walking around different sections of the store. "Remember the sales back in New York during Labor Day weekend? Oh my god." Leaning against a pile of jeans on a wooden table in the center of the store, I happily reminisced on the special discounts given to me. Because of the many family members I had that worked in department stores, the discounts were endless. Things like this made me miss New York, sadly no discounts over here. Yet.

She smiled at the thought as she nodded. Changing her direction to continue the endless search for the dress. Her frustration revealed as she slammed each hanger against the other with a groan.

"Kate, for god sakes just give up, there are other stores in this mall!"

She looked up dramatically at the ceiling with her hand on her forehead. Faking a cry as she hit the floor with her brown heel. "It's not that simple!"

I couldn't help but laugh at her mini crisis. Our immature moments were becoming rare now that we were getting older, but funny nonetheless.

"So how's everything with you and Zayn?"

The corners of my mouth began to tug at the mention of his name. "We're doing great."

"It seems great since you rarely leave his place! I forget that I have a roommate most of the time."

I laughed as a slight redness colored my cheeks. "Quit being so dramatic, Kate."

My newly bought iPhone buzzed, then buzzed, and buzzed again.

Kate picked up a hanger she dropped and raised an eyebrow. "Someone's popular."

I fished my phone from the purse hanging on my shoulder. Opening the Twitter app, I impatiently tapped on the tiled floor as I waited for it to load. Scrolling down my mentions were multiple One Direction fans tweeting the same YouTube link to my account. Some added comments along the lines of, "Can you trust him now?" and my stomach churned. A bad feeling began to grow from the bottom of my shoes to the very top of my messy ponytail.

My thumb hovered over the link to the video. Did I really want to know what everyone was talking about? I searched for my headphones in my purse, still pondering if it was a good idea. As I plugged in the headphones, I raised the volume. Kate stopped her scavenger hunt and watched me. Probably by the look on my face, she knew that something wasn't right. The video finished loading and I held my breath, pressing play.

In the video, someone was recording through a peephole looking into a hall of what seemed like a hotel. The sound of Zayn's loud voice along with others was heard. His Pakistani accent was stronger due to his drunken state. A girl with blonde hair -- with a slutty looking outfit if you ask me -- of what probably was my age, or perhaps older, came into view. Before she left the scene, Zayn ordered her to come over to his room in half an hour. I didn't hear her object.

I felt as if the blood drained from my face, my jaw clenched. I didn't know what I was feeling. Anger? Sadness? I had to watch it once more to make sure what I saw and heard was legit.

"Val, are you okay?"

I finally looked up from the screen of my phone and stared at Kate. Oh this was definitely anger I felt.

"Watch this shit." I coldly responded as I handed her my phone.

Kate sighed, starting the video. I watched her reaction switch from curious to completely surprised in a matter of seconds. She released her gaze from the video and shook her head.

"I don't believe it." Was all she said.

My phone buzzed continuously. More tweets about the video. I badly wanted to throw this shit out the nearest window. "Shut up, my god!"

Kate placed her clothes on the counter in front of the cashier and turned to face me. "Valarie, we don't know how old the video is, or if it's even real. Let's not jump into any conclusions."

"I'm not."

She brought out the familiar disagreeing look. "Remember who you're talking to, Val." I rolled my eyes at her response. She was right, but I definitely wasn't going to admit that.

My phone began to ring that familiar tone I specifically assigned for one person. I read each letter that formed Zayn's name on the screen. I guess I was going to let it ring.

Kate handed the cashier the exact amount of money and looked at my phone. "Are you going to get that?"

I shut it off and stuffed it in my purse. "I should really cool off before speaking to him." To be honest, I didn't want to talk to him at all. So much went on in my mind at once and all I really wanted to do at that point was either sleep it off or beat the living day light out of that boy, and I didn't want to be on the front cover of a magazine for attacking Zayn Malik.

"Do you want to go home?"

Is our flat really home? My parents aren't here, my brothers, the family pet dog. Did I really want to be here? What was the point in moving out of the country to end up getting fucked over by yet another guy. If I wanted that shit I would've stayed with Jason in New York. I definitely needed sleep before I did anything irrational.

Stepping out of the mall, the outside was brightly lit by damp street lamps. The rain puddles splashed as Kate and I hurried on home.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of mumbled voices conversing with one another in the living room. I sat up and craned my neck to look at the time on the clock that read 12:00 p.m. on a Sunday. I would've loved to sleep more.

I slipped into my fuzzy slippers, dragging myself to brush my teeth and head towards the kitchen. Harry and Kate sat across from each other on the round dinner table, their discussion abruptly stopped as they stared at what apparently was my intriguing adventure to the fridge for a cup of orange juice.

"What?" I asked with an attitude.

"Erm, nothing." Harry responded quickly looking down at his hands that were folded on the table.

"Did we wake you up?" Kate asked, completely unfazed by my rather harsh approach.

I took a sip before answering. "I couldn't really sleep much," I noticed that Kate was trying to nonchalantly slide something behind her. "What was that?"

Her eyes widened but swiftly recovered. "What was what?" Harry on the other hand kept on giving her a look that was completely obvious.

"That," I slowly walked towards them, keeping eye contact with Kate as she prepared for what was going to possibly be a tug-of-war. "Kate, let me see."

She stood up from the chair and kept what she was hiding behind her. "You don't need to see anythi--" She called out my name as soon as she saw me ready myself for a lunge but it was too late. We were on the floor, my full body weight anchored on top of her, when she told Harry to catch. Before I could stop it, Kate threw what looked like a magazine to Harry and he caught it with one big hand.

I lifted myself off of her and put on the best sad face I could conjure up. "Harry, please--"

"Harry, no!" Kate ordered from the floor.

He looked at Kate. "She's going to end up seeing it eventually." Handing over the magazine to me.

I figured out why she was hiding it as I read the headline in big bold letters:

Zayn Malik's
Hotel Room Scandal!

There was a screenshot of the video and a random creeper photo of me on the corner of it talking on the phone outside with a little quote under:

What about Valarie?

I brought my attention away from the cover and blankly stared at Kate and Harry. Harry had a certain expression as if he was expecting a shrill scream to blurt out at any second.

I flipped to the page that held more information about the "scandal" and skimmed through what the article had to say:

An inside source reveals that girlfriend, Valarie Daniel [18], was devastated when she heard the news.

"What?!" I cried out.

That was meant to be said in my mind but now that it was out there, Kate became alert and took a step closer. "What happened?"

"This is ridiculous, that's what happened." I sat down on the nearest dining chair and continued reading the article.

The doorbell rang with a loud echo. As Kate jogged to the door, Harry was left to stand in the middle of the kitchen. He turned and sat down next to me with a soothing hand on my back. "Are you alright, Val?"

"I'm fine." I answered without moving my eyes from the magazine.

"He has always been a massive flirt with the ladies," the insider added, "I always told him that he wasn't meant to be in a relationship." Now we are just left with questions. Will we ever find out who the young broad is? Will Valarie take him back? Is Zayn still having intimate moments with, as they say, "the other woman"?

I must admit these writers really knew how to make a story interesting. Even if 98 percent of the whole article was complete bullshit. At the front door I heard a low voice ask, "Is she here?"

Before I could avoid what was coming next, the footsteps grew closer and there was nowhere to run. Zayn stopped short when he saw the magazine I was reading. An awkward silence hung over like a dark gray cloud.

"You've got a lot of nerve coming over." I coldly stated as I flipped to the next page.

He looked at Harry. "Mate, can Val and I--"

"Harry, stay." I asserted.

Zayn turned to Kate as she entered the kitchen. "Kate--"

"Just be grateful that I even let you inside." She replied with her arms across her chest.

It was three against one. Or so I thought.

Harry stood from the chair after Zayn gave him a look. "Kate, come on and let them settle this." He walked over to her and put his arm around her waist. They began to silently bicker until Harry forcefully took her out of the flat.

Zayn hesitantly walked to the chair across from where I sat. "Let me start off by saying that I am very sorry for putting you through such an outrageous situation."

I finally glanced at him. How badly I wanted to slap him right then and there with the opened page that slowly tore me apart with every word it contained.

He took my silence as a way to continue, "Now I'm not saying that that's not me. We all know it is, but you have to believe me when I say this was before I even knew you, Val."

"How can I believe you? Apparently this wasn't the first time, Mister Meet-Me-At-The-Seventeenth-Floor."

He didn't see that coming. "I have made mistakes but trust me that was in the past. Back in the Up All Night tour."

"So is this going to be a tour thing? Hooking up with girls?"

His eyebrows furrowed as he fought to reveal a pout. "Listen, that won't happen while I'm with you."

"Zayn--"

"If you want you can come to the next tour! Anything you want I'll do, as long as you continue to be mine."

"Do you know how much it hurt me? To find out something like this from your fans on twitter! And then to see it on the magazine..." I trailed off before I lost control of my volume.

"I'm sorry you had to find out that way. I never wanted my past to get in the way of our future,"

I frowned. He was saying all of this sweet crap and, sadly, it was making me melt.

"If I could, I would rip up every magazine, every article and take you far away from here."

Dammit, why did he have stare at me that way? His golden brown eyes glistening as he looked down from his hands to my eyes, the wrinkle in between his eyebrows deepening every time he listened to what I had to say and the sullen look becoming more severe with every blink he blinked.

Zayn heard Kate and Harry's muffled voice returning in the hallway outside of the flat. He gracefully slid to the chair that was closest to me and held my hands, raising them up to his soft lips.

"Babe, you have to know that there will be hundreds of accusations about me, but it's up to you if you want to believe me or not. I hope you will, because I don't want to lose you." He pressed his lips on the back of my hand before getting up and heading for the door.

I let my eyes fall on the cover of the magazine with a sigh. So many confused emotions, which one to deal with first? I heard a grunt at the front of the door followed by Zayn speed walking towards me.

"You don't need to read any more of this bloody thing." He mumbled as he successfully tore at the magazine until it could no longer be read. I couldn't help but chuckle as he left once again, this time he really did.