Lost

In the back of my mind I heard the door to my apartment slam open, the metal doorknob knocking into the wall behind it with a loud bang. Though, in my mind everything sounded as though it were underwater, all the sounds muffled into long, drawn out echoes.
He was here. My Zayn, he was here. Right there, standing next to me as though he had never really left. I knew he was, I’d seen it myself… hadn’t I?
I heard my name being called, over and over in a frantic voice that sounded so familiar, yet so strange to me at the same time. Lifting my eyes from the cold floor beneath me, I saw Louis practically running to my crumpled figure.
“Are you alright? Is everything okay? Did you fall? Please, please say something.” Louis said, his voice breaking as he almost fell to the floor beside me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.
I couldn’t hold it in any longer, I dropped my head to his shoulder and all at once the flood gates opened and tears streamed down my cheeks, staining the grey fabric of his t-shirt, “H-he was here! Louis he was right here, I swear he was! I s-saw him, he was here!”
“Who was here? Babe, who?” Louis asked, rocking me gently against him as his hand skimmed up and down my spine in an attempt to calm me down.
“Z-Zayn! Louis, Zayn! He was right here! I saw him, I know he was!” I cried out into his chest, my voice muffled.
“Shhh, shhh, no one was here, you’re just seeing things,” he said, whispering my name against my head as he leaned down and placed what felt like a kiss to the top of my head, “I promise you, no one came in.”
“B-But I saw him! L-Louis, I swear.” I gasped out in between sobs, pulling away and looking into his crystal clear blue eyes, “It was him, you have to believe me.”
“I do, I do believe you.” he said back with a small nod before carefully helping me up. We stood in silence for what felt like hours, his arms still wrapped around me protectively. I wasn’t going to lie to myself, I felt nice to be held like I hadn’t been in what felt like an eternity, but he wasn’t Zayn. He never could be.
“Come live with me.” he whispered out against my neck, his hot breath sending a small shiver down my spine.
“W-What?” I asked, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion as I pulled back to look at him once again.
“Please?” He asked, taking my hands in his, “Please, you need to get out of here. It isn’t good for you to spend so much time by yourself… especially here. Please, I have the room for you. Come with me.”
“Louis… I… I can’t…I can’t just leave here. Not… not with what hap-“
“Yes you can, you need to.” His sapphire eyes stared into mine, glistening with tears, his mouth forming a thin line as he awaited my answer.
“I… I… Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked, my own voice hardly escaping past my lips.
“What?” he asked back, clearly not expecting that.
“Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden, Louis.”
“Because… Because Zayn was my best friend. Hell, the guy was basically my brother. He’d want me to look after you, he’d want any of us to.”
“So… that’s it?” I asked, looking back up at you, “I don’t want to move in with you if you’re just going to yell at me constantly and make me feel like it was my fault.”
“I’m sorry I said those things, (Y/N),” he said, his eyes tearing up once more, “I miss him just as much as you do. We all do, we’re all a little sensitive… but, please. Please, come with me. Zayn wouldn’t want this. He wouldn’t want you spending all your time cooped up in here, crying your eyes out everyday. He hated seeing you upset, seeing you like this would kill him all over again.”
I sighed and leaned back against him. I knew he wouldn’t drop it until I went with him, “Okay.” I said simply.
“So…so you will then?”
“Yes, Louis. You…you’re right. Zayn wouldn’t like this…” I could feel his shoulders relax under me as he pulled me away from me his body, a small smile gracing his lips.
“Thank you, I know this is what Zayn would want, let me help you pack.” He said, and I let him.
***
Louis’ POV
A few weeks later, all of her stuff was settled into the guest room, her room, of my flat. Somehow it felt right, like she was always meant to be here.
The shrill buzzing of my alarm clock woke me up from one of the weirdest dreams I’d ever had. All I could remember was Zayn and I standing in a recording booth together while he said “Thank you” to me again and again. I brushed it off, thinking nothing of it as I walked into my bathroom to get ready for the long day of recording ahead.
As soon as my feet hit the cold tile floor and the lights flicked on, I stopped dead in my tracks. A small, yellow sticky note was taped onto my mirror. Had I put it there? No, I hadn’t been home for more than fifteen minutes yesterday. It couldn’t have been me and every time Lilian was in my bedroom, I had been with her.
“What in the world…” I whispered to myself, tentatively walking toward it as though it may explode any second. As soon as I got close enough to see what was scrawled on it, my heart skipped a beat and my breath caught in my throat.
I could recognize that handwriting anywhere, but this couldn’t be true. The small, staggered letters couldn’t be there, they just couldn’t be.
Carefully, I plucked it off the bathroom mirror, the paper crumpling slightly between my fingers as I read the words again and again, not believing what I was seeing:
Thank you for taking care of her, Louis. I owe you. -Zayn