London Calling

“Come on! Let’s go!” Jen yelled as she led the boys through the arena and ran to up the steps of the escalator to the suite level. The boys of One Direction struggled to keep up with her. She whipped around the arena, totally in the know of where they were headed while the boys had only been in the United Center once before on their world tour. They now knew how big the arena truly was.

There were two big floors of seats as well as a level in between for suites. As soon as they hit the second floor carpeting, Jen took off running around the hall passed all the wooden doors with plaques beside them to label who owned each suite. Attendants in red vests and black polo shirts milled around in case anyone suite member needed them. All of them looked as if they wanted to stop the group, but they saw the lanyards around their necks and let them get to their destination peacefully, for which Jen was grateful. She waved to the attendants she knew as she came closer to the family suite. When she found the right door, she hurriedly swung the door open and launched herself into the room. “What’s the score!” she yelled as she ran up to the bar that separated the suite stadium seats from the main room of the suite. The stadium had padded seats in the front for the guests to sit in. In the main area on a counter was a buffet of various foods like chicken nuggets for the kids and Chinese for the adults as well as the standard hot dog and hamburgers.

There were kids running around the suite as their mothers caught up with the other wives. There were the fathers of some of the players sitting in the seats connected to the suite, totally absorbed in the game. A beautiful brunette with her hair curled to perfection smiled at Jen and came over to her followed by another, slightly shorter brunette. “You only missed a couple minutes and there’s no score.”

“Awesome! These are my friends from London Zayn, Harry, Liam, Louis, and Niall. Guys this is Patrick Sharp’s wife Abbey and Marian Hossa’s wife Jana.” The group shared handshakes and hellos.

“What took you so long? I thought Jon was going to have a heart attack. He kept looking up here for you when they were warming up,” Abbey told her.

“The boys watch soccer, they don’t know the first thing about hockey, so I got them suited up and gave them a rundown of the rules and stuff.” Jen explained while motioning for the boys to turn around. They were in a vast array of jeans, brightly colored pants, or khakis, along with the Chicago Blackhawks Jerseys Jen had told them to get. Harry sported a red Patrick Kane Jersey. Liam had a Duncan Keith red jersey; Louis had a white Brent Seabrook jersey, Niall wore a throwback Viktor Stalberg jersey, and Zayn had a throwback Corey Crawford jersey. The boys beamed at the wives proud of themselves for dressing properly for their first hockey game ever.

“You did well Jen. I’m surprised you didn’t get them your brother’s jerseys,” Jana joked. She knew how proud of her brother that Jen was. She usually took every chance she got to talk him up. The wives all thought it was extremely cute how close the captain and his sister were.

“That seemed unfair of me, so I got them the jerseys closest to their personalities. Harry and Kaner are strangely very similar. That one I totally nailed, everyone else was a guess. Come on lads, let’s get settled in. We have to hurry and rest up before we go out with the team.”

*******

It completely surprising and not at the same time how similar Harry and Patrick Kane were, and how wonderfully they got along. They were sitting at the bar chatting with each other. Each had a girl on their lap as well as many surrounding them. Duncan and Liam were sitting in the team’s booth absorbed in their own conversation while Niall and Viktor Stalberg were on either side of their respective friends, not contributing to the conversation at all and stuffing their faces. Patrick Sharp and Louis were trying best each other with their craziest dance moves on the elevated dance floor. Jen, Zayn, Marian Hossa, Jana, Abbey, and Jonathan were all slammed into a booth conversing loudly and laughing even louder. The music blared through the speakers and most of their gazes were on Louis and his taller counterpart flailing about on the dance floor. Zayn was busy capturing the moment on his phone to email to Eleanor, Louis’ girlfriend.

Jonathan cleared his throat loud enough for his sister to turn her brown eyes to him and raise a brow. He jerked his buzz cut head to the right, motioning he wanted to talk to her in private. She leaned into Zayn, close to his ear, and told him that she would be right back. He nodded and slid out of the circular booth so that she could get out and Jonathan followed her motions. Jen led the way to the back door so she and Jonathan didn’t have to shout to hear each and again Jonathan followed her with a pat on Zayn’s shoulder.

Once they were outside in a small alley in the cool night breeze, Jon smirked, “I told you I wouldn’t interrogate him.”

Jen rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her tight black halter dress that bunched up at mid thigh, “Yeah, but your teammates are doing so as we speak.

Jon shrugged in return to the accusation, “You’re the captain’s sister; they have to protect their own. It’s a hockey player thing.” Jonathan took a sip of his beer he brought outside with him before asking, “What happened to Perrie?”

“She had to stay behind for some of her band stuff. She said she didn’t want to cramp my spring break.”

“That’s convenient for you,” Jon joked and made Jen instantly regret confiding in her brother about her feelings for Zayn.

Through the last two months, Jen had gotten to know Zayn incredibly well. He was sweet and charming. Any girl would be crazy to turn him away. Unfortunately for her while they were on to becoming the best of friends, Zayn had gotten himself a girlfriend. Her name was Perrie. She was beautiful and a singer. She had more in common with Zayn than Jen did and the couple had hit it off instantly. All Jen could do was sit back and watch while her crush put the moves on another girl.

It could be worse, she decided. Perrie was unbelievably sweet and she didn’t mind how close Jen and Zayn were. She understood that Jen and Zayn were very touchy feely. They were always holding hands or cuddling together. Zayn always joked when the three of them were walking somewhere and all holding hands, that he was glad his two best girls weren’t mortal enemies. No, Jen couldn’t hate Perrie for anything. She treated Zayn well and that’s what mattered most. She also put in extra effort to be nice to Jen and that was above and beyond anything she had expected. It was awesome of Perrie really.

She also had Perrie to thank for getting the paps off her back. They wanted to follow Perrie and Zayn more than they wanted to follow Jen and Zayn around. That was a huge relief. Not that Jen exactly hated feeling like a celebrity herself, it was just better for her if the paps didn’t catch every embarrassing thing she had ever done in life. She was used to being in the spotlight a little from her brother, but with Zayn’s stature in the celebrity world, it had gotten kind of ridiculous how much people paid attention to her. She assumed that it would be better when she was back in America permanently.

She buried her red face into her hands and mumbled, “I kind of hate you.”

Jonathan hugged his sister, careful not to chill her with his beer bottle, “No you don’t. Honestly Jen, I think you just need to talk to him. It will be better for both of you.”

Jen winced as that came out of Jonathan’s mouth. Zayn had been trying to get her to be more open to him. He knew when things were bothering her. ‘Talk to me’ he would ask softly, but she couldn’t find the words to tell him about the only secret she was hiding from him. She feared he wouldn’t respect her anymore if she was completely honest. She had a skeleton in her closet that only few people knew about and she wanted it to stay hidden more than she wanted to face the consequences. She wished she could pretend it never happened but it would always haunt her. “And more stress on Perrie and I getting along and how weirded out Zayn will be.” she said softly into Jon’s shoulder. She hugged her brother closer; did she mention how much she missed having him around?

“Maybe, maybe not. You’ll never know until you just let it out. You’re a catch, if he can’t see that, then fuck him. Well, not literally please not literally. Move on to one of his single friends. Niall seems like a good option.”

Jen laughed, “I missed you Jonny.”

“I missed my baby sister too. They seem to be getting along with the team really well. Kaner and Harry are not a good combination to put together though.”

“No, but it’s kind of funny to watch.”

“You egg those two on too much.”

“Don’t even care,” she mumbled into his broad chest.

*******

Zayn felt extremely out of place. He was sitting with the Blackhawks in a giant booth. Jen had long since abandoned him to go dancing with Patrick Kane. He had tried to make small talk with Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp, but both of them had skipped out early to go home to their significant others. He wanted to go down and stay with Jen, but he wanted her to have some quality time with her friends without his intrusion. Also, he didn’t particularly feel the need to be hit on by drunk girls trying to get in his pants like Harry did. He sighed and excused himself to go get a bottle of water. While he was waiting for his order to be filled, he felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around his waist. He smiled and turned to see Jen looking up at him, “Dance with me!” she demanded.

Zayn just turned around and ordered another bottle of water. When he received them, he paid and gave one to Jen. She slugged half the bottle down as Zayn shook his head. She had been dancing for at least an hour straight; he knew she would be thirsty. They set their bottles down on the table before Jen grabbed Zayn’s hand and pulled him down the stairs and on to the dance floor. As soon as they faced each other the song changed to One Direction’s cover of One Way or Another. Jen looked around thoughtfully as Zayn’s first part of the song blasted through the speakers. She then looked him straight in the eyes with a big grin, “That’s you!” she exclaimed in his ear so he could hear.

He laughed and nodded. He put a hand on the small of her back to bring her closer and intertwined his left hand with hers. Sending him an odd look, she put her right hand on his shoulder nonetheless. He began to lean them forward and back in tune with the song. Jen threw her head back and let out a laugh. He took that moment to let go of her and spin her around and dipped her dramatically. Her eyes shined with happiness as they locked with his while he was bringing her to stand upright once more.

She was the most normal thing in his life as of late. She didn’t care that he was famous. She cared more about his drawing than she did his singing and she was one of the few that he could completely relax around and not feel like he had an image to protect. Jen took him as he was, the smart and kind man that he wanted everyone to see him as. She also brought him farther out of his shell; he felt that he could really let himself be outrageous with her. She made him more outgoing than he had to be for his job solely because she gave him the confidence that people appreciated what he did and what he had to say. Meeting Jen had been one of the best things to happen to him in the last few years of becoming famous.

She was a great friend in the process. She was hilarious and serious at the same time. She had a knack for brightening up a sullen mood. She marched to the beat of her own drum and didn’t care if no one liked her because she was perfectly happy with herself. She was a terrible singer, he meant terrible. He remembered walking into her apartment and nearly walking back out when he heard her shouting/singing the words to Fall Out Boy's Grand Theft Atumn. She had a terrible memory and couldn’t for the life of her remember anyone’s birthday that was a new friend. She had wished Harry a happy birthday a solid three weeks after it happened. Even though she could annoy Zayn like no other when she incessantly poked him, he found her completely endearing.

They disagreed, they fought, and they made fun of each other constantly, but somehow they had made it through all their rough patches in their two months together to become friends that knew an incredible amount about each other. Sure, they had to test the waters for the first couple weeks of knowing each other, but the formality quickly left and they returned to how they would act if they had known each other for years and had to make an effort to realize what was funny and what got on each other’s nerves. Jen hated it when he smoked or when he tried to read her writing. Zayn hated that she kept her writing from him when she saw him draw so many times. He felt deeply insulted by this though he never pushed her about it.

To tell the truth her inability to trust him fully was causing a major rift in his friendship with her. She was a wonderful friend, don’t get him wrong, and reading what she wrote seemed like such a minor part of their friendship that it shouldn’t matter. But it mattered to anyone who knew Jen a great deal. Letting a person read her work meant that she trusted that person and knowing that he didn’t have that trust was like a slap in the face. He had hoped that with time she would grow to trust him and give him that peace of her ‘soul’ as she had put it. He had trusted her from the day she had handled her first interaction with his fans so wonderfully. There was nothing he could tell her that she would judge him for. Surely she had to know that the same went for her? There was nothing she could do to drive him away. However, choosing not to confide in him was driving him away. He didn't confide in her as much as he had the first month of She didn’t know this of course, but he tried to keep away from in depth topics with her about his hopes and dreams because the fact that she didn’t trust him made him reconsider his trust in her.

Perrie trusted him unconditionally it was one of the things he appreciated about her. She trusted him to be alone with other girls like Jen and trust him to be faithful to her. She had a lot in common with him, more than Jen did. She was British as well and a singer to top it off. They were a good match and Zayn didn’t want anything too serious too fast. He liked what he had with Perrie. She distracted him from the fact that he didn’t know one of his best friends as much as he wanted to. He just wished Jen was as open with him as he was with her.

As if she felt his troubled thoughts, she led him to the back entrance and they leaned against the brick wall of the building. Zayn enjoyed the feeling of the cool night air nipping at his face. After a few moments she let out a loud annoyed huff , “Go ahead and light one of those nasty things up, I know you want to,” she told him in a neutral tone. He dug around his pocket for his lighter and cigarettes before putting one in his mouth and lighted it. He offered her one merely out of politeness because he knew she would refuse. After taking a drag, he released the smoke into the slightly chilly air. “Do you want to talk about it or do you just want to go home?” he asked. She knew what he meant. He was pressing for more information again.

“I want to talk about it with you, but I don’t think I am ready yet,” she told him softly.

“I understand,” he said not succeeding in keeping the edge out of his tone.

“Zayn,” she said as both pairs of brown eyes met. “I trust you I do. I know you think I don’t, but I swear I do. I’m just afraid of what you will think of me when I let you know certain things about me. I don’t want you to treat me differently than you do now. I’m afraid that we won’t be as we are now if you know. I just need a little more time.”

“I wish you could just talk to me,” he said softly as he squished his cigarette under his sneaker.

“I want to talk to you,” she said softly, “But silence is sometimes easier than finding words for me. I haven’t found the right way to tell you yet. It’s kind of like you keeping the fact that you were famous from me.”

“I didn’t know you like I do now,” he argued, “I’ve given you ample time to get to know me.”

“Please just give me a little more time,” she pleaded to him as she tried to convey her desperation for him to agree.

“Just tell me, is it that bad? Honestly?”

“I wish you would just let it fucking go!”

His temper flared, he knew this was coming. He had been pressing her more as of late to get to know her as well as she knew him. She was a typical girl in the sense that she was afraid one detail of her life would chase him away forever. He had no idea why girls had to be so dramatic. He couldn’t think of a single solitary thing that would be so horrible about Jen that he would give up his new best friend. He was as close to Jen as he was his band mates and that was saying something. The fact that they couldn’t talk about what kept her from truly committing to their friendship pissed him off to no end. He told her anything and everything, he deserved the same cutesy. “I can’t bloody let it go when it’s the only thing keeping me from being as close to you as you are to me! I’m getting sick of the ‘I’ll tell you when I’m ready’s! You’ll never be fucking ready! I know you Jennifer and you can’t tell me that you’re just going to willingly tell me one random day if I don’t push you!”

“I don’t want to be pushed Zayn! I don’t want to talk about it because it’s too painful, but you’re too much of a douche to realize that!”

Before he could answer the door opened and Jonathan poked his head out. “Are you two all right out here?” he asked.

She sent her brother a small smile, “We’re fine Jonny. I think we are just going to go home now. Tell the boys I said bye and watch over the tourists.”

He nodded and went back inside. Jen silently walked to her car as Zayn followed. Silence followed them around as they drove to her apartment, got ready for bed, and retreated to different sides of the house. Zayn went to the guest room as Jen went to her bedroom. Zayn couldn’t help but think how lonely he was without his cuddle buddy in his arms. He just wished he knew why she couldn’t talk to him without fearing that he would judge her. He didn’t believe that anything in her past would keep him from thinking of her as his best friend.