The girl behind her smile

- 33 -

ELIZA

Elijah had forced me to return home once it hit nine, I'm sure he would have done the same to Ezra, but Ezra had left the moment I had come, and I hadn't seen him since. I was too emotionally exhausted to be looking for him, so I let him have his time alone.

In all honesty, my mind was radio silent, the events that had progressed today had played on repeat from the moment I entered the hospital.

Where did it all start crumbling?

Perhaps the strong foundation i had built was all just an illusion my mind was feeding into me. A fake safety net so I don't dwell too much on what's wrong with my life. I seemed to be good at avoiding,

I approach the front steps, my hand in Jaspers palms and there was a calm silence between us.

"Zayn." My voice did not waver, and look back at the steps and notice his bag on the ground, he's been here for a while, "What are you doing here?"

His lips part, and I could feel the clogs turning in his mind, "You left so quickly, I just wanted to see if you're alright."

His words make me halt. Was he toying with my emotions? One moment he cares for me, the next he calls me an idiot for trusting, and now? Now, he's here to check up on me.

I realise instantly that he was a horrible liar. He was saying something different to what his mind was thinking. He was sat here, outside of my house for hours, when there was no guarantee that I would even come back home.

For someone who doesn't care, he sure was worried about me.

"I'm fine." I give a short reply.

He nods slowly, and begins his descent down the stairs.

Ego is a funny thing, we give it so much value in our lives, when it is the reason for the most of our heartaches. It's the biggest buildup to a great downfall.

Do I feed into it?

Just as he walks past me and Jasper, I speak up, "Jasper is about to leave, why don't you leave with him?"

I can feel Japser's hard gaze on me as Zayn stiffens before me.

I am aware of the atmosphere I create, something thick and heavy, and a tense silence to fill the gap between the two.

I feel Jaspers hand tighten around my wrist, a warning telling me to stop whatever I was planning.

I look to meet Jasper's eyes, "Do you mind giving him a ride? He must be tired from waiting."

Jasper's reply is hard, "I do mind."

"Well can you suck it up for a few minutes and drop him home, it's late."

In turn Jasper simply stared at me, there's a viscous glint in his eyes, one I haven't seen in a while.

"It's fine, I've go-" Jasper begins, before I cut him off.

"No, it's not fine, you guys are brothers, blood or not. This- This shouldn't be how you treat each.other. There's not enough time in the world for that."

Zayn speaks up,"Look, I don't know what your trying to achieve here, but your saviour complex won't change anything between me and him. Whats happened between us won't change, and no bullshit apology will ever make up for it."

"Zayn I'm doing this because I care for the both of you, I really do. I know I don't need to explain the feeling of loosing someone to either of you, becasue you know it very well. Why would you choose to loose the family you have when what you have is so little?"