tRuTh - z.m.

12 - Olivia

March 28th, 2015

I woke up the next morning feeling like a million dollars. I didn't have anything to do but wait around until Zayn called and that would be soon.

I jumped up and got into the shower, did my hair, and threw clothes on. I usually never got ready until plans were made, but knowing Zayn, he could already be downstairs waiting for me.

It was still early, only around eight, so I jumped on the lift and went down stairs to get my mail. Once I was in the elevator l noticed I'd left my phone upstairs.

When the elevator went up instead of down, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. It stopped on the 21st floor and when the doors opened, Liam stepped on.

"Oh, Olivia, hi." He said nervously.

"Hey, Liam." I said as he stepped in.

It was painfully silent. I just looked down at the floor. I didn't have anything to say to him. It was completely different than every other time we'd met in the elevator.

"Can I ask you something?" Liam said, breaking the silence.

"Sure," I nodded.

"How did you and Zayn end up together?"

"We're not, we're just-"

"No, I saw the kiss last night. I saw it." He sighed. "Right now it just looks like you're trying to stir something up."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry if that sounded rude. You showed up at a convenient time. Zayn's confused, nervous, scared. He can easily be taken advantage of."

"Well that's not what I'm trying to do." I cleared my throat. "I don't know where you got that from but you're wrong. The only thing I do is try to uplift Zayn, while you guys only bring him down. He needs someone to believe in him."

The elevator pinged and I stepped off quickly, eager to escape Liam's wrath. He walked straight out of the front doors without another peep.

"Morning, Marsha." I said as I stood at the desk. "Do I have any mail?"

"You do, you even got a small package today." She grabbed the mail out of the slots behind her and handed it over to me. "I haven't seen Trish lately,"

"Yeah, she went back to France for a little while. Hopefully, she'll be back soon." I said, still keeping Trish's secret. "Thanks for my mail, Marsha." I said before turning back towards the elevators.

Once it opened for me, I got in and began eyeing the big tan envelope Marsha had handed me. It was addressed to me, but didn't have my apartment number on it. It gave me the chills as I ripped it open. I stuck my hand inside and felt thick card stock. I pulled it out cautiously to find a small stack of pictures. They were dark, but I could clearly see Zayn and I standing there, lips connected, with not a care in the world.

All of a sudden I felt sick.

¤

I knocked quickly, hoping no one would catch me in the hall. I had to go see him. I didn't wanna call, I had a strange feeling I was being watched, listened to, and followed.

I could hear the lock on the other side sliding open as I shifted my weight. Finally the door opened and Zayn poked his head out.

"Has anyone ever told you that you knock like the police?" He said smiling as he looked me up and down.

"Zayn, please let me in." I said anxiously.

His expression changed to worry as he opened the door for me to walk through. I pulled the envelope out of my bag and pulled the pictures out as well.

"Someone sent me these," I said as I handed them over.

He flipped through the pictures, then sighed. "Who sent them?"

"I'm not sure, the envelope has no return address." I said. I sat down on the couch feeling crazy.

He sat down beside me and put a hand on my thigh. "It's okay, Liv. Its just paparazzi." He brought a hand up to my cheek. "Its gonna be fine. No one's blackmailing you, they're just pictures, babe."

"I know, but I feel violated," I said. I could feel myself getting emotional about this, but the last thing I wanted to do was cry in front of Zayn. "People are gonna know, now."

"Well, I'm okay with that," he said as he tucked a chunk of my hair behind my ear. "I like you Olivia, and I don't care who knows." He brought a hand up under my chin and made me look him in the face. "Relax, babe." He moved in slowly and pressed his lips against mine. His kiss was warm and indeed relaxing.

When we pulled away, we rested our foreheads against one another. "It's just so creepy how they did it." I said. "It's just pictures, but that's it. There was no letter, no nothing. What do they want? Why not just publish the shit?"

"I don't know, Olivia. But I do know nothing's gonna happen to you. You're safe, especially here with me." He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close as he laid back on the couch with me in his arms. I laid my head on his chest as I wrapped my arms around his torso.

We laid there for a while like that. It was quiet and he was running his hand up and down my back slowly. I fell asleep eventually.

¤

When I awoke I was alone on the couch and I could smell weed. I stood, rubbed my eyes, then went to look for Zayn.

I'd been to Zayn's house once before now, so I wasn't too familiar with it, but the bud was strong, so I just followed my nose.

I walked down a hall with Zayn's paintings plastered all over the walls. I stopped to look at one. It was obviously a painting of his ex, Perrie. It was so beautiful. I could see he had painted her in the light he saw her in. He's painted her as a super hero. She had a beautiful purple cape and he painted her hair so long, it flowed well past her cape. He gave her a perfect body and smile, then painted her eyes blue like the sky, and if you looked close enough you could see he'd put small clouds in her eyes.

"I thought I heard someone out here,"

I turned around to see him peeking his head out of a room across the hall.

"Yeah, I just woke up. I was coming to look for you." I said.

He walked up to me and put his arms around me, laying a sweet kiss on my sleepy lips. "C'mon, lets go smoke then go get some food."

My stomach fluttered as I nodded. His kiss lingered as I followed him.

We walked into the room and flopped down onto his bed and patted the space next to him. I crawled up the bed and made myself comfortable on the pillows.

He grabbed a blunt from the pile of blunts and joints he had rolled on his nightstand. He sparked it up and passed it to me.

"So where do you wanna go out to eat?" He scooted closer to me, laying on his stomach and put his arm over my stomach, resting his hand on my hip.

"You think we could just stay in today?" I asked.

"Of course," he answered as I passed him the blunt.

He took a long drag then blew out a thick cloud and it was mesmerizing. It was something I'd only seen in pictures. His lips, his face, his presence. It was never this real to me. At times, it got to be too much for me and I'd find my self getting nervous.

With him laying so close, all I could think about was how perfect he was and how imperfect I was. The only thing that held me together was the fact that he liked me regardless.