It's Better To Not Know Better (Ziam)

Raising Suspicions

Louis paced up and down the hall, listening to the ringing from the other line. For the fourth time, the electronic voice told him to leave a message. He shut his eyes and shook his his head. He could've at least kept the old answering machine.

Deciding he had no other choice, he sighed, stopping and leaning against the wall.

"Okay, I'm not surprised that you don't want to talk to me. I am surprised that you didn't block me. Since you're cutting yourself out of everything, might as well. But. . ." Louis ran a hand through his hair.

"All right, honestly, we don't know why you left, but everyone's doing a really shit job of getting over it. I don't know if that was your plan, to drive everyone crazy--You should have seen Niall's face. He has to sleep with Liam every night because he can't sleep by himself. Harry, hardly ever says anything, I'm pretty sure he hasn't eaten since the last day you were here. And Liam, I know he wants to seem like he's taking this in stride, but he's shut himself off. I don't know what he does when he's alone but when he's with anything that breathes he hides, he tries to disappear.

"And Zayn. . .I miss you. Look I'm sorry for how I acted, but you've got to come back. We don't know if we can even stay a band anymore, if you don't show up, chances are they won't let us. What about our girls, Zayn? It's gonna be hell when they find out. And I'm not about to let management make them think that you're just on hiatus or something. They have to know.

"We're not covering for you, but. . .you have sources. We're in Pittsburgh right now, we had to stop to try to figure out what's going to happen to the family." Louis' voice radiated anger in those words. "If you feel like coming back and fixing everything, you know where to find us. I hope you're okay, and, I love you."

Louis hung up, sliding his back down the wall. Zayn probably wouldn't listen to the whole thing anyway. If he really was just trying to cut himself out of everything, he wouldn't. He'd say he didn't care what happened to the girls, the boys, the family, he would go back to England, he would make sure the boys could never contact him again.

But he hadn't even changed his number. Louis knew that Zayn had to care. He couldn't expect to just drop off the face of the Earth. They needed him.

Sighing, Louis got up, pocketing his cell phone, and headed back inside the suite.

Harry looked up, and Niall, whose head was on Harry's shoulder, kept staring at the computer screen. Louis heard the audio of one of their old videos.

"What's the verdict?" Harry asked.

"Well, he, er, didn't pick up. But I know my number's not blocked, and at least he didn't change his number. I'd say we could find some sort of way to track him."

"How are we supposed to know how to track his phone?" Harry asked. Niall looked up.

"They have websites for that, online tracking services," he said casually. Louis and Harry cast him odd looks, but he just shrugged.

Lou shook his head and looked back to Harry. "Google it, Harry."

Harry's hands shot across the keyboard, and he clicked on something. Louis came over to sit on the arm of the couch, looking over Harry's other shoulder.

Harry typed Zayn's number into the search bar, entered, then waited.

They were surprised at what came up.

"All right lads, it seems our friend Zayn has somehow found his way from Lancaster to Harrisburg," Harry announced.

"How far away is that?" Louis asked.

"That far." Niall pointed to the screen, dragging his finger from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg on the map. Louis scowled.

"I meant how many miles."

"Google it, Harry," Niall said, smirking.

Harry typed madly in the Google search bar, Pittsburgh to Harrisburg. Louis made a face at his friend's perfect capitalization.

"You know you don't have to--"

"Bad habit." Harry clicked on Maps. Under the suggested route, it said I-76 E, 208 mi, 4 hours, 28 mins.

"Aw, there's like, five toll roads and three partials!" Harry whined. Louis hit him upside the head.

"Should we go?" he asked the other two.

"If Princess Harry is okay with toll roads," Niall sneered.

"Really, he's only four hours away. If I had known he was moving toward us I would've gone back already," Louis said.

"But what if he was planning on coming back? He could've just needed some time to cool off. Or, what if he's really mad that we won't give him any space?" Harry spouted off timidly.

"We're his family," everyone looked up at the sound of Liam's voice. "We never give each other any space. He should get used to it."

Louis cleared his throat, standing up. "We er, found Zayn."

"So I've heard. Where is he?"

"Harrisburg, two hundred eight miles away," Niall stated, obviously proud that he remembered without looking at the screen.

"Are we going?" Liam asked.

"I don't know yet. We might not be allowed."

"Lou, you're the oldest. You don't act it, but you are. You are twenty years old, whether you want to be or not, and you can do whatever you want," Liam said.

"What about you guys?"

"Well, yeah, we all legally count as adults really, I was just using you as an example because you're older."

"Oh. Well I suppose you're right, but we should still probably tell everyone where we're going," Louis specified.

Suddenly, the two boys had switched places. Louis had become so rule-abiding, while Liam had changed into someone much more driven than his previous self. Zayn's absence had caused this kind of madness. Because, Zayn leaving? That's madness in itself.

"Hey look! In current traffic it'll only take us three hours and fifty-two minutes!" Niall pointed out happily.

"See? So let's go before it ends up taking five hours," Liam said.

"I still think it's a bad idea."

Lou rolled his eyes at Harry. "Stay here, then. But we're going to find him."

Niall sat up instantly. "Now?"

"Now." Louis picked up his keys from the coffee table. "Last chance."

"I'm not going to get in trouble," Harry said, beginning to type again.

"Neither are we. Let's go, lads," Louis said. Niall jumped up, and Liam led them out the door, shutting it behind them.

Louis was now positive that something was up with Harry. He wasn't sure what, but he knew it wasn't good.