Friend Zoned

*Piper’s P.O.V.*

We had left the boys so they could get ready for their signing and headed home. The memories of last night flooded my head causing me to smile and, of course, Chelsea wanted details.

“What details do you want?” I asked her.

“Uh everything, especially what happened between you and Harry.”

“Oh,” I blushed at the thought, Harry was a real sweet boy, if only he knew the real me. Not many people do, not even Chelsea. “Well I was still a bit freaked by the I’m going to kidnap you stunt, being my gullible self, and well Harry seemed to pick up on it and kept apologising and hugging me to his side so we started talking and hit it off pretty well.” I shrugged at her and she grinned back, gesturing for me to continue.

“And when you and Zayn went to the bar, Harry and I went dancing and stuff and then there was our little stunt.” I laughed remembering the boys’ faces. “And Harry seemed to like that as well so yeah and somehow we ended up kissing. But when we got back to the flats we just decided to take it slowly and then we went to bed, end of story.”

“Interesting, I’ll make sure to keep an eye on him.”

“Chelsea,” I whined in a warning tone, she just laughed.

“So, you and Zayn aye?” I winked at her.

“Nothing is going on there,” she said.

“Really, I don’t believe you.”

“Seriously, nothing is going on and although I might slowly be developing feelings for him, it’s too soon, and I am so scared; especially after him and Perrie.” She smiled half-heartedly. Her ex had cheated on her after such a long time and the media had said Zayn had done the same to Perrie.

“You can’t be scared forever and just stick to getting to know him now and just talk to him. It will work out.”

“I guess so. I’m tired so I think I’ll head to bed now, wake me in a few hours please.”

“Ok,” I nodded my head as she hurried up the stairs.


*Chelsea’s P.O.V.*


The week had flown past. Zayn has been texting me heaps and some of the others had also made contact. Piper and Harry had caught up yesterday at his flat and today I was going out to lunch with Zayn as his moral support seeing as he had to meet Liam’s girlfriend, who I had been informed was a bitch. I really didn’t know how I ended up in this situation but let me tell you, the only thing I was looking forward to was spending time with Zayn, and maybe Liam. I was currently at work, my other best friend Luna was trying to get all the so-called ‘gossip’ about Zayn and the boys out of me. It was pretty weird seeing her acting this way, she’s always been no-marriage, no-boys, she hates One Direction – or at least their fans – and normally couldn’t give two shits about anything to do with boys and relationships and most people in general.
“So are you sure nothing is going on between you two?” She asked for the three hundredth time today.

“Luna! I’m telling you, he’s in the friend zone.”

“Yeah but that’s because you’re scared and plus look, he isn’t in the sibling zone so there is still hope for an escape in your books.” I rolled my eyes at her reference to my zones. My phone buzzed.

I hope you’re ready, I’m coming up to get you ;)

I shook my head at Zayn’s message, logging of my computer and gathering the stuff I needed to work on for my big presentation next week and my other crap. The talk in the room stopped and I swivelled around in my chair to see that Zayn had entered. I looked at a wide-eyed Luna and chuckled, getting up and pulling her into a hug and saying goodbye before leaving with Zayn, much to the shock of some of the others in the office.

“You excited?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Uh excited isn't the right word, why am I even here again?”

“Because you offered. Who was that?” He asked, gesturing back to the office as we reached his car.

“Oh, that was Luna, my other best friend.” He nodded and we drove to the restaurant where we were meeting Liam and the girl, I think her name was Macy – the name made me cringe – making small talk occasionally before Zayn pulled into a car park. We entered the fancy restaurant, my eyes quickly scanning the crowd and landing on Liam and… my heart stopped. No, it couldn’t be; but it was. I froze in shock causing Zayn to stop as well.

“Ok I don’t- Chelsea, is something wrong?” he asked after turning to face me, I obviously looked a bit distressed. I tried to quickly cover it up and walk away but Zayn stopped me, grabbing hold of both my hands in his.

“Chelsea, what’s wrong?” he asked, looking concerned.

“I uh, I known the girl. I erm, have known her for a while. She… she is not very nice. Well she has not been very nice to me. Shit, they’re looking at us, we better go over, and I’ll tell you the rest later.” He pulled me into a hug.

“Thank you for coming, just go along with it and I’ll protect you.” I laughed at him, pulling away and heading towards the table.

“Liam!” I cried as he got up and wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Is everything okay?” He asked, concern lacing his voice.

“I’m fine,” I whispered back in his ear. “I’m great Liam, how are you?” I said pulling away. He raised an eyebrow but had no chance to take it any further. He turned his gaze towards Macy after giving me a ‘later’ look. How could everyone read me so easily? Where was my poker, lawyer face when I needed it?

“I’m great, this is Macy. Macy this is Zayn and Chelsea.”

“Macy, lovely to see you again,” she grinned a bitchy smile at me and pulled me into a hug.

“I’ve fucked Zayn as well,” she said to me. I rolled my eyes.

“Like I care, we’re just friends.” I smiled as I pulled away. She smiled fakely at me as well.

“Uh so I’m staring, can we sit down?” Zayn asked breaking us apart.

We sat down; I was across from Macy unfortunately, but beside Zayn. I could feel the tension in the room building as we looked through the menu.

“So Chelsea, you said ‘lovely to see you again’, do you guys know each other?” Liam asked, breaking the silence.

“Uh yeah, we did all our schooling together.”

“But you aren’t friends…”

Macy kicked me under the table causing me to wince.

“Oh we knew each other, we just had different groups so we didn’t really associate,” Macy informed Liam and Zayn.

“Yeah I spent most of my time with my ex, Piper and a few others whereas Macy was miss popular.”

“Wait, you and Mitch broke up? But you were so cute together.” Did she seriously just say that? Does she want me to mess up her face? I clenched my jaw before answering.

“Yeah, he cheated on me with some air-headed slut. I walked in on them, and let me tell you, it was quite an unpleasant sight.” She scowled at me. Right on cue, the waitress came, shoving her non-existent boobs in the boys faces before leaving with our order. Zayn threw me an apologetic look.

“Oh no Chelsea. How long ago was that?” Liam asked.

“Uh, a few months or so ago,” I shrugged.

“Have you been okay?” Macy asked with fake concern.

“Just peachy, on top of the world,” I said sarcastically, standing up and chucking my napkin down on the table. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Oh, I’ll come with you,” Macy said, moving to get up.

“Oh no, I’m not one of those girls who needs to have someone attached to her 24/7 to keep her safe, I thought you already knew that though.” I spat, turning and heading towards the bathroom.

I heaved the door open, checked to see whether the stalls were occupied before I locked the door. I know I was kind of overreacting but she ruined my whole life, my whole fucking life! Or at least she tried to. And Liam was dating her! Why? I clenched the white basin so tightly my knuckles started turning white. I squeezed my eyes shut in an effort to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. I was not weak anymore. Unfortunately it didn’t work, sorry make-up. I opened my eyes again and pushed my bangle up my arm, revealing past scars. There was a knock on the door.

“Chelsea, can I come in?” I heard Zayn ask.

“Go away,” I half sobbed.

“Please Chelsea, open the door.” I reluctantly flicked the lock and he opened the door, taking in the sire of me. I looked down to the bracelet that had been pushed up my arm from its previous position and quickly pushed it down, in hope that he wouldn’t notice. Then again, luck has never really been on my side in these situations.

“Chelsea, what was that?” he asked cautiously as he approached me. I back away, shaking my head as tears continued to stream down my face. My back soon met the wall as Zayn reaches me grabbing my arm gently. I looked down in shame as he removed the bangle, placing it on the bench. His hand gently traced the scars that I had made.

“Did you do this to yourself?” he asked, concern evident in his tone. I nodded my head, tears toppling out of my eyes. He took hold of my chin and raised it so I was looking at him. “Why?”
I just cried even more. Zayn wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into him. Sobs wracked my body as I cried into his chest. “Why?” He repeated his question gently into my ear.

“Because of her and a few other people,” I whispered barely audibly. I prayed he didn’t hear me but he did.

“Chelsea, I’m so sorry. We can go if you want. As long as you tell me about it.”

“No no no,” I said pulling away. “We can’t leave but I guess I can tell you about it later.” I said pulling myself together and looking in the mirror.

“Are you sure, you could say you felt sick or something.” I shook my head, fixing my make-up.

“No we should probably get back before they get suspicious and send a search party. Plus our meals are probably there.” He gave me a concerned look but I just plastered a smile on my face, pushing him towards the door. He put his arm around my waist and we headed back to the table where our meals were being delivered. The waitress from before scowled at me before smiling at Zayn and pushing her chest out. I had to hide my face in Zayn’s neck in order to not laugh at her. Zayn pulled my seat out for me and we settled down to the raised eyebrows of Macy and Liam.

“How was that phone call mate?” Liam asked looking between us sceptically.

“Good, why?”

“No reason.”

“So you guys are not together?” Macy asked.

“Uh no, why?” I asked laughing fakely and playing along.

“You’re just… close. And now you came back together.”

“Yeah we get along well I guess and when I finished in the bathroom I came out to find Zayn on his phone so I waited with him.” I lied smoothly, shrugging my shoulders and smiling at Zayn who gave me a sympathetic look.

We finished of lunch chatting a bit. I learnt even more about the guys which was really good although Macy did put a dampener on it all.

“Well it was great meeting you Zayn and seeing you again Chelsea,” Macy said with fake delight. “But my lunch break is almost over so I must go.” Raise your hand if your disappointed. Huh, no one did, what a surprise. “Bye Liam,” she turned and gave him a big kiss causing him to cringe slightly but covered it up with a smile quickly. Liam waved her off.

“Bye Macy.” I called after her in the same sickly-sweet tone I had used on Zayn only a couple of days before. It resulted in a chuckling Zayn.

“Okay could someone care to explain?” Liam asked looking between us.

“Uh, what exactly?” I asked.

“You and Macy.”

“Oh um as you know we went to school together and yeah, there isn’t much else to tell.” Liam raised his eyebrows at me and Zayn shook his head in disappointment. I know she was a bitch but I shouldn’t say anything that could sabotage Liam’s relationship.

“Are you sure that’s all?” Liam asked, I looked at Zayn worriedly.

“Liam mate, Chels doesn’t want to hurt you but I think it would be best if you told him.”

“Tell me what? Chelsea please, I don’t care just tell me.” Zayn looked at me encouragingly.

“Well uh, Macy she… she wasn’t a nice person to me or anyone else but she especially hated me for some reason, she abused me mentally and physically and I developed… issues because of it. And um, if we’re putting it out there, my boyfriend of almost four years cheated on me with her. So yeah, that’s what you wanted, sorry.” I frowned looking at my hands. I'm a terrible person. Why did I just tell someone that the person they are dating is basically a fake bitch. Yeah so what if it’s true. Fuck Chelsea, you are such a stupid bitch. I felt a hand entangle with mine. I looked up to an encouraging yet sorrowful smile from Zayn. I smiled weakly at him before turning to face Liam’s shocked and horrified face. “I… I'm sorry, Liam. You did want to…”

“… Chelsea, don’t be sorry, she’s the one who should be apologies.” I shook my head, lowering my gaze.

“I'm just weak okay. Do not do anything stupid with that information. I'm just so fucking weak.” I mumbled more to myself than them. I could feel tears welling in my eyes again which I rapidly blinked away. Strong arms wrapped around me again. I relaxed into Zayn’s arms, looking up to face Liam.

“Chelsea, I… I'm so sorry. Do you want me to talk to her?”

He suggested. I felt my eyes widen, shaking my head. “Well what can I do?” he asked leaning closer. “It’s more of a publicity stunt than anything so I can’t really end it.” He frowned.

“No Liam, don’t dump her or change anything for me. Don’t worry, I’ll just try to avoid her at all costs. And don’t apologise, it’s not your fault.”

“But I'm truly sorry Chelsea, I’ll do my best so you avoid further confrontation. I'm sorry guys but I actually have to go meet up with Niall now.” I nodded my head as Zayn gestured for the bill. The boys – who had insisted on paying – paid quickly and we exited the restaurant together. I turned to Liam who wrapped him arms around me.

“I'm sorry Chels, if I had of known…”

“You couldn’t have known Liam, and seriously stop wasting your breathe apologising. And Liam, if you like her don’t change anything for me, I'm not that important, okay.”

He shook his head pulling me back in.

“Again I'm sorry but I have to go.” He pulled Zayn into some weird ‘manly’ hug, whispering something into his ear. Zayn pulled back and nodded, pulling me to him. Liam looked between us before he turned to walk away.

“Liam!” I called out to him, “Don’t worry and please don’t apologise.” He nodded and turned away again.

I turned to look at Zayn who still had one arm around me.

“Now what?”

Notes

Hey guys
Chapter 7 whoop whoop
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