The Wanted Girl

"Fucking liar!" I blurted out before I could even register what I was saying.

But let's get real here. Even if we ignore the conversation Nathan, Serena and I had the other night where she clearly admitted she was IN LOVE with Nathan, Nathan wouldn't rape anyone. Nathan couldn't. I know him, better than most anyone.

"Get the fuck away from her!" Zayn screamed, channeling his past confusion into clear fury towards Nathan.

It all happened so quickly. He released Niall and ran full force into Nathan, nearly taking me out in the process. Louis couldn't hold Niall back now, and I knew his strength wasn't at it's prime from his already hatred of Nathan. I didn't know what to do. So I screamed.

"Liam, Harry, PLEASE!" I begged.

Not that it was necessary, they had both allowed Brielle to pounce on Serena after hearing that confession, knowing damn well at least one of my two 'lovers' was bound to strike. But the fact that it WASN'T Louis, but Zayn, had to have thrown everyone for a loop. I looked down at the tangled fists and knew there wasn't much I could do. So I changed directions, stomping straight over to Serena.

Brielle had her pinned up against a wall, both of them gaping at the shit show on the other side of the table. Thank the Lord no one else was here. Pictures of this, a STATEMENT of what was being said, could ruin everyone.

"Serena," I stated.

"Don't fucking talk to me," she seethed.

I leaned down, mere inches from Serena's face, "Have you ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome?"

"No," she croaked.

"It's where you fall in love with your abuser, or kidnapper. I know what happened to you. I know why you constantly make yourself vomit and treat your body like shit. I know everything," I said.

I didn't even feel guilt as I let the words slip out of my mouth. Serena had been abused by her past boyfriend. He was rough with her, called her horrible things, told her she'd never be good enough, forced her to do things she didn't want. So she KNEW how that one sentence would affect someone. To accuse someone of being like that when they weren't? When she compared MY Nathan to that sick son of a bitch who hurt her, that's when any and all respect I previously had for her went out of the window.

She blinked and tears fell from her eyes.

"Nathan did not rape you. And the fact that you would ever say something like that, about someone I love, makes me want you ruined. Do you understand that?" I asked.

She shook her head, "You don't know what happ-"

"You fucking sat there at that bar and told me that you didn't love Niall, that you loved Nathan! He came home and you saved your own ass in the worst possible way. You're fucking despiteful!" I screamed.

I felt strong arms pull me off of her and immediately recognized them as Liam's. Brielle was torn away from Serena by Harry and Serena ran into Niall's arms. I struggled out of his grip, screaming obscenities at her as she sobbed into Niall's arms. He just glared at me, as if I was the bad person.

"He didn't fucking do it, Niall!" I screamed, begging for his eyes to register my words.

But they didn't. He didn't. He just shook his head and held her closer, pulling her out of the bar. I looked around for Zayn, Louis, and Nathan, but they were no where to be found.

"Where is he?" I asked, full on sobbing into Liam's chest.

"He went home, I told him to cool off. Everyone's at home now," he explained.

I appreciated him not bothering to ask who exactly I was referring to. But I didn't know what to do. So I fell back into my old ways.

"Can you call my brother and have him pick me up? I don't want to drive," I murmured.

"Of course, love."

-------------The Wanted Girl-------------

When I walked into my brothers apartment, all of the boys were already there. Nathan had an icepack on his nose and I saw his tear stained cheeks and felt my heart drop. I ignored everyone else, running over and curling up into his lap, breaking into another fit of sobs.

Why Nathan? Out of everyone. Why him. The nicest guy on the fucking planet. Why him.

"I'm so sorry," I cried.

He stroked my hair and held me close to his chest, "It's okay Soph, it's not your fault."

I sat up, making sure everyone could understand my next words, "YES. It is. I'm the one who asked you all to look after her. I'm the one who set those two up together. I'm the one who didn't tell Niall when I had the chance. I'm the one who instigated this entire mess."

"No, Sophia, it isn't. You didn't know she'd do that. Shit, none of us did! It's a shitty thing to do, yeah. But how could I blame you?" Nathan asked in disbelief.

I wiped my tears and took a deep breath. Nathan was being incredibly calm about all of this. As if it didn't even happen. So the least I can do is try and fix it.

"Who did that?" I asked, pointing to his nose.

He grinned, "One of your boyfriends. I'll let you guess who."

I rolled my eyes, "Zayn?"

He shook his head, "Nah, he just held me down and stared at me like a weirdo. Louis sucker punched me. Fucking HARD too."

I laughed in desperation, "Jesus Christ."

"I never liked that little girl," Tom said, as if he knew all along this would happen.

Through all of the awkward tension, not knowing exactly what to say, unspoken anger, everyone actually laughed. We were all laughing. And I have no idea why.

"I should have never labeled myself a matchmaker," I groaned.

Siva giggled, "Why not? Your relationships are all quite ace, yeah?"

Everyone burst into another fit of giggles and we spent the next hour or so laughing and talking, mostly catching up and telling stories about their Glad You Came tour. It was nice, reminiscing. Nathan would loose focus every once and a while, just like the rest of us did. We knew better than to think this was over. It wasn't. Tom was furious and so was Jay. Max couldn't even contain his anger towards all of this, he would just start yelling every once and a while, telling me how 'I should have just listened to him' and he 'knew they were going to be drama'. I didn't know what to say to that, so I ignored it.

"I should go," I said.

"No, stay here tonight with us. Please?" Siva pleaded.

I shook my head, "I have other things to take care of."

Aka 'I need to go cut someone loose.'

Max smiled and pulled me into a hug, "She's got to go drop one of her boys."

"Who are you picking?! I wanna know!" Siva squealed.

"I hope it's Zayn," Jay said.

"Yeah," Tom snorted, "Me too."

"Me three," Nathan agreed.

I turned to them, annoyed, "Why?"

"Because, he loves you."
"He won't hurt you."
"He's not Louis."
"He'll treat you the way we do."
"You're clearly in love with him."

All of their responses, going through my head, hurt. They fucking killed me. I don't know why either. I knew they were all team Zayn, but the fact that they could give me reasons that did involve Louis (besides Tom) that I could label as true, hurt even more. I was in love with Zayn. I hadn't said it, I hadn't even acknowledged it, but those feelings were still there. The way my heart would speed up when I saw him. The way I didn't have to yell and scream to get him to listen to me. The way he would make sure I was okay and knew exactly how to comfort me. All of it. It was how I knew. How I knew that Zayn was the right one for me. I couldn't go back and fix everything I had done with Louis, but moving on from him, and onto someone who could make me happy. That's the only way I can fix this.

Notes