More Than This

I paced back and forth as I waited for the boys to come off for the next outfit change. “Nora!” I heard Zayn before I saw him. I turned quickly on my heel to face him.

“What the hell was that all about!?” I yelled. “What were you thinking!? Do you want more rumors to fly around? And what is Jake supposed to think, huh!? Were you even using your brain!?”

“Nora, calm down and let me explain.” Zayn held his hands up in defense. “I’ve kept this bottled up for weeks, and I can’t hold it in anymore, okay?” Zayn went quiet and made his way to the dressing room.

“What are you talking about?” I followed him and shut the door behind me, shutting the other boys out of the dressing room. “And don’t you dare say ‘I’ll tell you later’ because I’ve been waiting for weeks to hear what’s been going on, and if you don’t tell me, I’ll get one of the other boys to-“

“I love you, okay? There, I said it. I love you. I hate that you’re with Jake and not with me. I hate that we’re only friends and nothing more. I hate that I gave up the chance to be with you in high school because I was a dumbass. I hate that I messed up. I hate that I can’t tell you every day that I love you. I want you to be with me, not Jake. How could you have not have picked up the signals?” Zayn grabbed my shoulders and looked right in my eyes. “I. Love. You. Please, give me a second chance. Please…” Zayn whispered the last little bit and brought his face closer to mine. He lightly cupped my face in both of his hands. “I’m begging you…” Zayn lips lightly brushed mine and it took everything inside of me to fight the urge to kiss him.

“Zayn, no,” I got free of his grip and pushed him away. “You had your chance in high school, and you blew it. You don’t get a second chance.” I walked out of the room and felt my throat getting thick. He couldn’t say shit like that the day before my three year anniversary with someone I loved.

“Nora…?” Niall, Louis, Harry, and Liam were all standing by the door waiting for me. “Are you okay?” Liam asked.

“I’m fine.” My voice cracked. “I just need to be alone right now.” I ran out of the arena and to the bus. Why was I so upset about this? It should have been simple to tell him that I couldn’t give him a second chance, so why was it so hard? I stopped crying before I called Ellie and waited for her to answer.

“Hey Nora, did Jake make it in okay?” Ellie asked.

“Yeah, he landed. He’s inside watching the concert.”

“What’s wrong?” As soon as Ellie asked, I broke down in tears again and explained what just happened inside.

“And I don’t know why I’m so upset, Ellie!” I took a deep breath. “Why was it so hard to tell him no?”

“Because, as much as you try to deny it; you love him, too.” She said casually.

“I don’t, no, I can’t love him. I spent two weeks crying over him, and I refuse to lose any more sleep because of him.” Ellie was silent for a few minutes.

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to enjoy my anniversary tomorrow, and it’ll be as if nothing happened.” I stated matter-of-factly. Just then I heard six voices make their way to the bus. “I gotta go, Ellie. I’ll call you tomorrow.” I hung up the phone and quietly ran to my bunk to pretend I was asleep.

“I’m gonna go see if Nora’s alright.” I heard Zayn say to the other guys. Please, God, no.

“I’m sure you’re the last person she wants to see right now, Zayn.” Liam said. “I’ll go check on her and tell you how she is.”

“What’s going on?” Jake asked.

“Nora’s not feeling well; I’m going to check on her real quick. Stay here and get to know the guys.” Liam said calmly and I heard footsteps coming down the hall. “Nora, can I come up?” He asked. I turned to face him and nodded. Liam climbed up on my bunk and lied down next to me. “Are you okay?” I nodded, not wanting to speak, knowing I would cry again. “Seriously, Nora… are you okay?” As soon as I went to open my mouth, tears flowed out of my eyes. “No, babe, please don’t cry. I hate seeing women cry.” Liam put his arm around me and I put my head on his chest.

“I don’t know why I’m so upset, Li.” I managed to say.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay, I promise.” Liam rubbed my arm and hugged me. “Zayn had no right to do that considering your past with him. It was selfish, and he knows you’re happy with Jake.”

“If he knows I’m happy, then why did he have to come back into my life and screw it up?” I asked and wiped away the tears that had already stained my face.

“Because he wants you to be happy with him,” Liam stated. “Even if that means making you miserable… it’s guy logic, don’t try to understand it.” I laughed a little bit and sighed. “But you should have seen his face as soon as you walked off. I would have thought someone just shot his dog.” I sighed and sat up as far as the small bunk would allow me.

“Thanks, Liam, I really needed someone to talk to.” I smiled and Liam slid off my bunk.

“Hey, everything okay?” Jake asked and I quickly wiped my face before he could see me.

“You can take over from here, mate.” Liam patted Jake’s shoulder and walked off towards the rest of the guys.

“What’s wrong?” Jake asked as he lifted himself into my bunk.

“Nothing, just a lot of unrelieved stress.” I shrugged and Jake wrapped his arms around me, lying us down.

“You can tell me, you know.” Jake whispered and kissed the top of my head. I shook my head no, and he sighed. “Please, love?”

“I don’t want to bring it up again, Jake. I just want to sleep right now. I’m drained.” I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his chest.

“Okay, honey. Sleep well, and I’ll see you in the morning.” Jake’s arms tightened around me and kissed the top of my head. I smiled and tried to fall asleep so the next day would arrive faster.

~*~

“Do you, Nora Amelia Carter, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?” I looked into the eyes of the man I was to be married to… but I couldn’t see his face. It was all blurry.

“I do.” I smiled.

“And do you, Zayn Javadd Malik, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Zayn’s face came through the fog, and I felt a sense of panic rush through me. I was marrying Zayn?

“I do.” Zayn smiled down at me and I looked into the crowd of people. Where was Jake? When I spotted him, he just smiled at me and nodded. No! You’re supposed to be upset that I’m marrying someone else!

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Zayn inched his face closer to mine…

I shot up in my bunk, hitting my head on the ceiling of the bus. “Ouch…” I rubbed the sore spot on the top of my head and looked around. Where was Jake? I slid out of the bunk and saw Jake watching TV with Louis and Niall. “Good morning.” I smiled and wrapped my arms around Jake’s neck from behind.

“Good morning, love.” Jake kissed my cheek and focused back on the TV.

“What do you want to do today?” I asked and secretly hoped for something cute and ‘couple-ish’ for our anniversary.

“I was thinking of hanging out with the guys today before I finished some paperwork on the computer.” Jake shrugged and I felt my face fall.

“Is that all?”

“Yeah, did you want to do something today?” I stood up and sighed.

“No, just wanted to see if you had anything planned.” I made my way back to my bunk. There was no way Jake would forget our anniversary! He was more excited about it this year than I was! Three years and he forgets.

The rest of the day was awful; all Jake did was play video games with Liam and Niall while Zayn moped around the bus. I had finally decided to shower and get dressed in case Jake decided to surprise me. When I was rearranging the clothes, Jake sat backstage and watched me.

“You look really sexy doing that.” Jake said and put his hands on my waist.

“Thanks.” I removed his hands and walked to the other side of the clothing rack.

“What’s wrong, babe? You’ve been acting like this all day.” Jake crossed his arms and looked me up and down. “What did I do to piss you off so bad?”

“Nothing,” I lied. “It’s that stress I told you about.” Jake sighed and took a seat. “Seriously, Jake; I’m fine.”

“Alright…” Jake said skeptically. “I’m going to see what the guys are up to. I’ll be right back.” He walked out of the dressing room and I threw a shoe at the door when he was out of earshot.

“Asshole forgot our damn anniversary.” I said to myself.

“You okay?” I heard Zayn say as he came into the room.

“Go away, Zayn.” I snapped and hung up the last pair of jeans. “I don’t need you around right now.”

“Okay… I’m just saying; I would never forget our anniversary.”

“Whatever.”

“August 31, the day we met.” I stood frozen. There was no way he could remember that. “August 26, the day you moved to Bradford, and September 1, the day we kissed.”

“Get out, Zayn.” I warned.

“Fine,” Zayn whispered and backed out of the room. “I’m sorry.” He said and shut the door. Dammit, why’d he have to ruin everything for me?

Zayn’s POV

I walked out of the dressing room and saw Jake cracking jokes with Liam and I felt disgusted. How could he forget something as important as a three year anniversary?

“What’s wrong, mate?” Louis asked when he walked up to me and slung his arm around my neck.

“Jake’s a complete ass,” I rolled my eyes. “He forgot his and Nora’s three year anniversary today.”

“What?” Louis looked at him shocked. “Three years? And he forgot?” I nodded. “Damn…”

“What are you two whispering about?” Jake laughed and walked over to us.

“If you don’t know, then I’m not telling you.” I shrugged and walked off.

“What do you have against me, man?” Jake asked as he caught up with me. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you, and you’ve been a total ass to me.” I shrugged and continued walking away from him. It didn’t help. “I get it,” Jake cut me off. “You’re in love with Nora, aren’t you?” I didn’t say anything. “Look, dude, she doesn’t love you, she loves me. We’ve been together for nearly three years now, and I don’t see us breaking up anytime soon.” I scoffed and pushed past him.

“We’ll see.”

Nora’s POV

Since Jake didn’t have tickets to the show, he couldn’t watch, so he was stuck backstage while I was somewhere in the crowd watching from a balcony. I was relieved to have a few hours away from Jake. Words couldn’t express how mad I was at him.

“I want, I want, I want
But that’s crazy!
I want, I want, I want
To be loved by you”

The boys took a final bow and the crowd went wild. I decided to beat the crowd and ducked out of the arena before the lights went up and the crowd dispersed. I climbed onto the bus and saw Jake sitting there, staring out one of the windows. “I’m headed to bed.” I said and tried to walk past him.

“Nora, why are you so mad at me?” Jake asked, still staring out the window.

“Happy anniversary.” I said and waited for his reaction. Jake took a sharp breath and jerked his head towards me. “Yeah. Today.” I walked back to my bunk, tears staining my cheeks, and leaving Jake sitting there looking dumbfounded. He really did forget.

“Where’s Nora?” I heard one of the boys ask.

“She’s in her bunk…” Jake whispered. I sniffed a bit too loud and heard heavy footsteps making their way to my bunk.

“If she’s crying, your ass is mine.” I heard Zayn warn. I quickly rolled onto my side facing away from the curtain, and wiped my face. I heard the curtain pull back. “Nora, I know you’re awake. I heard you crying.”

“I’m not crying.” I lied, praying my voice wouldn’t crack to give me away. “I’m just tired.” Dammit, my voice cracked. I heard Zayn sigh in irritation before he marched off. “No, Zayn!” I jumped out of the bunk and saw him making his way towards Jake, hands balled up into fists. “Don’t you dare hit him, Zayn!” I yelled and ran after him. “If you hit Jake, I’ll never forgive you.” Zayn looked from me to Jake and relaxed his hands. Zayn opened his mouth to say something then shook his head.

“You know what, never mind.” Zayn waved us off and went back to his bunk. I sighed in relief.

“Nora…”

“I’m still mad at you, Jake.” I turned to face him. “How could you forget? You’re the one who thinks I’ll forget every year, and to think you forgot…” My voice trailed off. “You’re welcome for saving your ass.” I said and walked back to my bunk.

“You may want to sleep on the couch thing tonight, mate.” I heard Louis say. “I’ll bring you a pillow and blanket.” I lifted myself onto my bunk and curled up into a ball, pulling my knees as close to my chest as I could manage, and cried as quietly as I could until I fell asleep.

~*~

When I woke up a few hours later, it was freezing, and I wanted some hot chocolate. I walked out to the mini fridge and grabbed some milk and then made my way to the small pantry and grabbed the cocoa mix. When I had mixed the two in a mug, I popped it in the microwave for three minutes and waited.

“Just waking up?” I turned around and saw Harry sitting on his laptop. I nodded and sat down across from him. “Are you okay, Nora? You seemed pretty upset earlier.”

“I’ve been better.” I sighed and looked at Jake sleeping on the couch.

“He’s tore up about this, you know. He feels like shit forgetting about your anniversary.”

“He should; three years is a long time to just forget an anniversary.” I rolled my eyes as the timer went off.

“He was mumbling about how sorry he was in his sleep for the past hour.” I grabbed my mug out of the microwave and sat back down. “So you really love this guy?”

“Are you going to harp on me about how Zayn would be better for me? He already gave me that speech.” I rolled my eyes and took a drink of my hot cocoa.

“No, I was just asking. You guys just don’t seem to… fit well. It seems like there’s something not right about you two.”

“Well, you just saw today. We usually don’t argue.” I watched as his chest rose up and down. “I do love him.” I smiled. “I’m just… angry right now.” I shook my head and took another drink. “It’s not like I’ll be mad at him forever.”

“I know that. I… I don’t know. There just seems to be something off about him.” Harry shrugged. “Well, you know what you want, and I guess that’s Jake.” I sighed and finished my hot chocolate. “I guess I’m headed to bed. I’ll see you in the morning, Nora.” Harry patted my shoulder as he walked by me before heading to his bunk. Not too long after, I heard Jake stirring in his sleep before he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Hey…” I said and sat on the couch by his feet.

“Nora, I’m so sorry, baby. I’ve been so busy with work I lost count of the days.” Jake took my hands in his. “I was going to make this anniversary special, but I guess that’s out the window now.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m so, so, so sorry. Please forgive me. I love you so much.”

“I know, Jake. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.” I looked down at our hands. “I love you too, Jake. I forgive you. It’s not really your fault you forgot; you were pretty busy with work.” I shrugged. “It’s easy to forget things and lose track of the days.” Jake sighed in relief.

“I promise; I won’t forget ever again.” He smiled at me and kissed my forehead.

“So you’re anticipating more anniversaries?” I smiled at him and felt my face going red.

“Many, many more.” Jake smiled back and kissed my lips softly. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Jake laid us down and we slept on the couch the rest of the night.

~*~

“Good morning!” Louis yelled the next morning. I sat up slowly and saw Jake was already awake, drinking coffee with Zayn (who looked even angrier than he was the night before).

“Morning.” I yawned and sat next to Jake. “What time is your flight?” I asked as he took my hand.

“In two hours. We’re about to arrive at the airport.” I frowned and pecked his cheek.

“I’m going to go shower. Don’t leave yet.” I quickly ran to the shower to the back of the bus, grabbing some clothes on the way, and shut the door behind me.

Zayn’s POV

“I can’t believe she actually forgave you.” I scoffed. “What games are you playing with her, dude?” Jake rolled his eyes and sipped his coffee.

“No games mate, just trying to get rid of any competition.” I rolled my eyes. “Namely you; you’re on your way out of her life. You’ll see.”

“You can’t just expect her to never see her friends again.”

“I know, but if it comes down to it, she’ll pick me over you.”

“Whatever, mate.” I rolled my eyes and stood up before realizing there was really no escape from him. “I need a cigarette.” I said and stepped off the bus to smoke. Nora hated that I smoked, so as soon as the cigarette met my lips I sighed and tossed it to the side.

“You don’t have to take that from him.” I heard Louis say from behind me.

“Yeah, but he’s leaving soon so I might as well tolerate him until he’s gone.” I shrugged and looked at the people piling into the airport. “I know I shouldn’t go on about it, but why Jake?” I shook my head. “I don’t get it. I would have expected the guy from trig that she was friends with once, but someone she was mortal enemies with?” I sighed and took out another cigarette and lit it before taking a long drag.

“He’ll show his true colors soon enough, and she’ll come running to you; her best friend.” I rolled my eyes and Louis pat my back.

“She’ll probably run to Ellie and tell her all about what happened.” I took another drag of my cigarette before throwing it on the ground and stomping it out. “Man, what if she ends up marrying this guy?”

“I don’t see that happening any time soon, mate.” Louis reassured me. “Anyway, you might want to put a happy face on, cos here she and Jake come.” I rolled my eyes and put the cigarette between my lips. “See you later, Jake.” Louis bid him goodbye in a polite tone and I waved him off.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, guys.” Nora smiled and walked with Jake to the airport.

“I’m so sick of him.” I rolled my eyes and took another drag before throwing my cigarette onto the ground and stomped it out. “Thank God he’s leaving.” I walked up the steps of the bus.

~*~

Nora’s POV

“Jake never should have come to see me.” I sighed and traced little designs on the table. Sure it’s been a week since he left, but I missed him like crazy.

“We get that you miss him, Nora, but you’ll see him again when the tour is over.” Niall smiled half-heartily at me. I sighed and looked over at Zayn who looked more irritated than ever. Soon the bus came to a halt and we all looked out the windows. We were finally at the venue.

“About damn time.” Zayn mumbled and grabbed his cigarettes and phone before marching off the bus and slamming the door behind him. I followed him off the bus to talk to him.

“Hey, Zayn.” I smiled and stood next to him. Bad idea, the smoke was killing me.

“Hey,”

“What’s wrong?” I asked and placed a hand on his shoulder. Zayn jerked his shoulder away and walked in the opposite direction of me. “Hey, I’m trying to be nice and be your friend here. What the hell is your problem?”

“It’s nothing.”

“There you go again with the ‘it’s nothing’ thing. Do you know how irritating that is? The boys and I are trying to be your friends and help you out, but all you give us is ‘it’s nothing’, or ‘don’t worry about it’. When you do that you end up yelling at everyone and then not only are you pissed off, but everyone’s pissed off.”

“You’re just over exaggerating.” Zayn rolled his eyes. “And besides, what do you care? You’re too busy with your precious boyfriend, Jake.”

“Don’t bring him into this because you’re mad at me.” I tried to stop myself from getting angry. I should be used to his mood swings by now, right?

“Nora, this is exhausting.” Zayn sighed and took another drag of his cigarette. “All we do is argue back and forth and I hate it.” Zayn ran his free hand through his hair and sighed before finishing his cigarette and throwing the end to the side.

“Zayn, I know that you want more than just to be my friend,” I wrapped my arms around my torso and took a few steps towards him. “But I’m with Jake, and I-“

“You love him, blah, blah, blah.” Zayn walked up to me only leaving a foot of space between us. “This is so frustrating! I love you so much, and you’re completely blind of that. You think that Jake’s a good person, but his personal mission is to keep you from me out of spite!” Zayn grabbed my shoulders softly and looked right in my eyes. “Why can’t you see that?” I looked away from him and took a step back.

“Zayn, you’re being ridiculous.” I looked at the ground as I spoke. “Jake and I-“

“I don’t want to hear about you two anymore, Nora.” Zayn walked past me and towards the venue.

Notes

I'm sorry! I know I said that I would post two chapters on Christmas, but I got super friggen busy. I hope you guys like this!
Xx