𝑺𝐈𝐗, One Direction Sixth Member

1, thirteen

"Where the fuck were you, Zayn?"

"Aviana, I-"

"I was looking for you everywhere. I- I- I swear to god, Zayn. You didn't actually leave because I said it's okay, right? Oh my god, Za-"

"Hey, hey, hey," Zayn's stern voice finally made Aviana's rambling come to a halt. "Aviana"

The way her name rolled off his tongue was both steady and grounding at the tip of Aviana's ears. Although not forcefully, it immediately gave a rest to her racing thoughts filled with uneasiness and confusion.

"You with me, love?"

Aviana could only muster up the courage to hum into her phone.

She was standing in the middle of her room - everything around her was dark and dull as all lights were off inside. The only source of lighting she received in the forms of specks and geometric shapes was from the warm garden lights mounted along the exterior of the house. It was drizzling outside - Aviana could hear the quiet sound of rain falling to the floor of her balcony. July rain was usually a rare sight. But this was the UK - it always rained in the UK.

"Are you okay?" Aviana's voice was loud against the quietness in the room. Yet the raindrops tried their best to mute it with the rhythmic pitter-patter on every surface possible.

"I'm okay. What about you?" Zayn's voice sounded quiet against her ear. Aviana couldn't help but wonder if Zayn was also in a hiding place to avoid getting caught by his parents. If you were to get caught on the phone after your bedtime slash screen time in a brown household, the only response would be a belt to the back or a slipper to the face. Maybe Zayn had to be quiet because he shared his bedroom with his sisters. Or maybe Zayn just didn't know how to raise his voice at all.

"I'm fine" Aviana replied with a sigh. "I just...I was just worried"

"I know, I'm sorry" Zayn's apology came almost immediately. "I'm so sorry for making you worry"

"No, no, it's okay. It's fine" Aviana was speaking in a reassuring tone - feeling almost guilty for sounding too worried. It was weird how restless she was about Zayn's condition considering they only met that morning. She found it hard to accept the fact that a boy she met only a couple of hours ago had her worried to the point she lost her entire appetite and refused to come out of her room until she made sure he was okay.

It was almost scary how she felt attached to the boy she knew by the name of Zayn. They had been only introduced that morning by a very nonchalant Angus - bless his soul. Through a slow progression from intense choreography discoursing to bonding over their shared love for tandoori chicken, Aviana had impossibly gotten close to Zayn in a couple of hours. While on the phone with him, Aviana felt more at ease than she had ever felt with someone that fast after just meeting them. She felt more than she ever felt for somebody she only met that morning. Maybe that's why she had gotten so worried and restless when Zayn disappeared in the afternoon right in the middle of his dancing auditions.

"You're probably wondering what happened, yeah?" Zayn's voice rings through the phone after a couple of moments filled with silence. Both of them tended to seamlessly fall into a comfortable silence mid-conversation.

"I was confused. And worried because I'd told you it's okay to leave and when I came back, you actually weren't there on the stage" Aviana spoke honestly as she sat on the yellow comforter of her bed.

When Aviana had come back from her disastrous and worst-timed bathroom trip, she found all the male contestants up on the stage, getting ready to perform. Assuming Zayn was among the large group of bodies, she had just stayed at the wing, clapping her hands to support the boys on stage. What she didn't expect to happen was for Simon Cowell to suddenly stop the entire audition and speak into the mic in front of him.