𝑺𝐈𝐗, One Direction Sixth Member

1, twelve

There were about two hours left till auditions were supposed to start. All the contestants, who had returned from their dorms, were gathered on the stage in a familiar huddle. Angus had come back to retrieve Aviana and the two boys from the practice room earlier, saving her from the suffering of being in the same room with an inappropriately flirty Aiden and a very quiet Zayn.

Unlike Aiden, who quite literally forced his one-sided flirtation on her, Zayn was much calmer and more collected. Aviana couldn't remember him speaking more than a handful of full sentences for the entire time they were hauled up in the practice room.

But what she did comprehend was that he was a fast learner. Half the time, he intensely stared at Aviana's moving figure with pinched eyebrows and nodded to himself in pure focus. After she showed him what exactly he needed to do with his arms, hips and legs, he confidently followed along. ( or tried his best to do so ) Aiden, on the other hand, seemingly was only there to make comments about Aviana's dancing skills and pitifully tried to get her phone number.

As time passed, Aviana could see how Zayn improved and danced more confidently than when he stepped into the room. His moves were much more accurate and maintained clearly. He carried himself through the choreography in a very precise routine.

The two had also made small talk during that time - mostly Aviana as a miserable attempt to escape Aiden's irritating want of needing Aviana's attention solely to himself.

She learned that Zayn, whose last name is Malik, was of English and Pakistani ancestry. She was genuinely thrilled to hear that, just like her, Zayn also sported south asian roots in himself. It was a relief knowing that there was at least one person in the batch of contestants whom she could relate to when it came to the topic of inheritance and upbringing. ( He understood the power a chappal holds as much as she understood of a sereppuva )

As time went by and Zayn got more comfortable with sharing about himself, he told her that he was from Bradford and had three sisters younger than him. Aviana found herself listening to him with a soft smile and a light heart. It was pleasant talking with Zayn about everything and nothing at the same time. She missed having conversations which didn't immediately demand hefty thinking and gruesome life concerns.

She was actually enjoying his company, and she could only hope Zayn did too.

But there was someone who definitely did not enjoy the company of Zayn at all.

Aiden tried to claw his way through into their conversations occasionally. Aviana guessed he was feeling rather left out by the lack of attention she was giving him. She really couldn't give a fuck, though. To his further misery, Aviana wasn't willing to hold an exchange with him that lasted for more than ten seconds. ( Trust me, she was counting ) Instead, she once again turned towards Zayn and started talking about GCSEs. ( Which they both were failing behind on, apparently )

Aviana enjoyed how Zayn didn't talk about auditions, the stress of competing - or the X-Factor, at all. He kept avoiding all kinds of topics which signified pure mental torture like he knew that's just what Aviana didn't want to talk about. Maybe he had a similar response of bitterness towards those topics which brought a migraine, and somehow, she was thankful.

Probably for the first time since she started on the X-Factor, Aviana was actually enjoying a conversation. It had only been countless 'How's it going at X-Factor?' or 'When is the next auditions?' or 'When can we see you on the TV?' directed at her by everyone who tried to talk to her. She was happy that she had to actually answer Zayn with sensible answers instead of rather lifeless 'Yeah, yeah, hm, no, next week' for the umpteenth time.