35: He Forgot, She Remembered

NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED on any of the songs that are mentioned below. All rights go to the author of the songs.

Chapter 35:

Hazel POV:

*5 years later

Waking up and the first thing you see in the morning is the person that you love, is probably the most amazing feeling in the whole wide world and the entire universe. Nothing could compare to that amazing giddy feeling of seeing his dazzling eyes staring back at you, his lips twitching up into a smile at the sight of you with your messy hair.

It all feels … perfect.

Perfection is what everyone wants to be throughout their lifetime. Only a few open their eyes and notice that imperfection is perfection and not that only perfection exists but that in reality, perfection doesn’t exist.

I was probably one of those few that opened their eyes and realized that imperfection is perfection. Okay, maybe a little help from those inspirational quotes on Tumblr helped a tad bit in helping me realize that perfection was actually in imperfection.

Some say that true love lasts forever and others say true love never lasts. I never believed in any of those two. I always thought that I had to let go, be free and just live my life the way it comes. I solve my daily problems and get over things. Only I didn’t get over one thing. One thing that has probably haunted my dreams throughout these past five years.

I’ve always wanted my happy ending with my one and only true love. I still haven’t got it but I’m on my way to the beginning of my happy ending with him.

Five years ago I knew a fact. That fact has in fact become a reality.

He left for Bootcamp and a week after, I left for college together with Jesy and supposedly Niall and Liam but they had other plans. Plans that are still living till this second. Plans that tore my friends apart from me and plans that tore Jesy and I’s first love apart.

Let me start from Jesy’s story. Bootcamp was marvelous for her and Niall, Judges Houses was amazing and from Live Shows things started going downhill. After Live Show 4, Jesy started feeling lonely and depressed having to live miles away from Niall so they broke it off without a word to each other. One text from him was all it took to send Jesy into the hole of darkness and the road of ‘once you walk through this road, there’s no going back’. Niall tried contacting her to get back together and say sorry but she; being the hard-headed idiot she is, either declined the call or let it ring and ring and ring until Niall finally gave up. If she had actually answered those calls five years ago, they would have probably been married and had cute little babies. A month after the break up, after a long day filled with long-hour lectures I returned to the flat that I shared with Jesy, another girl named Astrid and two other lads named Mark and Antoine. Only to find the bedroom I shared with her empty. She dropped out of college and followed her ‘new’ friends somewhere out of town and away from home.

I haven’t heard from her since.

I haven’t heard from Zayn either. Neither Harry nor Louis, Liam or Niall. None of them and after some time (months actually) I had grown accustomed to the empty feeling of having to live with them. I had to learn again how to sleep without Zayn by my side.

I had no idea where my mother was either. For all I knew she could be dead. I had only contacted my father a few times and since he was always busy with work, I simply decided to just not call him anymore and live my life alone.

That was until I started seeing Mark in a whole different way. Things sparked from that one night we ended up alone in the flat because Astrid had a seminar and Antoine went away for the weekend to visit his family a few miles away from the flat. Two days and bam! It was quite ironic to be honest. He burnt himself trying to cook a pot of noodles for dinner and I had to drive him to the hospital. He wanted me to tuck him in bed and instead ended up cuddling together for the night and sleeping till two in the afternoon the next day.

You might ask: don’t you miss Zayn? And the answer to that is quite obvious. Mark didn’t know about me having a history with one of the members of the biggest boy bands in the whole world. I didn’t want him to know either. We’ve been together for four years and things have been sailing pretty well but he never made me feel the same way that Zayn made me feel.

I followed through their success and was happy whenever they won an award or getting a number one single or their album in number one in many countries and sold millions of records. They deserved everything that they had achieved. I missed them, I missed him but I was living a happy life without them.

I worked as a part time dancer and part time designing things. I had graduated in History and Art but decided to continue mainly on Arts but could easily switch to teaching history or something that had to do with history. Mark worked in recording studios and writing songs. I wrote some songs too but they were always shitty and only he read them but never said anything against them.

Anyway, back to the present and reality.

I mainly worked at home and sometimes went to the recording studio to help Mark out at work. Today was one of those days. Mark had this important meeting about getting him into a higher rank in his job and he had asked me to meet the person that he was going to work with for the next two months or so in writing a brand new album. Apparently, Mark had stolen one of my lyrics sheet and gave it to his boss to read and see. His boss had “loved” it and was offering me a place in his company.

He was setting me out on this sort of trial to see how I would work with famous singers and help them write songs and record songs with the help from other producers.

I agreed, obviously. Who in their right minds would decline an offer to meet and work with famous singers?

So that morning I had to wake up at freaking seven in the morning and I had to be there at eight. The singer that I was working for would arrive at eight sharp and I had to be there fifteen minute earlier. I wasn’t much of a morning person so I ended up yelling out some colorful profanities at savage drivers that would only let me move an inch per minute. If I could, I would drive over the cars in front of me.

By the time that I arrived at the recording studio, it was already eight thirty and Mark’s boss wanted to rip my head off for leaving the singer to wait. Luckily, he always had a sort of soft spot for me so he didn’t blame me for traffic.

“It’s alright but you have to go and start writing songs because you’re already a half hour late!” Jason, Mark’s boss, said ushering me towards studio number 7. “You can take a coffee before you go! You know where the coffee machine is.”

“Thank you!” I replied and headed towards the coffee machine and within a minute, I had the coffee cup in one hand and I was walking through the corridor walking towards studio number 7.

I took a sip of my coffee and opened the door to the studio. I didn’t even look at who I was working with and instead closed the door shut and dropped my bag next to the door and looked up at who I was working with.

My heart literally dropped out of my rib cage and down my intestines. Five pair of eyes stared back at me curiously and I looked back at them, my eyes wide.

No. Shit no. Fuck no. Hell to the no! No no no no! Absolutely not! No! I am not going to work with them!

“Who are you?” Niall asked, tilting his head sideways. “I thought we were going to work with Mark.”

“Uh, well, he can’t make it for the next few months so you’re stuck with me!” I replied, trying to cheer up the mood in the room. I had no idea how I managed to talk let alone give Niall a smile.

“What’s your name?” Louis asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Zel,” I blurted out.

Zel!? ZEL!? Really Hazel?! Zel. They’re going to think you’re some Greek Goddess or something. Jesus.

“Zel?” he repeated curiously. “As in Zoe, Zella, Zel what?”

“Just plain old Zel,” I repeated giving him a flat look.

“Zel,” he repeated and I breathed out heavily and nodded, starting to get annoyed.

“Is it short for something?” Harry asked, giving me one of his famous charming smiles that made every girl fall for him, well not every girl.

“Yes but I prefer to be called Zel, so let’s get started,” I said, wanting to get the attention off of me and on their album. “Have you written any songs?”

They snapped out of their thoughts and sat down around the table that was present in the room. I sat down on one of the chairs and waited for them to reply.

“Uh, yeah, I wrote a few stanzas,” Zayn replied and my heart felt like it was going to explode any second. He handed me a paper and I read through the few lyrics that he had written. I forced myself to not smile as I read the lyrics noticing how his handwriting hadn’t changed.

“So what do you think?”

I looked up and met his eyes. Look away look away.

“The lyrics are good, I like the chorus,” I replied and handed the paper back to him. “Is there a meaning behind the title?”

“Yeah,” he replied and I nodded, not wanting to ask more about the meaning behind the song. “It’s about a girl.”

“Aren’t 99% of the songs produced all about a girl or a boy?” Niall asked and I nodded.

“Mostly,” I replied and breathed out heavily. “So, focus on one thing that all of you want to write about.”

“Summer,” Zayn and Niall replied in unison.

Niall’s cheeks started to redden by the second but Zayn’s cheeks stayed the same color though he did look a tad bit embarrassed.

“Summer?” I repeated, sounding unsure. “Feeling for the song?”

“Sad, romantic, loss, I’m guessing,” Liam answered for Niall.

I wrote down the few points that they had told me and looked up. I looked at Niall and noticed that his mood had suddenly changed and he looked down. I frowned slightly and looked back down at the paper.

“Alright then, any points or sentences how you want to start the song?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

*

Three and a half hours later we were half way through the song and we decided to take a twenty minute break. They left the studio to go buy something to eat along with their security for extra protection but I decided to stay in the studio and think more about the song.

Summer Love. That’s the name that they had decided on. That hit home hard and considering that Zayn had come up with the name made it hurt even more. Practically, Zayn, Niall and I were the ones that were mostly coming up with the lyrics and the others added or changed a few words. They had left around ten minutes ago and I was still re-reading the few lyrics that Zayn had written. They had left the file with the songs that they had started writing for me to see and the only one that I had read was the one he wrote.

Over Again. Another song that hits home hard and makes those memories from five years ago rise again.

I breathed out heavily and rested my head against the cold surface of the table and let out a groan of annoyance.

Why did this have to happen? After five years? Why did he stop calling or texting? Why did he push me away? Why did I push him away? This has to be a dream. The past five years have to be a dream. They have to be.

Reality sucks, that's for sure.

"Zel?"

I lifted my head up and turned my head to look at the person that had called me.

"Why are you already here? You still have around ten minutes, Niall," I replied with a soft smile.

He shrugged and closed the door and sat down opposite me. "I didn't leave the building, just took something to drink from here."

I nodded and licked my bottom lip, looking down at the mess of papers scattered around the table. I picked up all of the papers, straightened them out and placed them back in the file, leaving out Zayn's song and the one that we were working on, on top of the file. I took a sip of my now cold coffee and pulled a face at the taste of the cold coffee. The taste was disgusting. I threw it in the bin and sat back down on the chair and looked at Niall.

He hadn't uttered a single word. He was fiddling with his fingers, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Niall?"

His head snapped up in surprise, then he relaxed when he realized it was me.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he replied, smiling as though remembering something. "You were always the one to comfort people."

"What?" I asked in shock, my eyes wide.

He chuckled and smiled even wider. "Stop acting around Hazel. I recognized you and the only thing that has changed is the colour of your hair."

"How did you recognize me?" I asked him, breathing out heavily and slumping my shoulders forward.

"How you acted and all that shit," he replied with a yawn. "I don't think the others have recognized you."

"I think Louis did," I replied and reached for the bottle of water sat in front of him and took a sip.

"Nah," he said with a shrug. "If he did he would have said something."

I nodded in agreement and sighed, content that at least one of them had recognized me even though a tiny part of me didn't want them to.

"Have you talked to her?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.

"No, haven't heard from her for the past four years or so," I replied sadly, referring to Jesy.

He gave me a sad smile and gave me a tiny nod. "I miss her so much."

"I know how you feel Niall," I replied and tears welled up in my eyes. "But we can't let the past keep on hunting us for the rest of our lives."

"I tried and I thought I did but when I recognized you, I fell for her again. It's like I can't get her out of my mind, she's always been there and she probably always will be," he replied and let out a frustrated growl and banged his head against the table.

I frowned and sat down next to him, wrapping my arms around him. He buried his face in the crook of my neck and wrapped his arms around my waist. From his shaking body, I knew that he was crying and I hugged him tighter. After a few minutes, he lifted his head and wiped his eyes on his shirt.

"I missed your comforting hugs," he mumbled and took in several deep breaths.

I smiled and let out a tiny chuckle. "I missed you guys too."

"You know, Zayn talked about you the first couple of months then he started to stop mentioning you because all it did was bring him down," he stated randomly.

"And then he forgot about me," I finished his sentence.

"I don't think so," he said slowly, making his thinking face. "Dunno but I don't think so, though."

I shrugged and mustered up a smile. "Any who, smile and let the world wonder why. Let's get back to work. Don't tell any of them that it's me Niall, please."

"I won't," he replied softly.

"Thanks."

He smiled, gave me one last bear hug and a few minutes later, the rest of the lads showed up finding Niall and I continuing 'Summer Love'.

He was mine for the summer and now it was all over.