Louis and I wake up to a muffled rapping on the bedroom door. 

"Harry? Louis?"

Louis pulls on a pair of grey joggers before opening the door, not bothering to turn on the light, leaving the room in darkness. Standing in front of him is Zayn. The boy's hair is flatten to his forehead, and he's wearing glasses I didn't know he needed. His face is tear-stained, as I assume he had already said goodbye to the others. A small leather suitcase trails behind him, and he nodded down to it. 

"That's not all my stuff, the lads said they'd post the rest."

Louis looks at him, and pulls him into his arms, forcing him to drop the luggage. Tears fall down Zayn's face, and Louis is shaking with sobs. I join them, wrapping my arms around them both, my head resting on the top of Zayn's. 

"Keep in touch, yeah?" I say, pressing a kiss onto his cheek. "I'm so sorry that we haven't before."

"I will, I promise," He nods into my chest. "And I'm sorry too." 

-

A few hours pass, before I hear my phone ringing. I know the number, and answer the call.

"Hey, bro," I hear a mumble down the line.

"Hey, Zayn. You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I was just calling to let you know that I'm on the plane. Gi's with me."

"That's great, let us know when you land, yeah?"

"Of course," He lowers his voice. "Have management realised yet?"

"No, but it's still pretty early. They aren't even up yet."

"Alright. Pretend you don't know anything about it. I'm just going to geotag a tweet when I'm home, seeing as the fans don't know. I don't want you guys to get in trouble."

I sigh. "Okay. All the best, yeah? I'll speak to you soon."

"Yeah, see you later."

I turn to Louis. "Zayn's gone."

-

"Where the hell is Zayn?" Lizzie bursts into our room, eyes dark, forcing Louis to roll out of my bed and stand over it to hide the fact he was there. I sit up. 

Louis shakes and shrugs his head. "Though he was with the lads."

"Well, he's not," She huffs, and pulls her phone out of her pocket. There on the screen is a tweet from Zayn.

Zayn Malik:
Ain't no place like home.
LA, California

"He gone home." She flicks her eyes between us. "You guys know anything about this?" 

Louis speaks first. "Nope, though I can't say I'm surprised." He crosses his arms on his chest.

"Harry?"

"No, I didn't know."

Her eyes go thinner. "Alright, I believe you. The others didn't know either. Tour's still on, management will send a tweet to cover it, and it'll be fine." She slams the door behind her. 

"Bloody hell," Louis half-whispers. "Not happy, huh?"

"No, but hopefully Zayn will be."

A few moments later, our door swings open. Niall is stood there with Liam. Niall sniffs.

"He's gone." And I nod in return.

I walk over to them, pushing the door closed behind Liam. I hug each of them, feeling tears press against my chest. I rub Liam's back, before realising someone is missing. 

Like he knew what I was thinking, Louis comes over to me and slips his arm around my waist, grab the fabric of my t-shirt in his fist.

"We'll be okay," He says. "We have to give the fans an amazing tour, regardless."

I look around, seeing Niall and Liam nod in agreement. They throw me sad smiles. 

"Let's give them nights to remember!" I exclaim, squeezing Louis' shoulder, trying to lighten the mood. The others nod, wiping their eyes.

-

One Direction:
As you probably know by now, Zayn is on the album, but due to personal reasons he will not be joining the other lads on tour. Thank you for understanding #onedirection2020 x

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Hey! Hope you're enjoying! Good to see this on quite a few reading lists now :)

Stay safe. Kat. x