never enough [zarry]

interlude

"And this is Luke and me in front of the Louvre, see? It was so nice, I had not been to Paris in ages, mum."

"I'm glad you had a good time, love," Mum says, brushing hair from Harry's forehead. "So Luke, hm?" she asks, stroking her finger over Harry's eyebrow. "You like him a lot?"

"He's nice, mum," Harry says, smiling at her. "He brings me flowers and he always thinks of something fun to do, like Paris. It was such a sweet surprise, don't you think?"

"What else do you do?" Mum asks, taking a sip of her tea. "What's he studying?"

"English as well," Harry smiles, happy he can see his boyfriend most days in class as well. "But he's not too sure about it, he might switch. I think he just started because he didn't quite know what to do and his dad wants him to do Business but he really doesn't want that."

"Hm," Mum makes. "But for now you can even study together, that's nice."

Harry pouts, the disappointment at Luke never wanting to join him still heavy. "Luke doesn't really care for it, he always does stuff with his friends instead. I think it's because he's thinking about switching," he adds to assure his mum that Luke wasn't lazy.

"But I go with my friends," he adds to assure mum that he isn't lonely. "And I have been thinking about asking a boy in my class to join us. He's always sitting alone but I see him in the library often," he can feel his cheeks heat a bit. Zain always looked so nice, frowning at his books.

"That's a nice idea," Mum says, smiling at him. "I'm sure he'd like the company."

"I don't know," Harry says, biting his lip nervously. "He doesn't seem like he wants people to join. And he always frowns at my friends like they annoy him," he adds more quietly. "They chat a bit much sometimes, even in the library. They're not good at studying sometimes," he adds.

"Oh, baby," Mum says. "Not everyone is as diligent about studying as you, you're in your first year. But maybe you can ask that boy when your friends are not around, hm? Then you'll have someone like you to study with."

"Yea," Harry smiles, but he's not sure when he'll ever be without his friends. They weren't really used to not going places together. It would be weird, like he was rejecting them.

"So you spend a lot of time with Luke?" Mum brings the topic back.

Harry smiles at her. "Yes, every weekend, he always has great ideas about where to go. Our friends come along often. And we see each other in class!"

"You don't have him over at your flat?" Mum says, surprised. "You love watching movies, doesn't he like that?"

"Not so much," Harry says, pulling in his skirt. He doesn't wanna tell her that Luke always wants to have sex when they were alone and Harry doesn't want to, yet. It's always more annoying than nice being alone with Luke and Luke doesn't really like the films Harry likes anyways, he always wants to watch something with loads of shooting and explosions.

He shrugs. "It's fun with our friends," he tells his mum.

"Hm," mum says, frowning slightly and rubbing a thumb over his cheek. "You're happy with him."

"Yea," Harry says easily. "We have fun."

"Yea," mum echoes, watching him.

"What?" Harry asks when she doesn't say anything. "What is it?"

"Nothing, baby," Mum smiles but she's lying.

"What is it?" Harry insists, frowning. "Don't you like Luke?"

"I don't know him, love," mum says, amused.

"But what is it?"

"You're very stubborn, love," mum sighs, wrapping her arm around Harry and kissing his head.

Harry wraps his arms around her and tilts his head back to look at her.

"Tell me!" he insists. "I wanna know."

"It's really nothing," Mum says, rubbing his back. "I wouldn't even think about it with Gemma, but love. He doesn't sound like someone you'd want to marry. And that's not bad," she adds before Harry can say anything. "You're young and it's perfectly fine date just for fun. I just know you take things very seriously."

"I guess," Harry says. His mum knows him very well, he thinks. "But I'm having fun for now," he says, because really, he was.

"And that's all that matters," Mum agrees, kissing his cheek.

"Yea," Harry says and hides his face in her neck. When he closes his eyes, he sometimes still sees Zain, smiling up at him that first day, and often sees Zain frowning at his laptop as he studies. He's just having fun, though, and Zain was unattainable anyways.

💫

someone was crushing hard 😏