invasato [h.s]

60

"Yeah, Angela told me."

Zayn places the bread onto a baking sheet and shakes his head as he closes the oven, grabbing his drink. "I mean, it's crazy. That man hasn't bothered to see Harry in, fuck, I don't even know how long...and he suddenly just turns up."

He sits across from me.

"Do you know anything about his father?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I mean, not really." he sniffs. "I know that he's not the type to show up at his son's door only to reconcile, that's for sure."

I furrow my brows, sitting up a bit more. "You think he has bad intentions?"

He takes a sip from his lemonade. "Maybe not 'bad', but definitely nothing that benefits Harry."

I look down at the table, my eyes on the divots in the wood.

"But, hey. Harry's grown, he can figure it out. If he wants to reconnect with his father, good for him." Zayn says and it makes me look up.

"I mean," I scoff, "it kind of sounds like Harry's got a lot of baggage from his father..."

Zayn tilts his head as he looks at me.

"...that's how Niall makes it sound anyway." I clear my throat, backtracking to keep my closeness with Harry covered.

Zayn scratches at the wooden table, "I know... I know." he nods, I think realizing that he was insensitive before. "He just never talks about it, you know? It's hard to tell what the guy is feeling most times."

Don't I know it.

I nod in agreement. "I think he's a lot deeper than he lets on."

Zayn chuckles, a small smile spreading onto his cheeks. "I think so too."

I smile back, and for a second there's a quiet that falls over the two of us. He's looking at me, the smile fading every so slightly before he blinks away.

"You okay?" I question, watching him. It felt like his energy shifted so suddenly.

He flicks his brown eyes up to me, his tongue running along the inside of his cheek.

He just pulls another short smile and nods. "Yeah." he says, but deep down I couldn't help but think that he wanted to say more. He inhales and pushes his chair out so he can stand, I just watch with a silent confusion. "Sleep well, kid." he tells me before leaving for the stairs.

I sit alone at the table, blinking my eyes as my mind tries to process what happened. It's like something invaded Zayn's head and just totally caused his mood to do a 180, but he didn't want me to see it so he left the conversation.

Maybe I should go check up on him...

As I'm about to stand up, my phone rings.

I look down at the screen, seeing Harry's name and face across my screen. As much as I tried to stay away from my phone tonight to avoid the temptation of checking up on him all night, I couldn't even hesitate answering when I saw he was calling.

I hold the phone up to my ear,

"Hel—"

"El! Baby, I—" he begins to laugh into the phone, a cackle that he can't contain.

"Harry?" I chuckle as I say his name, wondering what's got him so giddy.

"Sorry, hi, Niall's doing something so fuckin' stupid right now and I had to make sure you're included in this moment."

My brows crease as I breathe out a small laugh. "What's going on?"

He sounds drunk, not intoxicated, but drunk. I can only imagine what he and Niall are up to right now.