i'll show you

twenty one

the next morning, louis sent zayn to the store for ice cream. he didn't say what flavor or how much, he just knows that this day will be spent moping over a certain someone. and ice cream is the answer to everything, right?

the store is mainly empty. not to many people are shopping for groceries this early in the morning.

once zayn gets to the ice cream sections, he just grabs random tubs of ice cream. he doesn't look at the flavor nor the price, he just tosses them in his cart.

"stocking up on ice cream, i see." a voice says from behind him. he turns around to see lottie's friend, stephanie, and another girl he doesn't know.

"lottie isn't with you is she?" zayn asks and looks behind him.

"nope. it's just me and her." stephanie chuckles, referring to the girl next to her. "this is my girlfriend aishi."

"nice to meet you." zayn says to aishi.

"babe, this is lottie's brother's best friend." stephanie explains.

"your louis' best friend?" aishi asks. zayn nods. "how!?"

"years of practice." zayn recites what stephanie said about lottie the first time they met. "this ice cream is all for louis too." zayn half lies.

"figures." stephanie chuckles. "we're actually going to louis' right after this to see lottie."

"guess i'll see you guys there." zayn slowly walks away, pondering whether or not he should offer them a ride. none of them seemed to be carrying car keys. "did you guys walk here?"

stephanie nods. "both my house and louis' house aren't too far from here."

"do you guys want a ride to louis' house? i mean, that's where i'm going." zayn offers.

"are you sure?"

"of course. let me just buy these real quick." the girls follow zayn to self checkout and zayn scans his numerous tubs of ice cream. it ended up being thirty-two dollars and some change. "not my credit card." zayn sing songs as he swipes it.

stephanie and aishi help zayn with the bags to the car. they put them in the trunk and zayn apologizes for his car being so messy. in reality, he doesn't give a fuck, but he doesn't know these girls.

"thank you for doing this." stephanie says as they pull out of the parking lot.

"yeah. i was not trying to walk any farther." aishi says.

zayn looks at her in the rear view mirror and chuckles. "no problem." he says. "why didn't you guys just have lottie pick you up?" he knows lottie has a car. much like zayn's, louis' family is loaded.

"there's no way she's up right now." stephanie says. "she loves sleep so much."

"so does her brother." zayn says. they arrive to louis' house quickly because like stephanie said, the store wasn't too far from his house. they get out of the car and each grab two bags. "i'm back!" zayn yells as they walk into the house. louis is sitting on the couch watching tv.

"holy shit that's a lot of ice cream." louis says as he eyes the bag. "eh. most of it will probably be gone by today anyway."

"what's the special occasion?" stephanie asks.

"zayn and his problematic love life." louis answers. zayn glares at him.

"tell me about it." aishi says. "ow!" she says after stephanie slaps her.

"mind me asking what happened?" stephanie asks.

"go ahead louis." zayn says through his teeth. "since you love telling people's business."

"gladly." louis smiles. "once upon a time, there was a real estate agent named liam payne. liam was a sexy ass motherfucker. so sexy, that zayn fell in love with him the first time they met. here's the problem: zayn has a girlfriend. one night after a little too much to drink, zayn tells liam that he loves him. liam, the saint he is, rejects him as nicely as he could. the two go forward as friends until one day, a tall hunk of a prince-"

"how tall?" aishi asks, interrupting the story.

"6"3." louis says quickly. "anyway, a tall hunk of a prince swoops liam off his feet. they get a little naughty and zayn doesn't like that one bit so he tells liam that. liam said it wouldn't happen again but it did! the night zayn confronts him about it, liam confesses his feelings for zayn. but the following day, the prince swoops liam off his feet, literally, and they did some unholy acts against the refrigerator. now zayn is sad and retreats to his perfect, handsome, funny, unique-"

"wrap it up lou." zayn rolls his eyes.

"-best friend louis. the end!" louis claps excitedly.

"nice storytelling." aishi says.

"thanks. i tried my best."

"that's a wild story." stephanie tells zayn.

"i know." zayn says. when did things get so complicated?

"was all of that true?" stephanie asks. zayn nods. "you have every right to be sad but then again you don't because you're the one with the girlfriend."

"thank you!" louis yells. "maybe hearing it from someone else will get it through his head.

"do you love her?" she asks.

"i don't know." zayn admits.

"if you don't know, that means no." stephanie says. "if you claim to love liam so much, why haven't you broke up with your girlfriend?"

"i don't know okay!" zayn says frustrated and covers his face with his hands.

"no need to get upset. i was just wondering." stephanie says softly. "have you guys talked about it?"

"a few times now."

"not just about harry. have you guys talked about your feelings for each other, the confusion with your girlfriend, and everything in between?" zayn shakes his head no. "that's the problem. communication is key."

"i agree." aishi says. "i would've never known stephanie had feelings for me if we didn't talk about it."

"how old are you guys anyway?" zayn asks.

"old enough to know that liam isn't going to wait forever." aishi says. "what does harry look like anyway?"

"oooh! i have pictures." louis pulls out his phone. "me and niall are friends on snapchat now." he smirks.

"you're so cool." zayn says sarcastically.

louis holds his phone out and stephanie and aishi watch what zayn assumes is niall's snapchat story. "he's the one with the curly hair."

"he's not that cute." stephanie says.

"yes he is!" aishi and louis say simultaneously, but aishi goes the extra step and hits her girlfriend.

"i like this one too." louis chuckles and gives her a high five. "where is lottie finding you people?" right on cue, lottie comes walking into the living room. when she sees zayn, though, she halts and turns around. "where are you going?"

"i didn't know zayn was here!" she yells as she runs up the stairs. "give me ten minutes tops! i gotta get dolled up!"

all zayn can do is shake his head.

fun fact: i hate ice cream