𝘱𝘴, 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 » 𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 (𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘥)

chapter thirty five

"Are- are you okay Zayn?" Harry's voice breaks my trance. I nod slowly, forcing myself to look away.

"I'm okay." I reply with a slightly forced smile. I hear a light shuffling and look back over at Harry to see him moving just a tad closer and turning his body to face me fully. He wraps his arms around his legs, pulling them up to his chest. He sucks in his bottom lip for a brief second, giving me a look that obviously told me he wanted to say something.

"Um, Zayn?" He says softly. I raise an eyebrow, watching him as his face starts to tint pink and the nervousness is apparent. It makes me even more curious as to what he was about to say next. "I um, just wanted to know.. s-since you're not you know, under your uncle's control any longer, how- I mean where do you go? Obviously you're still in town somewhere, but w-where do you go? Like, do you um, have somewhere to stay?" Harry asks, stumbling terribly over his words. All I could do was watch and listen to him with fondness. It wasn't a secret that he had this undeniably adorable stutter when he was nervous, one of the many things I loved about him. His face heated up even more when I did not answer immediately and just stared at him. I hold back a laugh, halfheartedly nodding.

"Yeah, I do." I tell him. Harry let's out a breath, seeming to relax a bit.

"Okay. I was just curious because, I- I didn't want you to be without a place to stay.." He says sheepishly. My heart clenches in my chest at his concern and willingness to help. It meant so much to me that he even cared where I went after we left these little meet ups. I felt happy that he had cared and now that I knew he still really did, it was like a heavy weight lifted from me.

"Yeah, no worries. I live with a pretty good friend of mine. Everything's fine." I tell him. Harry nods quickly.

"Okay good, I'm happy." Harry says quickly. Even though the words gushed out of his mouth, I could tell in his eyes that he meant what he said. I nod and we fall into a comfortable silence after that. We both turn to look out over the ocean. The sun was long gone and the moon had risen into the sky, creating this beautiful glimmer over the water. The wind was still pretty occurrent and from the corner of my eye I could see Harry's hair still blowing freely as the moonlight seemed to cause his skin to glow even brighter than the sun did.

I close my eyes briefly, listening to the night sounds of the city and the ocean. As wonderful as it was, the only thing I could really think of was one sitting next to me. He was the real treasure my eyes seek, and my ears desired. I couldn't help but to look back over at him and continue to stare. I didn't know what it was. Maybe it was how the night made him look under the moon, or maybe just being here with Harry alone had caused him to be so alluring. We had so much history and so much potential that we never got to discover, it was nearly impossible to sit this close to him and not want anything more. It was especially hard to not think about how gorgeous he was and deny my feelings or him that still ran strong within me. I clutch my fist tight for a second before releasing it and letting out a small sigh.

"Harry, I-"

"It's getting late." We spoke at the same time, overlapping one another. "What were you gonna say?" Harry asks politely. It makes me nearly melt at how kind and patient he is, but I keep my composure.

I shake my head, "Nothing. It is getting kinda late." I say, deciding against continuing that sentence I started. Harry nods in agreement.

"We should go." He replies. I nod and we both get off the ground, standing up and dusting the sand off of us. We turn our attention back on one another, neither of us not really knowing what to say at first. Though it wasn't awkward for some reason. I don't think I've ever felt awkward with Harry. Maybe apprehensive but never awkward. So instead of staying quiet, I broke the silence.

"It was really nice talking to you tonight Harry. It's always nice to talk to you, but tonight was even nicer." I admit. Harry's lips finally tug into a full genuine smile and he nods, brushing a hair behind his ear.

"It must've been that change in scenery." He says. I chuckle lightly, nodding in agreement.

"Definitely." I reply. Harry laughs softly as well but his face turns a little more serious seconds later. He bites his lip and rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet. I could tell that his nervousness was starting to kick in once more.

"I- I really enjoy talking to you as well.. it feels n-nice." He admits, looking down at his feet. I smile.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one." I replied.

"See you soon?" He asked, lifting his head. The way he said it sounds like he's begging and I can see the hopefulness in his eyes just as clear as day. I nod, the little smile not being able to leave my face.

"Of course. Anytime you want to Harry. Just say my name." I narrow my eyes at him and he snickers slightly, a tiny blush covering his cheeks. I almost wanted to laugh because he didn't know just how serious I was about that statement.

"Okay," He says quietly. "See you soon then, Zayn."

"See you soon." I repeated with a small nod. As we stood there a little longer, I had almost expected for Harry to grant me with a goodbye hug. But instead he just gives me one final smile before waving and turning around, slowly walking away. I sigh deeply, waving back at him as I watched him walk away. I didn't move from the spot I stood in until I watched him make it safely into the tower, before I turned around and started on my way back.

Maybe next time.

~