Zayn awoke to a pounding in his head, not unlike the one he had been enduring for the past several days. He did a quick once-over of his surroundings, remembering that he had fallen asleep beside Sueda in her bed. The pink and purple lights that seeped through the curtain alerted him to the hour: they had spent much of the day sleeping, and now the sun was beginning to set once more.
He studied her sleeping figure carefully, taking note of the bruises that had formed around her wrists and collarbone. He silently seethed with anger, vaguely wishing that Harry had not extracted him from the fight with Cody. No amount of pain could possibly be enough after what he did.
He heard sounds echoing from the kitchen down the hall, as well as the drone of muffled voices. Gingerly removing his arm from beneath Sueda's body, he quietly lifted himself from the bed and left the room. Loreta and Harry were in the kitchen, talking in feverish undertones.
"You have to wait until the water boils," Harry was explaining exasperatedly, attempting to reach around Loreta to take control of the pot on the stove. She stubbornly batted him away.
"I can read, thank you."
"Then why are you trying to pour the noodles in already?" Harry demanded.
"Because you're rushing me!" she declared indignantly. "I can only do one thing at a time, you know!"
Harry stepped backward, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. Zayn smirked softly to himself as he leaned his body against the dining room wall, unnoticed.
"Fine!" Harry spat. "If you don't need my help, then I won't bother."
"Good!" she agreed. "Finally, you learn to take a hint!"
Harry grumbled to himself under his breath. "You're insufferable."
"Same to you," she replied uncertainly, as if unsure of what the word meant. "Make yourself useful and get me the spaghetti sauce."
Harry rolled his eyes, digging through the paper grocery bags that they had evidently returned with recently. He emptied all of them in their entirety before staring at Loreta with incredulity.
"Where's the sauce, Loreta?" he demanded, deadpan.
"Oh for goodness sake!" Loreta cried, pushing past him to thumb through all of the purchases. She faltered in slight as she realized that his sneaking suspicions were on target.
"You forgot to get sauce. Didn't you?"
"It's not my fault," she defended. "If you hadn't been hurrying me out of the store, then I wouldn't have – "
"Are you really blaming this on me?" Harry said, baffled.
"Oh, fine! I forgot! It was my bad!" Loreta conceded. "Happy now? Can you please go get some?"
Harry was muttering under his breath about 'women' and 'neediness,' reaching for his jacket on the dining room chair, when he noticed Zayn.
"Malik," he stated definitively. A clatter from inside the fridge alerted Zayn that Loreta had also heard this greeting. She rushed over, looking harried.
"Cooking something?" Zayn asked sarcastically. Loreta and Harry both looked sheepishly at one another.
"Well," Loreta began, "after the day that you've both had…we thought we'd do something nice."
Zayn's heart swelled with appreciation. He offered a gentle smile to them both.
"Thanks guys. I am getting hungry…"
"Well, not to worry. It won't be much longer now," Loreta said happily. She shot a pointed look at Harry. "As long as we can get our hands on some sauce…"
