Artwork [h.s]

sixty-nine

I gave him a slow nod. "Alright" I said, not understanding why he'd made such a big deal out of it, enough to decide to come to my house in the morning because of it. It wasn't as if I had any clue about how to plan a party, anyway.

"Good" he said, "now, I suppose he knows I'm here, so I suppose I'll have to take you two to school not to raise suspicions" he added, and I nodded again, walking back into the house.

"Who is he?" My mother asked curiously as I entered the kitchen, and I gave her a little shrug.

"He's Zayn" I said, sending Harry, that seemed to be as confused as I was, a little glance. "We should go."

•  •  •

Later that night, I somehow ended up finding myself in Zayn's car again, sitting in the backseat with Harry as Zayn drove with a grumpy looking Liam on the passenger seat next to him. Somehow he'd managed to convince him to tag along even if he and Harry weren't in good terms, and I couldn't help but be a little glad about it, considering that I had no idea of what I was going on.

I met Zayn's stare in the rear view mirror for a second, and I quickly looked away, suppressing a smile as I remembered what had happened in the car earlier that morning, when he'd given Harry his present, that had turned out being a carefully wrapped joint. I shook my head, a little smile forming on my lips as the one that had curved Harry's lips came back to my mind.

I quickly looked up when the car stopped. "What are we doing here?" I asked, slightly confused when I looked out of the window just to discover that we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. I would've expected something like that from Harry, but certainly not from Zayn. I turned to glance at Harry, discovering that he seemed to be just as confused as I was, proving that he too had no idea of what was going on.

Zayn tutted, grabbing the bag he'd left next to Liam's legs and shaking it slightly, the sound of glass clashing against glass filling the vehicle for a couple of seconds. "I told you I was getting Harry drunk" he commented, sending me a sharp glance through the rear view mirror, his words slightly unsettling me.

Harry didn't seem to think that they were odd at all, leaving me to wonder about the kind of friendship they led once again. "I'm in" he simply said, opening his door and stepping out of the car.

I shook my head, promptly deciding to follow him, stopping in my tracks as soon as I got out of the vehicle and I noticed that there was sand on the ground. I raised my eyebrows, but I couldn't help but be a little glad that Zayn had at least decided to take his plan to the seaside, for it would've been just too weird to celebrate a birthday in the middle of a lonely road.

I fastened my step to reach Harry and Zayn, that were walking a couple of steps in front of Liam and I, stopping by Harry's side. He said nothing and continued to walk next to Zayn making some small conversation I barely listened to, but he took my hand in his and intertwined our fingers, so I didn't really mind.

Similarly to the place he'd taken me some weeks before, there was a little hill separating the actual beach and the road, and we carefully climbed on top of it, Harry's hand leaving mine just for a quick second when he almost lost his balance, but quickly returning and getting a hold of my forearm when he made it to the top to make sure I wouldn't have risked to fall down as well.

The climb down the other side was way easier, but somehow Liam managed to slip and slide all the way down, not really hurting himself because of the sand, but almost pulling down both me and Harry in the way.

Zayn stopped halfway between the street and the water and put the bag down before sitting down on the sand, looking up and catching the unimpressed look Liam gave him. "Come on guys, it's just fucking sand."