Zayn sat a bottle of water on his office desk and opened a package of gummy snacks.
"Keep the bottle here, Benjamin. Don't sit it anywhere else. And please try not to knock it over. Okay?"
"Okay, Papa."
Zayn handed him the package.
"Good. So eat your snack and do not leave this office. I mean it. Do not step foot out of the door unless I come get you. Papa has to do something important."
After giving him one last look, he picked up a notepad and pen from his desk and headed out of his office. As soon as he stepped out and faced left, he saw Louis at the counter helping out a customer who was there. It made him think about all the things that had happened between them and he instantly felt sad. Even if breaking up with him was the right thing to do, it didn't mean he didn't regret that he did it. Because he did.
Zayn walked past the front counter and went into the lobby area as the customer left. Louis looked at him and since Zayn was already looking at him, they met eyes. Ever since he tried to talk to Louis about putting aside their differences that day, they hadn't had any more conversations together outside of work related things. And that really sucked because he and Louis used to be so comfortable and easy going around each other. Romantic relationships sure did ruin friendships.
Zayn surveyed the empty front lobby and began to scribble notes down on his notepad. That's when he heard someone speak to him.
"What are you doing?"
He hadn't been expecting to hear that so close by. But he faced the voice and saw Louis standing behind the counter looking directly at him.
"Are you talking to me?"
"I'm looking at you, aren't I?"
"Oh.... Right. Um... I'm taking notes. I'm thinking about remodeling this place."
"Why?"
"Because the stuff in here has been here since my father opened the business. But we are a luxury dry cleaning company. We need to look like the product we sell. What's here might have been luxurious back in his time, but now it's just outdated and needs to be more modernized."
"I see."
They kept looking at each other and didn't break eye contact.
"Do you need some help?"
Zayn looked down at his tablet.
"Well... I don't think I can do it alone. But are you sure you really want to help me?"
"I'm good at this stuff. Of course I want to help. As long as you give me credit when it's all done."
"Deal."
Louis smiled and came from behind the counter and over to him.
"What do you have so far?"
"Upgrade the seating."
"That's it?"
"Well that's all I have on the list. But I just started. What would you suggest?"
"New paint for starters. New paint will make these old walls look so much better."
"I agree. Any color suggestions?"
"Depends on what you're going for. But my mind is thinking maybe a light orange-ish color with a green accent. Or the oposite. Depends on how it looks in the space."
"Why orange and green?"
"Sunset and Vine? Hollywood?"
Zayn chuckled.
"Oh, I see. I guess that makes a little but if sense. I never really thought about having colors to match the business. Hollywood was always based off a special memory. Not the actual Hollywood."
Louis sat down in one of the chairs at the window.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Well, I still find it odd that you never thought to get creative with the name. After all, this is a luxury cleaners so with a place like Hollywood, people wouldn't expect anything but star results when they come to us."
"True that."
"So then is orange and green really okay to you? Does it ruin your fond memory?"
"Oh no. It's fine. I like that I can have an actual color scheme to build around now. Let's go with it."
Louis smiled.
"Great. So about the upgraded seating. I'm thinking a nice comfy couch here. And some chairs to match. Black maybe? Or maybe a cool gray- no, gray is too much of a shade. Light brown or beige. Those are neutral colors that should tie in well with our two colors in here. And you know what? I think I should make you a concept drawing."
Zayn laughed quietly.
"You're taking this very serious."
"I know. I take anything I'm apart of very seriously. No matter what it is."
That brought Zayn back to those three months he spent dating Louis. Louis also took that very serious. In fact, he took it so serious that he invited Zayn to meet his family. It couldn't get much more serious than that.
Zayn closed the notebook, then sat down in the chair next to Louis.
"Louis, I know that you have been trying to avoid me as much as you can at work. You have every right to do that. I don't fault you at all. But I just want you to know how sorry I am for getting involved with you and not being honest with you until it was too late. So if your family hates me, then... I completely understand. I would hate me too."
Louis scoffed and looked away with a shake of his head.
"They don't hate you."
"They don't?"
"No. Because I never told them we broke up. I was too embarrassed."
Zayn deflated.
"Louis..."
"Don't say you're sorry again. I get it. You love who you love. And I am going to tell my family. I just want to wait another month or so. You know, when I'm fully over it."
"I understand. And if you want, you can even tell them you broke up with me for whatever reason. I wouldn't blame you. After all, you shouldn't be the one who is humiliated."
He smiled.
"I'm going to take your offer."
"Good. Because I meant it."
When he heard Louis sigh, he leaned forward and put his elbow on his knees.
"Can I tell you something that no one knows yet?"
"Sure."
"I have a second location to open another Hollywood Dry Cleaners."
"What?"
"Yes. My father bought it for me. It's in Summerland."
"Wow. Summerland is a very nice area."
"I'm glad you think so. Because I would like for to you manage that location when I finally open it."
Louis gasped quietly. "Zayn. Really?"
"Really."
"You're not doing this because you feel sorry for me, are you?" He asked skeptically.
"No."
"Are you doing it because you want me away from you?"
"No. Not at all. Louis, you've been one of my best employees long before we dated. You know this job and what it requires like the back of your hand. You watched me all the time."
"I watched you because I liked you." He admitted.
"And you learned something, did you not?"
"I guess..."
"So then I believe you can do it. I believe you can help me expand this business and make it into something special. I mean look at what you've done for this place. You're even investigating a coat thief for me. That means a lot to me."
Louis cringed and looked away. "Right..."
"So then that let's me know how dedicated you are. I couldn't think of anyone better to run that store."
Louis smiled now.
"Hmm, do I get to think about it?"
"Yes. Of course. I can't make you do anything. But I really would love to have you there."
The door to the store opened and Louis stood up. But he stopped in his tracks when he saw who it was. And when Zayn saw Louis's face, he also turned to see who it was.
"Oh, babe." He quickly said and he stood up.
Harry was looking at them slightly suspiciously.
"What's going on?"
Zayn leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
"We were just talking about some very important work stuff."
Then Zayn glanced at the clock on the wall.
"It's five oclock. You're here early. I wasn't expecting you until like six."
"The meeting was just a discussion about what Liam and I wanted for my book. It only takes an hour to do that. Plus the hour drive here."
"Ah, well how did things go?"
"Fine." He simply said.
That's when Zayn followed his eyes. He saw the way Harry and Louis were looking at each other. They were both clearly uncomfortable.
"I'll go get Banjamin's things together, Louis, will you please man the counters?"
"Sure."
While Zayn went to get Benjamin and his things, Louis went behind the counter and Harry sat down in one of the lobby chairs.
"So I guess you two talk about a lot of work stuff?" Harry asked.
"All the time. He depends on me for my ideas quite a lot."
"Well it's good to know he values his employees. I'll tell him that when he comes home."
Louis plastered a smile.
"I appreciate that. By the way, you have such an adorably handsome son."
"Thank you."
"I guess in that regard he is so, so much like his like Papa."
"I guess he is. And to think, they're both mine."
Louis turned his lip up and didn't say anything else. Neither did Harry. Instead they looked at each other as if they were pinned against one another, barely blinking at all. As two people who knew they'd both slept with the same man within the last couple of months, being in each other's company was extremely irritating.
"Daddy!"
"Hi." Harry said as he got up to meet him.
"Did you have fun today?"
"I had fun. Papa showed me the machine."
"He did?"
"Yeah. It was fun."
"Well, I'm glad you had fun."
"You sure you didn't want to stick around?" Zayn asked.
"I own this place. No one can ask you to leave."
"No. I can't stay. I need go home and rest because I have to get up early in the morning for a doctor's appointment."
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's just a basic medical exam. I'll be alright. But Benny, why don't you give Papa a big hug and show him how much you love him for watching you while Daddy took care of business."
As soon as Zayn squatted down, Benjamin came forward and wrapped his arms around Zayn tightly. As he was doing so, Harry looked up at Louis to make sure he was watching. He was, but he rolled his eyes and quickly turned his head so he didn't have to see anymore.
"Bye little man. See you later."
"Bye."
"Bye, Harry. Love you."
"Love you too."
They were out of the door in a split second and Zayn turned towards the counter again.
"Hey, Louis-" He started to say.
But Louis was already running off to the bathroom to cry away some of the pain just as his depressed soul had been doing in secret since the very night Zayn broke up with him.
➡️ ➡️ ➡️
Harry was in the bathtub on Friday night when his cellphone rang.
After reaching over to the little side table next to the tub, he looked at the caller ID. Zayn was calling. Outside of a couple text messages, he hadn't spoken to him since he picked Benjamin up from the dry cleaners earlier that week. So he quickly answered and put the phone on speaker.
"Hello?"
"Hey, babe."
"Hey."
"How are you?"
"I'm fine. I'm taking a bubble bath."
"Oh really? Would you like me to come join you?"
Harry chuckled.
"Oh please."
"So I'm guessing Benjamin is already in bed?"
"He is. Sorry you missed him."
"It's okay. He knows I love him and want him to have a good night, not let the bed bugs bite. All that other good stuff."
Harry chuckled.
"Wow."
"What? Isn't that what they say?"
"It is. But that's not why I said that."
"Then why did you say it?"
He leaned against the back of the tub.
"Hearing you say that you love him. It's... it's new to me."
"Oh."
"Not saying that I don't love it." He quickly said.
"It's just I spent a lot of time keeping him from you and... to know that you're back around and that you sincerely love him is a wonderful thing."
"Of course."
"But can I ask you something real quick?"
"Sure. What?"
"If it weren't for me having your baby, do you think we would have ever found each other again?"
"Um... I don't know."
"Well the reason I ask is because Benjamin is who brought you to my house that day. You saw him at the dry cleaners and you came to see me from that dry cleaners form I filled out. But I would have never been at that dry cleaners if Benjamin hadn't thrown up on me and he wouldn't have thrown up at me if he didn't have all that cake at his brithday party. And he wouldn't have had all that cake at his birthday party if he had never been born. So... that's why I wonder. Would we?"
Zayns response was slow.
"I... I don't know, Harry. Why do you even ask that? It's a weird question."
"Because Wednesday when I was there and I saw you and Louis, I felt sort of bad. I felt like I broke two people up."
He could hear Zayn scoff.
"Harry, don't do that. Don't beat yourself up for nothing. You didn't break anybody up. Anything that happened between us three was because adults made their own decisions."
"But you liked Louis. Did you not?"
There was pause.
"I mean... sure I liked him. But not like that."
"You had sex with him, Zayn."
Another pause.
"Let's just not talk about that part, okay? Yeah, I liked him. A little bit. But there was always a void there. I always felt like I was missing something way before any of that even happened. Before he ever asked me out."
"Really?"
"Really. And what I was missing was obviously you. Dating Louis and wanting you are two different things. I should have never dated him. Because I messed up a good relationship between us."
"Well... you seemed like you were still talking to each other on Wednesday."
"That's because we were talking about work related things."
Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Yeah, I heard you say that before."
"Because that's what it was. But anyway. You don't need to worry. It was always you and it will continue to be you. That's not gonna change."
Harry blushed.
"Good. I feel the same way about you. I love you so much."
"I love you too. That's why I want you to enjoy your bath. We can talk later, babe. Okay?"
"Okay. Bye, Zayn."
"Bye."
When the call ended, Harry sighed. He remembered talking to Zayn about Louis and how Louis may have felt about him but still... work related things. He believed it of course. But it wasn't Zayn he was worried about. It was Louis. He saw Louis roll his eyes that day when he came by to pick up Benjamin. It wasn't hard to tell he felt that Harry stole his boyfriend. And not only that, he was actively trying to make Harry jealous of Zayn even though he was the one who was with him.
Harry hadn't had many boyfriends in his lifetime. In fact, Zayn was his only boyfriend, twice now. But he knew from seeing other people's relationships that jealously like that could turn into spite. And that could be dangerous when the person they were at odds over was someone that at one time had sex with Louis.
But as worried as he was. He knew it was up to him to trust Zayn for now. If Zayn said he loved him, he believed him. And what he knew from recent experience was that if Zayn really loved him, he would never go out of his way to do something that he was sure would hurt him.