At Harry's appointment the very next Thursday, Harry found himself still thinking about what Dr. Horan said last week about how Zayn made him happy. He thought it was a crazy conclusion because he had only known Zayn two and a half months and only saw him a couple days a week. How could Zayn be making him happy already? He didn't believe it. He refused to.
They ended up discussing it a little more after Harry brought it up again and he even explained to the Doctor why he didn't agree with him. He made a great defense too... But it still didn't work. Dr. Horan just explained to him that he was right and he was sure to remind Harry that he'd been doing this eight years and he had seen his share of patients. If anything, he helped Harry to see that he was the one who was wrong.
As for Harry, he couldn't compete with experience, so he eventually just gave up. He had to to accept that Dr. Horan was possibly right and just move on from it. And in time, he would have to see for himself.
"Come on, Li Bug. Sit down at least. Won't you do that for Pa?"
But it was clear Liam didn't want to sit on the potty training toilet when he began to cry.
"Liam don't cry. Please. Zayn said you were a good boy today when I was with the doctor. Can you be one for me too?"
But Liam kept crying anyway.
"I'm leaving." Harry faced the bathroom door to see Zayn peeking his head in.
"What?"
"I'm going home today, I have to work tomorrow. See you Saturday, Harry."
"You're leaving now?"
"Yeah, see you later."
"Wait... You can't go." Harry stood up, taking his attention off of Liam.
"Why not?"
"Because... Look...Liam's crying."
"So cheer him up."
Harry frowned. "Cheer him up? You're not gonna do anything?"
Zayn laughed. "I don't have to. You're his father. Not me. And you should know what to do."
He turned to leave but Harry stopped him. "Wait!"
"What the heck do you want?"
"Look." Harry stepped aside and Zayn saw Liam sitting in the middle of the floor throwing a full on tantrum.
"Don't pretend you haven't dealt with that before because I'm sure you have. Now I have go. I've got something important to do."
"But..."
"No. I'm sorry."
"Zayn."
"Goodbye, Harry. Saturday." Then he quickly disappeared before Harry could say anything else.
.
.
.
"What the fuck, Zayn! You went and got an apartment?!" Louis spat as they sat outside in Zayn's car later that evening.
"Do you like the location?"
"Do I like it? Are you really asking that? This is rediculous! How can you stay here and at a house at the same time?!"
"I'm not staying here. This is just for when Harry comes."
Louis placed his hands on his temples and sighed loudly. "Oh just fuck him already. Give me Liam, I'll watch him and you two can just touch each other and kiss each other and love each other until your hearts are content."
Zayn rolled his eyes. "Please, Lou. This is not the time to talk about that."
"Sure but you're thinking it."
Zayn ignored his comment. "Shall we go in now?"
Louis opened the door. "Whatever."
They got out of the car, walked up to the door and Zayn unlocked it. He was a little hesitant as he pushed the door open.
"Ta da..."
They made their way inside and Louis stopped in the middle of the living room. "It's empty. Do you really think he's going to believe you live here?"
"No. Of course not. At least not right now. But this week I ordered furniture to be put in here and the painters are coming in on Tuesday to get some colors on the wall. All I have to do now is get the little things like pictures and food and stuff. By the time he gets here Saturday, it'll look like just like my real home."
"I don't know, Zayn. This sure seems like an awful lot of trouble for someone you don't even like."
"I do too, like Harry."
"I knew it!"
"But as a friend. Sure there's things about Harry that are... really, really nice. And yeah, he's an okay guy with a great personality but I told you what kind of person he can be..."
"Zayn I... Zayn. I'm gonna need you to stop talking. Now."
"What? Why?" He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets.
"Do you not see yourself?"
"No."
"Well I wish you could."
"What do you mean by that?"
Louis thought for a few seconds. "Okay... Do you remember two years ago, when that girl with the pretty brown hair started working with us?"
"Yeah, the girl you dated. Allison?"
"Yeah, her. But remember before we even dated, how I kept telling her was into certain things that I wasn't and how I did certain things that I didn't?"
"Yeah, so?"
"This is just like that time."
"How?"
"I'd sit you down and explain this to you but clearly there's no furniture, so I guess standing will have to do. The point is I lied to her, Zayn. I lied to her because I thought that she would like me more if I was the kind of guy she was attracted to instead of just being myself. I only wanted to please her. But I should have known better. The truth always comes out."
"Except the difference is that I'm not lying to Harry. I'm just choosing not to tell him certain things."
"But you're choosing not to tell him the most important things." He put a hand on Zayn's shoulder. "Whether you like him or not- which you do. You're just very deep in denial right now- you can still hurt him. He thinks you're one person when you are secretly another. You're cooking up a disaster. My advice is to quit while you're ahead. If you stop being so busy trying deceive him, you can take time to realize the feelings you clearly have for him."
"Louis-"
"No Zayn. You need to listen to me. For once stop talking and just listen. You're going to be in a world of trouble if you keep this up and the day you do, you better not think about coming and crying to me. You hear me?"
"Fine."
There was a silence that seemed to suck the air right out of the room and finally Louis spoke up to keep it from being awkward. "Can we leave please now? It's really cold in here. Hopefully by next week it'll be nice and toasty for them when you invite them over."
"You didn't want to see the rest of it?" Zayn asked quietly.
"No. I'm okay. I know it has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. That's pretty much all I need to know. And wasn't it you who told me you told Harry that you had to go to work tomorrow anyway?"
"Yeah but that was just an-"
"An excuse to get away so he wouldn't find out the real reason you needed to leave. Yeah, I know." He playfully and sadly hit Zayn's shoulder. "I'll be in the car when you decide to come outside. Good luck with Allison...I mean, Harry."
And with that, he left the empty apartment and left Zayn to think.
He grunted in frustration the second he heard the door close. He didn't know why Louis refused to listen to him. How many more times did he have to tell him he had no feelings for Harry before he understood?
Why didn't he think they could just be friends? Maybe he didn't like Harry in the ways that made his pants tighten at the thought of him or his mouth water after picturing him naked. But he still liked Harry.
No matter how Zayn felt about him, Zayn knew the potential to hurt Harry was always there as Louis said. But ruining their newfound friendship was the last thing he wanted. Especially when not only was it genuine, but there was a child involved. So he knew to be careful and not do anything stupid.
However, once he pushed those thoughts from his head and looked around the empty apartment, he realized Louis was still absolutely right in something he said to him. All this really was ridiculous.
The only problem was he couldn't turn back now. He'd already had everything planned out. Harry was already expected over here at this address.
"Shit." He mumbled at the realization of it all, in view of the fact that at that very moment, he realized there was one warning that Louis kept giving him every time he brought up Harry that was starting to make much more sense right now. Because it was slowly becoming so very plain and clear as the seconds passed by:
Zayn had officially gotten himself into something he could not get out of.