harry did end up taking zayn's bed. he gave zayn a look he couldn't resist and zayn ended up letting him have his bed. he wonders how harry does it, how one person could have this much power over him.
zayn decides to sleep in the couch because he couldn't trust himself to stay in the same room with harry, god knows what could happen. he doesn't trust himself completely with harry yet.
he's awoken the next morning by his bell ringing. he gets up from the couch, stretching and wincing when his bones makes a cracking sound. that wasn't a comfortable sleep at all. he wonders who's coming to visit him this early, it's probably justin but then again this is an odd time for his closest friend to come visit.
he goes to open the door and is a bit surprised when he sees the person outside it.
"hi zayn," caleb says.
"oh caleb, hey. what are you doing here?" he asks. this isn't the first time he's coming over, but zayn wasn't expecting to see him anytime soon especially since how they left it off the previous day. he's been meaning to call him, but he had no idea what to say so seeing him in his front door this morning is a bit of a shock to him.
"i just wanted to talk to you. can i come in?" the smaller man asks. zayn nods, opening the door a bit wilder to get into.
"uh sure," he says. caleb walks into the house. it's a bit awkward, and zayn is wondering what he's doing here. they both sit on his couch and caleb looks a bit nervous.
"i wanted to apologize," he starts. "i sounded a bit desperate yesterday and i'm sorry. i didn't mean to spring that on you all of a sudden, it's just that i like you so much that i got a little frustrated with just being friends."
"you don't have to apologize about anything caleb," zayn says.
caleb's eyes dart around nervously and before zayn could mutter another word, the smaller man is moving closer to him and landing a kiss on his lips. zayn is too shocked to kiss back. few seconds later, they pull apart.
"i'm sorry, i-" zayn interrupts him this time by being the one to kiss him. caleb immediately puts his hands on zayn's neck, not surprisingly a very good kisser. it starts to get heated with zayn taking charge and maneuvering their position so he hovers over the smaller man. they kiss very hungrily but don't go any further than that.
after a while, they pull apart. caleb's cheeks are flushed and he's breathing heavily.
"wow," he says. "you're a really good kisser."
zayn chuckles. "thanks, you're not so bad yourself."
caleb holds zayn's hand in his. "i don't mind taking it slow with you. you're worth it."
zayn is too focused on the person in front of him, he completely forgot that he had a guest over but he's reminded when harry walks in at the moment. at first he feels caught with the position he's at with caleb, but then he reminds himself that he's not dating harry and doesn't owe him anything.
"zayn, um," harry says, having a hurt expression on his face. "can we talk?"
caleb frowns at the interaction and whispers to zayn. "i didn't know you had a guest."
"i'll be back in a sec," zayn replies, pulling away from the other boy. caleb still has a frown on his face as he watches zayn disappear with harry to talk privately. they go to zayn's kitchen.
"how are you feeling?" zayn asks. he knows harry was really drunk the previous night and he'll definitely be hungover.
"good. i mean i have a headache but it's expected," he responds. "i'm sorry for inconveniencing you last night. you didn't have to drive all the way to get me, you should have ignored me."
"just because we're not together doesn't mean i don't still care about you harry," zayn responds. "and you really should stop drinking."
"i'll stop drinking when you stop smoking weed," harry jokes.
zayn chuckles, shaking his head. "not the same thing."
"sure," harry replies. "that guy in your living room, is he your new boyfriend? he doesn't seem like your type."
your type is supposed to be me. only me. a selfish part of harry thinks, he supposes it's fair that zayn is moving on, but the thought of it infuriates him. he still hopes that they're just having a long break and they'll get back together soon, it's obvious that zayn still cares about him and last night proves it further.
"harry... we're no longer together," zayn reminds.
"i know!" he unconsciously raises his voice. "you don't have to rub it in every time we talk."
"well you don't seem to get it," zayn says.
"because you keep leading me on. you didn't have to come get me last night. when i woke up in your bed this morning i felt hopeful only to see you making out with some other guy," he says. "it fucking hurts zayn, i'd have been better off if you had just left me alone."
"are you kidding? you were the one that drunk texted me, i was worried about you, i went out of my way to get you. my mistake," zayn says. he still loves harry and he thought he was being a decent person by not wanting him to get hurt, but he guesses that that's not how breakups work, especially with toxic relationships. he has to cut harry off completely for both of their sakes and he's not sure if he even wants to do that.
"that's exactly what leading me on is, do you want to be with me or not zayn?"
"i don't," zayn answers immediately.
"oh," harry says. he was expecting that, but it still hurts. "fine, i won't talk to you anymore. hope your little boyfriend makes you happy."
he walks away fast so zayn won't see the tears on his face. this is how all the interactions they have end, and zayn feels bad for always making harry cry, but he's just doing what's best for the both of them.
he hears his front door slam, signaling that harry has left already, he leans on his kitchen cabinet. why does it feel like every time they talk, it all goes horribly wrong? and harry mentioned that he wasn't going to talk to zayn again. it's what he wanted, right? why does he feel terrible then?
could he even do it? harry is always the one reaching out to him, all zayn had to do was wait for harry to text or call, but if he actually stops, would that be it? would he be able to handle it or will he cave and call harry?
he shakes his head, now is not the time to be thinking of that far to the future. relationships end all the time and he's been broken up with harry for a long time, they're not the first and they're not special. he's going to get over it.
"zayn?" caleb walks into the kitchen. he waited for zayn to come back for a while, and he saw when harry left and slammed the door, so he decided to come check on zayn. "who was that?"
"that was harry," zayn replies. "my ex-boyfriend."
"the one that always cheated on you?" he asks. zayn nods, he had told him almost everything about harry. "why was he here?"
"he got wasted so i picked him up last night," he says. "i shouldn't have though."
"you said you weren't talking to him anymore,"
"i'm not. last night was a mistake,"
"did you... did you sleep with him?" caleb asks, afraid to hear the answer.
zayn shakes his head. "i wouldn't do that. not to you."
caleb smiles at that. "i trust you. so, shall we continue where we left off?"
zayn returns his smile, caleb is an effective distraction against harry, but he's also more than that.
"we shall."
...
i almost deleted this book tbh but i've got the most amazing readers in this book specifically and i don't want to disappoint y'all even though i feel like it's boring 😭 but i promise it's going to get good soon! can't wait to start writing the zarry part.
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