Hard to Handle (A 1D Story)

Ch. 5 - Morning After

Chapter 5 - Morning After

“Good morning,” I smiled weakly at Zayn as he walked into the kitchen the next day. My eyes felt like they weighed a hundred pounds and my hair was a mess, but I somehow had managed to get up and pour myself a cup of coffee. Not the real kind – mind you, I always drank the ones out a bag. “You’re the second one up.”

Zayn, while tired, still managed to look ten times more presentable than me. He was in an old shirt and oddly short shorts. Damn him and his model looks. He ran a weary hand through his hair and squinted at me. “You serious? Nobody else is up yet?”

“Nope.” It was a bit after noon, and I hadn’t received any administrative tasks from P&W. I hoped it would be one of those days where I just had to cater to the boys. After the night we’d all had – I’m sure they wouldn’t want to do too much anyway. “Want a coffee?”

Zayn nodded and scratched his unshaven chin. “Thanks.” He exhaled. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay. I don’t usually get hangovers.”

“Lucky,” he chuckled.

“I just barf,” I finished.

He set down his mug and gave me a look. “Let’s not talk about barfing right now, yeah?”

I laughed, and we drank in silence for a while.

“So.” He finally broke it, piercing me with his razor sharp gaze.

“So… what?”

“So what happened between you and Harry last night?”

I set my mug down and shrugged. “Nothing.” It was pretty much true; he’d spent the night on the other side of the bed – but all in all, he was the consummate gentleman and kept his word that nothing more would happen.

“Nothing?” Zayn echoed, narrowing his eyes at me and smirking. “Where is he now?”

Damn. “My room,” I replied begrudgingly and then went on adamantly, “But seriously, Zayn. Nothing happened. I swear.”

Zayn seemed satisfied with my explanation and sat back. “I believe you. But Jen…”

I stopped mid-sip at his tone. “What?”

Zayn sighed and blinked his heavily lidded eyes. “I just think you should know now that Harry is like that… I mean, that’s just him.”

“What’s just him?”

“He’s just like this with girls – he has to make sure he can get all of them, and I think it makes him feel secure in knowing that. It was only a matter of time with you living here… before he made sure he was the first one out of us that won you over.”

I nodded slowly, running a tongue over my teeth the way I always did when I was deep in thought. “I think on some level, I knew that,” I finally replied. “I’ve known people like that. But I mean, I’d only just met the guy.”

Zayn chuckled and swung his gaze back down to the coffee. “Again. That’s Harry. Even with girls he’s only met… he’ll pretend it’s love.”

I raised a brow and quirked a smile, impressed. “Hey, that was really poetic of you.”

“Thanks.” He laughed. “Good talk. I’m glad you know. A lot of girls don’t understand and think that he’s looking for something he’s not.”

“He’s not a bad guy, though.”

“Yeah, no, of course not,” Zayn backtracked insistently. “He’s my best mate. He has a heart of gold and cares about everyone and would never hurt a fly… but a lot of people get themselves hurt because they think too much of it. And I didn’t want to see that happen to you.”