The Parallels (Larry Stylinson+Niall Horan)

Chapter 18

Zayn

My brain was like a hot mess. I could not decide which emotion was stronger. On one hand, I was feeling so angry that I was ready to punch Louis’s face and on the other, I felt so sorry for Harry. He did not deserve any of this. He tried to make everyone happy and somehow, he was always the one who ended up in pain. With the violence and domination in his past and now with Louis, I wish there was something I could do to make it all better for him.

He felt like a little child in my arms. He had explained everything to us in a broken voice and now, he just rested there, holding on to my t-shirt. His sobs and whimpers had stopped after a while. Niall was restlessly moving back and forth in the room. I was positive that he felt the same as I did. We wanted to protect Harry from all the hurt and seeing him like this, was our trigger point. We hated when he cried and especially when Louis made him cry because we could not change his past but, we could definitely help him in the present.

I slowly pulled Harry away from me. He did not make eye contact with me at first but then, looked at me with watery eyes. The kind of fury that I felt, took over me and I stood up.

“Come on. Get up.” I said to Harry.

“Wh- what?” he asked, confused by my sudden outburst.

“Stand up, love. We’re going downstairs. He cannot get away every time.”

“But, Zayn-”

“Harry, come on.” I insisted, impatiently.

“Okay.” he replied, softly and got up. I could clearly see that he wasn’t sure about what was going to happen. He was hesitant about every single step that he was taking towards the door. He glanced at Niall, probably hoping that he would stop me but, Niall was just as furious as me. Maybe even more.

When we all reached the living room, Louis was sitting on the couch with his face in his hands and Liam was moving all over the place. He looked concerned and sympathetic. I did not pay much attention to him and walked straight up to Louis.

“What the hell is your problem, dude?” I said.

“Look, let me explain. I am sorry. It-” he started to give some lame apology but he could not finish as Niall interrupted.

“We don’t want your fake justification. All we know is that you’ve been treating Harry in a way he does not deserves to be talked to and you better keep that in mind the next time. If I see him upset because of you once more, it won’t be good for any of us. Come on, H. We need to get out of here.”  he said, turning towards Harry and tilting his head towards the front door.

Louis did not say anything. He just stood there like a statue. I could not make out whether that annoyed me or it was good for all of us because any further conversation was probably just going to lead to a fight. We exited the door and got into the car. Niall did not speak a word. He was generally a carefree guy but, he was very uncompromising when it came to hurting the people he cared for.

We decided to drop Harry off at his home as he wanted to be alone. I mostly knew when to listen to him and when not to but, right now, we had to let him go. He needed some time to himself and that was reasonable. I, however, did not want to go home. There were two major reasons for that. First, it was 6:45 am and I did not have the keys with me. Second, I did not want to show up at my house in such a mood. I also knew that Niall probably wanted to be alone, too. So, I decided to ring Eyrie up.

She picked up her phone after a few rings and answered in an extremely sleepy voice. “Zayn?”

“Hey, Eers. Do you mind if I, maybe, drop by at your house?” I asked, dryly.

“Right now?” she sounded slightly amazed.

“Yeah.”

“Alright. I’ll keep the door open.” she replied.

“Thank you. See you.” I hung up.

I sighed and looked outside the window. We had already dropped Harry and told him to call us if he needed someone but, knowing him, there were thin chances that he would do something like that. He thanked us and went inside. Niall and I didn’t really talk on the ride to Eyrie’s house, which was  near Harry’s so, it took about five minutes to reach. I just waved him goodbye and then, he drove away.

I walked up to the doorstep and knocked softly. I knew that Eyrie would be waiting in the living room and she would hear it. A few seconds later, she opened the door and gave me a smile. 

“You’re in a mood. What happened?” she asked as I stormed past her, into her living room.

“Well, guess what? Louis messed up with Harry. Again!” I exclaimed, angrily and sat down on the couch.

“What did he do now?” she asked, closing the door and walking towards me.

“The two of them had an early morning feud. Harry wasn’t the reason, obviously.” I said, furiously.

“Hmm. Can I get you some coffee?” she offered.

“Yes, please. I’ll accompany you to the kitchen.” I said, standing up.

As we entered her kitchen, she turned around, holding a cup in her hand and said, “You know that you have woken me up at seven in the morning on the very first day of our winter break, right? You better have a grand plan to make it up to me.”

“Fine. I’ll get you a big, fat present for Christmas, happy?” I asked.

“Nope. I was hoping more like a whole day to spend together. Just you and me.” she looked at me hopefully.

“Yeah, sure. Anything that keeps me away from Louis works perfectly for me.” I said, still annoyed because of the incident.

“Oh, come on, Z! We’ll figure something out.” Eyrie said, pouring coffee into our mugs.

“Heh. That’s only happening if either Harry stops feeling for Louis or if Louis miraculously turns into a decent guy.” I scoffed.

“We can’t choose who we fall for, Zayn and moreover, from what Liam tells me, Louis is not a bad guy. He just has some things that he needs to work on.” she tried to reason with me.

“Well then, he can work away from Harry.”

“It’s alright, Z.” she said, handing me one of the mugs. The hot body of the mug felt good against my cold hands. It was chilling. We went to the living room and she turned the heater on. I sat there for a while, thinking about everything that Eyrie had said. She sounded optimistic and hopeful but, all I was feeling was anger. The feeling was pretty much gone now, though. I could not help but feel thankful for my decision of coming here.

“Thanks for letting me in, Eers.” I said, out of nowhere.

“What are you? A vampire?” she laughed. “Of course I’d let you in. This is your home, too, Z. You can come and go as you please.” she smiled.

“Yeah, I know” I replied and after what seemed like forever, I smiled back.

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Hello, people. So, I know I've changed the title for the second time but, well, it suites my idea more. Let me know what you feel about it. Hope you like the chapter :)
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