Just Friends

5. Ring

10/10/2007

"You, NEVER take it off. Ok?"

"But what if I need to get it cleaned?"

"You tell me first"

"What if you aren't there when I need to tell you"

"Then... then that's ok! But only then, other than that-" Liam taps on the ring that's on Zayn's finger "this. Stays. On!"

Zayn smiled and nodded "but mama wears a ring on this finger Leeyum"

"Oh... what does that ring mean?"

"It's her wedding ring"

"Then when we get married, and we know whoever it is is good for the other, we'll change the rings place!"

Zayn smiled and nodded, he took the other ring and slipped it on Liam's finger "this is our forever friendship ring right?"

Liam smiled and nodded "yep! As long as we have them on, our friendship will be STRONG!"

01/10/2016

"Are you... Jealous?"

Liam looked at Harry "Of what?"

Harry blinked, nodded then walked away, Liam pulled on a loose thread of the hoodie

Zayn had his arm over Markus' shoulder, his other hand he was holding a drink.

Markus and his friends are all in the same classes as Zayn, they'd seen each other a lot but Zayn always rushed to his friends that he never bothered to get to know him, he turned the ring on Zayn's finger, as he looked at Zayn who was saying something to the group that gave him their full attention

Liam then looked at Harry who sat down beside him

"Do you think Markus likes Zayn?"

"Oh, uh" He looked at Markus and Zayn "Yeah... This past week, everytime we asked Zayn to hang out, he said he couldn't, at first we thought it was because you've been busy... But then we found out that he's been hanging out with Markus"

Liam slowly nodded with a frown "Ah..."

"Yeah" Harry looked at him "Why?"

Liam shrugged "Nothing..."

Harry blinked and stood up, he walked towards Louis "We need Liam and Zayn to talk"

"They spent 20 minutes talking"

Harry gave Louis a look "You know what I mean!!"

Louis scratched his jaw "I'll figure something out"

~~~~~

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!! TEAMS!!"  Louis said and clapped

Markus turned to Zayn but got pulled away by Dylan "Oh do I have a task for you"

Zayn looked at Liam "Hiya partner"

Liam side hugged Zayn "Thought someone was going to take you away from me for a second"

Zayn smiled, ran his fingers through the back of Liam's hair "Like I said, I don't want to isolate you" His smile fell

Liam's shoulders fell "How many times will I say that you don't before you believe me?"

Zayn looked at Liam and smiled a weak smile "My eyes and ears work just fine Liam..."

Liam furrowed, a second before his eyes widened "Zayn-"

"ALRIGHT!!" Louis said clapping "I wanted to battle and I like drama and arguing" He smirked "Let's go back to childhood, shall we?"

"As you all know, you chose your pairs, and you all have a news paper in front of you, the song is playing, you move, song stops, you stop. You don't fall. You fold the paper, you fall, you're trash and you're out, is it clear?" And before anyone could say anything "GOOD!!" He said then walked towards Harry

Liam looked at Zayn as the music starts and they circled the news paper "It's not about that Zee I promise" Zayn looked at Liam "Timmy and I-"

But the music cut before Liam could continue, they both jumped onto the news paper, Liam keeping a tight hold on Zayn's belt hoops, he sighed and rested his head against Zayn's shoulder

~~~~~

The game kept on going, people kept on losing, yet Liam and Zayn were still in, and Liam jwt3r the lack of words between them

He knows its on him, because he got cut off and didn't start again, and he hated keeping a secret from his best friend

"Can I explain it all to you?" He whispered "Why I've been distant ans why I haven't been with you these past few weeks" He said as they got off of the news paper and it got folded to it's last square

"Do you feel like you have to or because you want to?"

"I want to tell you"

Zayn nodded "Ok"

Liam looked down at the tiny square then at Zayn "Do you think we'll win?"

He smiled "You doubt us?"

Liam smiled "Never"

The music stopped and they both got on it, Liam basically got picked up by Zayn as he managed to stand on it with one foot

Everyone cheered, Liam laughed and Zayn put him down

They both did an exaggerated bow then hugged each other tightly

Zayn kissed Liam's temple and Liam stuck his tongue out and hugged Zayn even tighter

~~~~~

They were all outside, screaming and dancing, but Liam and Zayn were seated on the steps

"Mumma lost her job..." Liam whispered and Zayn turned to him "I've been working at a bar that's not too far away from home yet far away enough to know that my father never goes to it"

He looked at Zayn "I haven't been hanging out with Timmy because I want to get away from you, I've been with him at work, and he has a late entry card so it all works out"

Zayn frowned "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Liam hugged his knees "The more people know the chance my parents will know"

Zayn smiled "But you told me..."

Liam leaned into him "You're my best friend... I don't like keeping secrets from you"