EAT » [ziam]

twenty-six

[Only ever in dreams I wrap my arms around you, and standing in the water with me, I can tell you what I wanna tell you]

For the remainder of the weekend, Zayn stayed at Liam's house, not even daring to pick up his mother's phone calls. He had no idea Yaser was forced to leave the house with his things while Trisha was filing for a divorce. Instead, he tried to ignore anything that had to do with his family and spent his weekend with his boyfriend, going on a date to the movies (which ended in making out rather than actually paying attention to the film) and a nice walk in the park.

With the weekend now over, Zayn's little paradise was burned down in flames. While Zayn is running late to lunch, Liam is seated at a table with Louis and Niall. The two have become rather close, but Louis has made it crystal clear that he has no intentions in pursuing a relationship with Niall; their grinding at Niall's barbecue was purely platonic.

"So, tell me Li," begins Louis, and telling from the look he's giving Liam, he can tell Louis is going to ask something personal or just raunchy. "Have you and your little twink gotten freaky under the sheets?"

Liam gapes and his cheeks flush. Has he thought of taking his relationship further? Of course, but Zayn just seems too uncomfortable at the moment. During their heated make out at the movie theater, Liam slid his hand down to Zayn's bum, and Zayn immediately squealed and blushed.

"No Louis! Not everything is about sex you know!" whisper-shouts Liam.

"Okay, okay! I was just asking, sheesh," says back Louis in defense. He takes a bite of his apple and then asks, "So how was meeting his folks? Or as you called it, 'properly'."

Liam's gut wrenches as he remembers the events that occurred last Friday. The way Yaser just spewed insults at his own son like it was no big deal made Liam shudder at the thought. Everything clicked for Liam that day. He now knows why Zayn is so quiet and timid, and why he starved himself. It was all his father's doing. "Some bad things went down, Louis. Like, really bad."

The nosy boy drops the apple he's eating back onto his tray, scooting closer to the table. "Oh my god, spill!" Even Niall has stopped eating to hear what Liam has to say, and it takes a lot for that to happen.

"It's really not my business to tell, Lou," he answers lowly. Liam looks down at his tray and starts stabbing his chicken with his plastic fork repeatedly ‒ how he wished that piece of chicken was actually Yaser's head.

Louis sighs and gives Liam an understanding nod. "I don't know much about his father, other than he would say some douchey things sometimes. As for his mother, she would always act so fake around my mother. Whenever she'd come over and they drank tea together, Trisha always talked about how great her family was doing, but I could see this kind of sadness in her eyes. Even worse, I could see it in Zayn."

"I know what you mean." Liam breathes hastily and hovers his chest over his crossed arms. "His dad's a dick, that, I can guarantee."

The blonde friend of the group looks around the cafeteria and raises his eyebrows. "Speaking of Zayn, where is he?"

"He had a maths test today, and he's not the best at it, so I'm guessing he's running late or something," explains Liam.

"Wow Li, looks like you both have something in common," teases Louis with a wink that earns him a smack to the shoulder. "What? You know it's true. You suck at math, Li."

"Whatever you man-whore. You've seen more cóck than a pórn star." Liam's insult has Niall choking on his milk because Liam doesn't usually fire back at Louis just as hard.

Louis on the other hand turns pinker than a grapefruit ‒ now who's the one blushing? "Touché, Payne."

"So, lads, how do you think you'll do on final exams next week?" asks Liam to change the direction of the conversation from a less sexual one (they had enough of those already).