Intersection [ZARRY]

5

“The night’s still young. We have plenty of time.” Harry scratched his arm as he spoke.

Zayn knew he was being ridiculous. He found something wrong with every woman he’d talked to tonight. In his defense, he had gotten one phone number. The woman had been beautiful and nice. Plus, she hadn’t wanted to go home for a quick fuck.

Yeah, he knew that had been the theme
for tonight, but once here, it was just too weird for him. As much as his dick didn’t agree with him, sleeping with a random woman he knew nothing about just didn’t work for him. He wanted a connection, to actually know someone he was with. He couldn’t get that in short conversations at a bar.

He knew Harry thought he was crazy, and maybe most people would, but that’s just who Zayn was.

“Three brothers, huh?” he asked Harry, trying to make conversation. He was done making attempts to get laid tonight.

He’d rather sit here and just enjoy himself.
The bartender set an order of potato skins down for Harry.

“This is the only place I order these. They’re my favorite. And yeah. Mitch is the oldest.
His wife is Abbey. She’s a real sweetheart. She’s a doctor and he’s an accountant. Jamie is the middle. He’s a dumbass, but I love him. He thinks he’s a comedian, but really he’s a veterinarian. His wife is Hope. They’re both these fun-loving, adventurous people.”

Sounded like Harry to Zayn. He was fun-loving. It made him wonder, though... “Your parents are happily married?”

Harry nodded. “They are.”

“Yet you’ve never had the urge? You have happily married people all around you, but you’ve never wanted to settle down?” Zayn hadn’t planned on falling for the first woman he dated, but he also always knew he would settle down and get married. He was okay with being that guy. Then he
remembered something else Harry had said. He had come close to something serious with his friend. “What happened with the friend you told me about?”

He wasn’t sure why he really wanted to know.

“She didn’t break my heart or anything, if that’s what you’re thinking. We were together for all the wrong reasons. At first, we didn’t realize it. Some things had happened, and Taylor and I clung to each other, then neither wanted to tell the other when we realized what we were doing.

She’s a special woman, just not the one for me. The shitty part is, I haven’t told my parents yet. They think we’re still together.” Harry leaned forward, resting his arms on the bar. “So, the cooking thing... Tell me about that.”

Again, Zayn could tell Harry didn’t want to go into too much information about his friend, and he let it go, even though he really fucking wanted to know why he would let his family believe they were together.

“I’ve always loved cooking. It makes me feel good to give someone a meal. The initial program was only two years. Gigi and I were serious by then, and I wanted to settle into a career so we could begin our lives. I’ve never enjoyed anything the way I enjoy cooking.”

He didn’t want it to sound like he’d gone into culinary because of Gigi. He did, and always would love it, but he’d also made that decision in part because it was the most logical one for them.

“What about you and bikes?”

“It wasn’t like that for me.” Harry shrugged.

“I didn’t know what the hell I wanted right away. When I first got out of high school, I wanted nothing to do with college. I decided to follow in my dad’s footsteps and
work for his carpet business. I was young and thought it would be easy. My parents loved the idea, because neither of my brothers followed his path, and honestly, I think they were scared if I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t do anything. I didn’t realize how much I would hate it, though. It wasn’t for
me. I did odd jobs and then decided to try college. I knew my family thought I should go. I’m the only styles kid who hadn’t. I tried a computer program, a business program.

Then came bartending, another school
program unfinished, and a very pissed off, confused family. They thought I should pick something and stick with it. But I need to feel passionate about what I’m doing, and I hadn’t found that yet. They saw it as indecisiveness.”

Zayn looked over at him, and he wondered if Harry could tell he didn’t understand it, either. Not that he was looking down at Harry, because he wasn’t. Zayn just sort of followed in the path he’d taken without much thought.

“A few years ago Taylor started dating this guy who rode a bike. He wanted in her pants, so he let me drive it. And that was it. I was in love. I knew it was what I wanted. Bought a cheap bike, and taught myself some things about it. Got it put together enough to drive and I rode her all the
time. I got my certificate later, and worked as an apprentice at a motorcycle repair shop at the same time. It was automatic for me, though. I love the freedom of riding. It’s like there’s nothing in the world but me and my bike.

I think about all those other programs I tried, and working with my dad. They never would have made me feel like this. I’m glad I held out to find my passion, ya know? To find what I love and can’t live without.”

“Good for you. It takes balls to do that.” Zayn wouldn’t have been able to.

Still, the way he talked...yeah Zayn could hear the passion about bikes, but it sounded like he didn’t quite feel that passion in the rest of his life. Not really. In a lot of ways, that didn’t make sense. Harry obviously lived his life the way he wanted, and had a good time doing it, but there was
something there that zayn couldn’t put his finger on. Something familiar.

Harry laughed and added, “Jesus, I feel like I’m getting sentimental for no good reason.”

“Yeah, that’s probably my fault. Wanna shoot some pool?” Zayn asked and Harry said yes. They shot two games, each winning one. They found a booth afterward and sat back, talking again. They were both football fans, and both ex-smokers. They’d already discovered they were both the
youngest out of their siblings, both grew up in a similar middle-class kind of family, only Zayn’s more traditional than Harry’s.

Both of them were the only ones not married out of their siblings, and both had secret addictions to the TV show Gold Rush. It wasn’t until the bartender called last round that Zayn realized how late it was. That they’d sat here talking for hours, thoughts of anything other than their conversation long gone. He couldn’t remember when he’d last been so comfortable, and had such a good time.

***

Harry felt like an ass. He’d promised to take Zayn out and help him have a good time, yet he’d sat around and talked to the man all night. They’d agreed to go out and try again the next Saturday night, but it had gone down much like the first.

The only difference was Zayn didn’t talk to anyone except Harry and the bartender all night. He didn’t approach a single woman.

There was something infectious about the guy that Harry liked. He had this easy charm about him. He wasn’t trying to be anyone or anything other than who he was.

Zayn didn’t have a problem laughing at himself, or laughing at Harry, either. They did a lot of that together, laughing. Harry
enjoyed becoming friends with him.

The third Saturday, Zayn told him he’d officially changed his schedule so he would be off each week. He hadn’t given himself time off on the weekends in years so he figured he was due a little weekend fun.

That third Saturday they’d worked together in the backyard for a few hours and then
went out and had beer and pizza.

Harry forced him to play videos games in the arcade and spent half of the night laughing at Zayn, who really fucking sucked at games.

“You’re like a sixteen-year-old trapped in a thirty-two-year-old’s body,” Zayn said when they headed home that night. “Video games, beer, and pizza and you’re happy.”

“So?” Harry replied, and Zayn shrugged.

“Just making sure you know.” And then Zayn smiled and Harry wasn’t sure why. The grin made him smile, too, and he wasn’t sure the why of that, either.

What he did know was that much the way it had been when he met Taylor, he felt an immediate closeness with Zayn. From the start he knew Taylor would be an important part of his life, and as fucked up as it
sounded, he knew that was true of Zayn as well.