Keeping up with ZIAM (The Contract Sequel)

New car tension

A rather tense breakfast later, the couple still wasn't speaking much. Niall was confused but was filled in by Louis in the pantry with hushed whispers. Ezra and Freddie came down smelling the food and waited to be served. definitely not picking up on the adults tension. Or so everyone thought they didn't pick it up.

Surprisingly, Harry rang the doorbell and was engulfed in a hug from
His raven haired best friend. Everyone was surprised he came, but he told them he just canceled his plans for the day. It wasn't long before he picked up on the couples weird traction between each other. In fact, to be specific, it was about three minutes into his time at the home. He pulled Niall aside and asked what was up, then sadly frowned as Niall relayed the morning recap. Both Zayn and Liam were pulling away from one another, you could just sense it.

What made things even worse was Zayn had been getting a little bit of heat on social media since the day before. People were saying since he hadn't posted anything about Ezra yet, that he didn't want to be a step father. Well, that was just one headline. You could imagine what the rest were making up.

One article in particular was "Liam Payne's love life: from models, influencers, actresses, and now a baby momma in question, to London's sweetheart Zayn Malik."  That one kinda stung him a bit. Niall tried to reason with him saying it was so early. They had just announced him yesterday and it was fine, but of course, the media was trying to spin things and dig further, which Zayn brushed off, but Harry could tell it bugged him.

Soon after picking up their mess from breakfast, everyone quickly got ready to go car shopping. Niall volunteered to stay with Ezra, stating that he'd just have one of the drivers take him later so he could buy a car. Probably the only thing Zayn and Liam agreed on at the moment was Ezra's safety, so Niall wiped at his forehead when they both said okay. Lately every conversation between them had felt like it escalated so it felt like a relief when it didn't.

At the dealership after being driven by one of their drivers, Zayn chose a white Lexus LX of the latest model. He chose the smallest, yet spacious enough vehicle for a ten year old and a newborn. Liam went with a classic Range Rover. He's always had one since he was 16. It was his first car and through the years he upgraded it and had multiple cars.

Louis bought a midnight blue, BMW Seven Series sedan. It was just he and Freddie so a car would be perfect. Especially with gas prices in LA... yeah, he wasn't doing a big SUV. Sure he might be making money now, but he still had the same mentality he had when he was a bartender.

When they finished signing and doing all the paperwork, it was a little past noon. Zayn drove with Harry back home in his vehicle, Liam headed back to the house as well, as Louis decided to stop by his house and make sure everything was ready before everyone went to his for dinner.

"So. What's got you all tense?" Harry asked his best friend. He wasn't going to brush things under the rug anymore. It concerned him how they were starting to be with each other.

"Huh?" Zayn asked coming out of trance as he carefully followed behind Liam.

"Is it because Liam told you not to go out this morning?"

Honestly it didn't bother him. His mind was elsewhere even though it shouldn't have been. "No it's not that." He shook his head.

"Then what is it?" He gave him a raise of his brow. "Clearly something is on your mind because we're driving in silence and you only do that when you're deep in thoughts." He said pointing to the radio.

Zayn huffed and turned it up slightly. His could never get anything past his best friend. "I ran into someone today at Starbucks." He dropped his shoulders finally picking up what Harry was putting down.