Broken Hearts

Chapter 4. The new us

Duncan puts the sweater on too, and it also fits. This woman! She got us all figured out and also got our sizes right, two out of two so far. Women are amazingly scary sometimes. Duncan laughs and pats his belly, perfectly covered by his brand new knitted custom sweater. I get lost in the moment for a bit, and then I snap out of it, thinking that I don't want anyone else guessing Zayn's. I wanna be the one.

I get closer to the table and run a finger up and down the right sleeve of the one 'm positive is Zayn's. Lauren is looking at me with a knowing flair on her blue eyes and I scowl at her and then smile. She winks and makes a subtle movement with her chin, encouraging me.

"This one's Zayn's, 'm sure."

"Are you?" Alex retorts, way too cheeky for my taste. For fuck's sake, am I that much of an open book seriously?

"I am." I still reply, as cheeky as he. "It's easy to tell, y'know?"

"How so?" Now's Ted. I hate them all.

"Because."

"How because?" Duncan chimes and I swear to God 'm about to stomp properly.

"Because" I say, trying to control myself. "The design is almost identical to Zayn's mandala. It also has little runes in the back, like the ones he has in his knuckles." Just as I let it out, I notice I know one too many details about his tattoos. I didn't even know I was watching him that much to have noticed all those details.

"Wow, Harry. I'm surprised you got all that, but you are right. That one's for Zayn." I immediately know 'm fucking blushing, but to my horror and delight, so is he.

"Well, that was fun, I must admit. Who would've known..." Zayn adds, with a smug grin. Fucker.

"Not you too, please." I interrupt him, rolling my eyes trying to hide the fact that I fucking know all the details of his hand's tattoos and 'm both proud and mortified about it. He lifts his hands in a defensive way, but I can feel his eyes on me the rest of the time it takes us to guess Ted's and Alex's.

The next one to tell us about his safe space is Alex. He shows his portfolio and at some point he gets to a cute cartoon that looks suspiciously similar to Lauren and she turns bright red. He is talented as fuck, and the level of detail on his cartoons is amazing.

"I made one of each of you guys." He says, trying not to focus his gaze on Lauren, who is still red.

"That's sick! You are very talented, mate." I say, when I see the rest of cartoons. When he shows mine, I laugh my happy laugh, the laugh I haven't let out for God knows how long, the one that gets me to bend on my back and laugh an open mouth laugh.

Mine is seriously cool. It looks just like me, but he exaggerated my curls a little (I say a little, they look like Einstein's hair) and my dimples are on full display. I kinda wanna cry, because he saw me in a way I didn't see myself anymore. Happy, funny, myself.

We were all speechless for a minute after we saw all the drawings. Zayn's is cool too, he has a cute dog next to him and I think he's trying to hold his tears back too.

"I appreciate the addition of Rhino so much. You are very thoughtful." Zayn said, almost whispering, loud enough for us to hear but like he wants to let the rest of the world out of our shared secret.

"Was my pleasure mate." Alex says, finally locking eyes with Lauren who smiles fondly. I see something happening there, and 'm both scared and happy. We all have a process we should follow, we were all hurt so I hope they are wise with whatever is growing between them.

"I, um, I used to have so much fun with my girlfriend, ex I mean, putting jigsaw puzzles together." Ted is a bit embarrassed because he addressed her as 'his girlfriend' but there's nothing to be ashamed of, we all have made the same mistake once or twice.