lost // h.s

ii.

"i got pizza!" zayn yelled as he carried three stacks of pizza boxes, whilst kicking the door shut with his right leg.

everyone then jumped up from their seats and ran to the dining room like ravenous hyenas. everyone except her.

harry's eyes lingered behind him and caught her looking around the room as she ran her hands anxiously atop her thighs. he bit his lip before leaving the room to catch up with the others. he didn't know why he didn't tell her to join him.

as he entered the dining room, the familiar aroma of mozzarella cheese and olive garden bread sticks and pizza filled his nostrils. he almost hummed in delight and for a moment, he forgot that zayn's cousin sat alone in the living room with her hands clasped together, looking like a pile of nerves.

everyone looked up when she stepped into the dining room minutes later. the silence made the atmosphere extremely and frustratingly uncomfortable.

zayn smiled encouragingly and patted the seat next to him. with her head bowed down, she didn't dare make eye contact with anyone. she sat quietly in her designated seat and began picking at her food with a fork. louis and liam shared a look. gemma stared at her in sheer pity.

niall just ate.

harry even caught zayn gazing worriedly at her while she wasn't looking.

after they finished their meals and cleaned up, harry sat back down on the three seater in the living room, everyone in their rightful places as before. liam was busy searching for a good-enough movie to play. everyone else waited, or immersed in conversation. harry surveyed the room, and it was only then he realised that she carried a moleskine pad and a pencil with rather indented scratches and teeth marks, in her hands. her grip tightened protectively when she caught harry staring.

"so," gemma began, smiling at zayn's cousin, "how do you like mayberry so far?"

mayberry was a small town on the east coast, it was filled with pine trees along almost every sidewalk. the weather was inexorably cool, it was the only town in their range that had an anomalous climate pattern, so you can probably guess that everyday was either cloudy, foggy, or rainy. the sun peered never for long in the horizon, and it was both a curse and a blessing. the people here were nice, respectable; a small, decent community in which everyone knew each other and news always spread like wildfire.

"i like it," lyle managed to mumble under her breath, looking down at her feet. harry resisted his temperament and the urge to roll his eyes.

"you actually like it?" gemma squawked in disbelief, laughing. "it's so small! and boring, may i add!"

lyle didn't smile. or laugh, for that matter. she didn't find anything humorous about the conversation. she was used to living in small towns and quiet neighbourhoods, but somewhere deep inside her, there was something about this town that made her think she couldn't adjust living here quite just yet. so she just nodded in reply, and bit her tongue.

by this time, harry couldn't stop himself from grunting and rolling his eyes. he saw gemma throwing daggers from his peripheral vision to which he blatantly ignored.

"you're surprisingly quiet," zayn smiled meekly, nudging her in the side. "c'mon, you little muck, the lyle i knew would never stop talking."

she looked down at her hands, ashamed for some reason. heat crept onto her cheeks as her face blushed red.

"lyle," louis said, tasting the name on his tongue as he looked at her, "it's lovely. is that really your birth name?"