Drawn Out Dreams. [A Zarry Fanfiction.]

Chapter Ten

Harry Styles watched as Liam took the open bag of chips and walked over to the closest bench. The boy sat down slowly with a sigh leaving his lips, and Harry could tell by his body language that something was up. The voice of the man behind the counter brought him back to life, and Harry apologised before placing the £1 coin into the man’s hand in an exchange for an open bag of chips. Harry took them in his hands, the smell of the warm grease and the shuffle of the papers they were wrapped in making his stomach growl and rumble uncontrollably as he walked out of the fish and chip shop, before going over to the bench where Liam was sat.

Harry plonked himself down and sighed a little in satisfaction. There was a small silence as both boys settled themselves, as they sat on the bench after their long day at school. There was obviously a lot on Liam’s mind, which set off confusion for Harry. Liam had seemed, well, alright earlier, but when his younger brother had showed up, it seemed to have brought something out in Liam which Harry couldn’t put a finger on. Liam and Niall’s brotherly relationship was a touchy subject, which was why Harry had to step carefully around the next conversation.

“So, you seem a little…off.” Harry started, before he placed a chip into his mouth and slowly chewed on it, his green eyes were wide with curiousity as he sat back in the bench, looking at Liam. Liam’s shoulders seemed to tense, but then relax, even though he stayed quiet. Another quiet moment passed.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked once again, before he chewed on another one of his chips as he waited to see if Liam would talk this time. Liam let out a sigh before he leaned back in the park bench. Liam shoved a couple of his chips into his mouth, and made no eye contact with Harry at all. Well, this had confirmed that there was something that was definitely wrong with Liam, but Harry feared that he had pissed Liam off in the process of trying to find out.

Just when Harry thought all hope was lost, as they sat on the bench in the middle of the street, watching people walk past as they dove in and out of shops, Liam finally spoke.

“Sometimes I just feel like the cons outweigh the pros when I think of why I’m friends with Andy and Louis.” Liam spoke, his voice was a little quiet, as if it was the first time that he had told himself that he had said this out loud to himself, and Harry realised that he must have been in denial of what he had just said.

Liam turned around to look at Harry with vulnerable, big brown eyes. His lips were set in a straight line, as his hands held onto the bag of chips in his lap. Harry frowned a little, slightly surprised that Liam had suddenly come out with that. He knew that Louis and Andy could be a pain in the arse, but as he looked over the sincerity of Liam’s facial expression, Harry realised that this was deeper than the two boys simply saying something to Liam as a playful tease.

“What did they do?” Harry asked simply, deciding against the choice to ask if this was serious or not. It was obviously serious. Liam looked away from Harry and into his lap. He shrugged his shoulders a little, obviously having some sort of internal battle with himself on how much to tell Harry.

“I just…” Liam started, and Harry saw how his fingers had started to tap extremely quickly against his leg, and Harry decided to remove the bag of chips from Liam’s knee. This was done just in time, because Liam gave a short, loud noise of anger, before he turned to Harry quickly.

“I have no problem with myself being gay, but they make me feel sometimes like I should have a problem with it! I don’t get it!” Liam suddenly snapped, as he looked past Harry as his hands flew around frantically. This was a habit Liam tended to have, he bottled everything up, and then it came out on people when they least expected it. Liam wasn’t very good at controlling his emotions; he simply kept everything inside because he never really learnt how to deal with them, and himself. Harry had one of his large hands holding onto the two bags of chips, while the other reached out for Liam’s hand.