Just the two of us and a cute little cup of cyanide

ch 2

She hangs up without another word and Zayn sighs, tossing the phone onto Niall's unmade bed. Liam is looking up at him expectantly with big, sad eyes and Zayn gently ruffles his fringe. "She's at work, she said you should ring when you're sober."

"She doesn't love me," Liam says sadly. "She doesn't love me, Zayn."

"Now we both know that's not true," Zayn says. He gently tugs the empty bottle out of Liam's hand and puts it on the bedside table. "Sleep it off, Li. We can work out when you're alive enough."

"You're my best friend, Zayn," Liam mumbles. "You'll help me make Sophia love me again, won't you?"

"Li, why don't you think she loves you?" Zayn asks, brows furrowed. "She agreed to marry you, didn't she?"

"She doesn't love me," Liam just says again, though it comes out more as a whimper. "Zayn..."

"Get some sleep, Li. You've just worn your emotions out. It's been a fucking strange day."

"Don't go," Liam says weakly, reaching out blindly for Zayn's hand, his face buried in the pillow.

"I'm staying, Li," Zayn says softly, gently tucking the duvet over Liam's exhausted body. "Just sleep it off, yeah?"

Liam clutches at Zayn's hand almost painfully, his grip weakening slowly as his breathing evens out and his eyes flutter shut. He feels completely exhausted and wide awake all at once so once he's sure Liam is completely asleep he strokes his cheek gently before pocketing his card key and heading down out to find the boys.

He knocks on Harry and Louis' door cautiously and after a few seconds Niall answers.

"Oh, Zayn," he says, moving so Zayn can get into the room and flop down onto the bed next to Harry. "Thought you might be Payno."

"He's asleep," Zayn says into the pillow. "He came back pissed off his fucking face and kept babbling about how Sophia doesn't love him."

"What?" Louis asks incredulously from Harry's other side. He shuffles up and leans over to glare at Zayn. "What did you say to him?"

"Nothing!" Zayn insists, letting Harry wind an arm around his back and resting his head on his shoulder. "He was absolutely smashed, right? He'd, like, just put himself through a whole bottle of straight bourbon. You know what he's like drunk, all maudlin and shit."

"Sophia does love him though," Niall says from where he's sprawled himself out on the fluffy hotel rug. "She tells Jade everything and Jade tells me everything. She hasn't said anything, I promise."

"Can't be easy keeping secrets in a group as close as ours though," Harry says. "Would she risk voicing it if it would get back to Liam?"

"She's agreed to marry him though," Louis says angrily. "She wouldn't agree to marry someone she didn't love. I've known her since secondary school and she's too stubborn to pull a stunt like that."

"That's what I said," Zayn exclaims. "He's just an emotional drunk, that's all."

"And how are you holding up?" Harry asks, squeezing his shoulder lightly. Zayn glares up at him.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes," Harry says emphatically. "You've been my best mate since Year Seven, Zayn, of course it fucking matters."

"Pretty shit," he ends up mumbling. Harry's hand strokes through the back of his hair and Louis' hand cups his cheek reassuringly. If it was anyone but Harry he'd probably have swatted them away by now but he's so grateful to have a friend like him and the fact that his husband is also his crush's best childhood friend and also sympathetic is at least a little bit of a comfort. He scrubs across his face. "I just... I never saw myself actually wanting to get a divorce from Liam."