Loved You First

Chapter 14

The dragging of Zayn’s pencil across paper stopped abruptly as he felt his phone vibrate in the pocket of his sweats. He shifted in his desk to seek his phone out of his pocket, it was the last period of the day and his teacher was rambling anyways so he knew she wouldn’t notice or mind. The boy sighed heavily as he saw the one name he did not want to see lit up on his screen; Harry Styles.

He contemplated not reading the text. What could Harry want so desperately that he felt the need to text him in the middle of class anyways? Sighing, Zayn slid his thumb across the screen.

My house after school?

The boy muffled a frustrated groan. Couldn’t Harry see that he was busy trying to get over him? He thought for a moment before typing back.

Can’t. I have plans.

Zayn lied completely. He couldn’t afford to spend any alone time with Harry, he couldn’t really afford to spend any time with him at all at the moment. He really was trying to get over him, for himself; for Niall.

Harry’s response came nearly immediately.

Please Zayn? For me? I miss you.

Fucker, Zayn thought bitterly. It was unfair of Harry to use his feelings against him; it was practically taking away his free will. Zayn knew that Harry knew what he was doing, he knew exactly which strings to pull.

Fine.

Zayn’s knee bounced with anticipation under his desk the remainder of the class period. He couldn’t stop wondering what Harry could possibly want because, as of late, neither of the boys seemed to want anything to do with the other.

He was out of his seat the moment the bell rang to dismiss them from class, bolting out the doors and practically sprinting towards his car to escape the parking lot before it could get jammed. He always had a hard time maneuvering through the mess of cars once it got backed up. For some reason, most likely being he was so popular, Harry never had a problem getting out.

Zayn managed to evade the parking lot cleanly, sighing as he reached into his center console to fish out a cigarette. Smoking was something the dark haired boy had been over for a long time, since early in his freshman year. He’d only started because he thought it’d make him look cool, though he’d quit only a few months after starting the bad habit. Nowadays he only lit up when he felt really stressed, he was fully aware of the damage it could do to his body. He couldn’t find it in himself to care much.

He reached Harry’s house before the curly haired lad did, he parked his car out front and took the excess time to pull the last few drags off his cig while he waited. The cancer-stick was out by the time Harry finally pulled, slowly, into his driveway. Zayn got out of his car in the same manor, walking around to meet Harry on the walkway. The house looked different in the sunlight, Zayn noted, last time he’d been here it was dark outside and he couldn’t take in the entirety of it. It seemed very fitting for the green eyed boy, it was a bit older but still very classy and clean looking.

“Took you long enough,” Zayn muttered as they made their way up the path. He was so indifferent about the situation he wasn’t sure how to play it out.

Harry shrugged. “Didn’t know it was a race.”

“Well you lost.”

“Dammit.”

The sarcasm that would normally roll off the younger lad’s tongue was lacking. The conversation felt mechanical, like they were being forced to participate in it. Something about Harry was different, Zayn noticed. He wondered if something was wrong. Maybe it was just the time away from each other. Zayn’s heart clenched a bit thinking of how close they once were, before he’d gone and opened his big mouth.