My Beautiful King

Chapter Thirty Nine

I looked at the eyes that were crinkled up in laughter before me. I couldn't help but giggle, even though I didn't know what the joke was yet. There was something about Zayn's happiness that was infectious; if he smiled, I smiled, if he laughed, I laughed. It was so good to see him again, especially to witness him in such unfamiliar, high spirits.

"Okay," Zayn continued as he composed himself. "There's this guy in the band called Harry - he's the youngest - and he's just always naked. Well, obviously not always, but most of the time. And then there's this guy Louis - he's the oldest - they're like best friends and he swears he woke up one morning with Harry's dick on his face."

I spluttered and nearly choked on the croissant I was attempting to eat. "No way."

"Yes way!" He chuckled madly while habitually running his hand through his hair. "Harry says he doesn't remember it happening but Louis insists that it did. It's so fucking funny. Me and Niall were pissing ourselves laughing for ages. But Niall practically laughs at anything."

I shook my head in mirth and swallowed carefully. "It sounds crazy with you five guys together. So you all live in one house? That must be really hectic."

Zayn waited for his laughter to cease before scratching the cartilage of his ear. I suddenly noticed a new piercing there, as well as another I'd spotted in his right ear lobe earlier on. He probably had more pairs of earrings than me. "We don't all live together." He confessed. "I misunderstood what Liam had said. They all stay together in Liam's house for long periods of time and everyone's there to practice most days... But they all live in their own houses nearby. I live with Liam and his mum because I have nowhere else to go. His mum's really nice for letting me stay. I didn't think she would."

"Oh." I nodded slowly and took a small tear out of my croissant to wedge into my mouth. "Right, okay. Yeah, that is really sweet of her. So you've told her about why you've left home, right? I presume you've told everyone about... Well, about your past. Your parents, all the crap you got up to... You've told them all, yeah?"

Zayn snorted and looked away. I gave him my most firm, disapproving glare.

"Zayn..."

"It was a big enough thing for me to tell you!" He huffed agitatedly as he began to nip at his bottom lip. "I'm not used to this whole 'expressing my inside feelings to people' thing, okay? I'm not ready to go around giving out my autobiography. I only told Liam and his mum because I felt like I owed them that, for letting me stay. His mum only knows about my parents... Liam knows everything else." Zayn laughed slightly and scratched his chin. "He didn't approve of my activities. Liam's the more sensible one; he doesn't drink - well, he can't drink because he only has one... Never mind, don't worry about that. But he told me that I needed to calm down. Stop acting out. Try thinking before I do shit. Be rational before I end up killing myself. We stayed up talking till morning for the first couple nights after I arrived; just letting him know who actually I was. Or what I was. Whatever."

I nodded again and drummed my fingers against my desk, ignoring the strange twitches of jealousy in my eye. "Well, Liam speaks sense. Maybe he'll be the one to-"

"Zayn!"

"Oi, Malik! Where've you gone?"

Zayn's face broke into a guilty smile as he turned around and replied to the distant voices. "Don't worry; I'll be back in a minute!" He faced me again, tittering softly. I sat, waiting patiently. "Sorry. I snuck away from the guys so we could Skype. What were you saying?"

I leant away from my laptop and breathed a great, dramatic sigh. Zayn's face smirked at me from the screen of my portable computer, teasing me with the distance between us. He had been so excited to call me and tell of his great idea to 'borrow' Liam's laptop and Skype me. And so, that was what we had found ourselves doing for the past half an hour; drinking in each others' appearances through a screen and having fruitful conversation about how Zayn was doing with all his new friends.