World's Worst Boyfriend |z.h.|

Chapter 14

Pain - that would be the ideal word to describe Niall's current state of misery. It wasn't that he was physically hurting or anything close to that but the stark fact of having a silent dinner with the Malik brothers was really exhausting him on the inside as well as on the outside. He tried to smile through it all through,  biting his lip and sipping on the Pepsi filled in his glass, the cold drink was his last scope of sanity. 

"Ah this is surely exciting." Louis's voice cut through the silence like a knife and all Niall could do was hope that the hint of sarcasm in that tone would be ignored by Zayn. He had already sensed the bad vibes in their brotherly bond from an extremely close distance and judging by the way Zayn was just glaring, his hands placed on Niall's meaty thighs with a harsh grip, made the blonde aware that everything was certainly not well in Zayn Malik's life. 

"I wonder if it's as exciting as your life in America. I heard you got a new house?" Zayn asked, his voice clipped and rather crisp, his grip on Niall's thigh tightened considerably but the blonde didn't even flinch, taking the pain as it came because he knew Zayn needed a bit of release. But it wasn't even hurting him much. It felt just so uncomfortable to be sitting like this. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought that he would be out for dinner with Zayn, much rather with his brother as well. Older sibling, definitely. 

"It's a beautiful house. I would give you two a tour sometime. Would you like to come to  America, Niall?" Louis smirked, directing the question to the silent blonde who had been much to busy and focused on his glass filled with Pepsi. He had to admit that Zayn chose a good one, pure innocence reeking from his actions as well. Just the way  Yaser would like it, enjoy it even, watching those pale cheeks flush under extreme scrutiny. It made him cringe to imagine just the kind of suffering Niall would have to go through to become a Malik. All because of his little brother. Louis was much smarter than Zayn though, he chose things wisely, chose the correct crowd to fit in. The crowd that won't break under pressure but such a delicate flower like Niall, he surely would. 

"That would be lovely."  The Irishman whispered softly, blushing under the intense gaze of the blue eyes. His hands were twitching to grab a hold of the cigarette pack that was certainly there in Zayn's front jeans pocket. He wanted to light one up and just take a drag, forget about the stressful dinner for just a brief moment but then, the waiter was approaching their table with a tight lipped smile on his face and it assured Niall that he wasn't the only one who was suffering tonight. 

"What would you like to have?" The waiter placed his hands on the side as the three men assessed the menu lying in front of their eyes. Half of the menu was in French which would have been alright if Niall had taken the French class in fourth grade instead of  Spanish but now he was confused and the images of the dishes just made them all look extra expensive and really tiny. He turned to Zayn, patting on the tanned man's wrist that was mid way on his thigh, wanting to catch his attention. 

"Yes love?" The raven haired boy spoke without turning his eye away from the menu, he had already decided what he was going to get but just staring at the thick book proved to be a much easier task than actually trying to engage with his brother in a conversation. There was a time when him and Louis used to get along just fine, they probably would get along just fine even right now if it wasn't for that dreadful quest their father had left over their heads. That fucking question which wasn't going to be answered soon anyways. Not until Zayn proved himself worthy of being a competition to his perfect brother. 

"Order something for me." Niall whispered softly,  aware that the waiter was hovering right above their table, probably getting pissed at them for first sitting their for a whole fifteen minutes with just a small blonde sipping on his coke and then not even being decided about their order. He could just feel the poor lad's wrath.