Unhealthy Love

Chapter 18

Niall really didn’t need for anyone else to tell him why he shouldn’t be with Zayn. Pretty much everyone had made it clear that they didn’t believe their relationship would last – well, until now it was only Harry (the name left his stomach in knots) but he was sure all his friends would take the younger boy’s side – and the least he needed was for even Zayn’s friend to doom his relationship with Zayn.

It was safe to say that when he led Chad into his room, he felt kind of defensive, wary and expecting the worst. His mother hadn’t looked very impressed by the late visit, and as she hadn’t looked impressed as she had gazed at Chad’s feral appearance and the puppy he had along. Niall had told her that Chad was his classmate – which he technically was – and that he wanted help with biology.

His mother had looked skeptic – Niall didn’t blame her, he really had never been that kid people went to for help – but had left them alone.

Now Niall was sitting on his bed petting Cotton who was contently curled up between his legs while Chad had claimed his office chair and had now used five minutes spinning around in it. It had now reached the point where Niall was beginning to believe the boy had forgotten why he came in the first place.

Niall cleared his throat a little awkwardly and Chad halted the chair and turned to look at him questioningly; this guy couldn’t be for real.

“So…” He trailed off as he stopped petting Cotton and looked at Chad expectantly. “You wanted to talk about Zayn.”

“Oh, that’s true,” Chad grinned and Niall couldn’t help but notice his slightly pointy canines. “Zayn…where should I begin?” Chad tapped his chin, his eyes focused on the ceiling in a thoughtful manner.

Niall began to get a little impatient.

“What about the start?” He said sarcastically, but he couldn’t help it. Harry’s confession less than an hour ago was still turning in his head, and he couldn’t push the image of hurt, green eyes out of his mind.

“Patience, Niall,” Chad chided softly as he leaned forward in the chair and studied Niall closely. “So… where did you guys go this morning?”

“Uh… he took me to his place…” Niall trailed off and struggled to keep the blush that threatened to take over down. He had expected Chad to laugh knowingly, but he looked surprisingly shocked.

“Huh?” His dark brown eyes were a little wide as he stared at Niall in disbelief.

“He took me to his place?” Niall repeated confused at Chad’s reaction.

Chad looked taken aback as he fell back in the chair. “That… was unexpected,” He mumbled as he blew out a puff of air ruffling his dark bangs.

Niall just stared at Chad feeling even more confused, but then he remembered Nathan’s words about Zayn never bringing anyone home. He hadn’t thought too much about that, because he’d just thought it was something siblings and parents said. However, it shouldn’t come as a surprise; the more he thought about it, he realized Zayn had only brought him to his home in a moment of anger. He could feel disappointment spread inside of him at the thought that had been the first and last time.

“Did you meet any of his family?” Chad’s curious question snapped him out of his thoughts, and he couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Mmm… I met his brother, Nathan, he’s super nice,” Niall’s smile fell when Chad’s expression once again turned shocked. He was a little startled when Chad jumped to his feet so fast that the chair did a whole 360°

“What!? You didn’t just put Nathan and nice in the same sentence, did you?!” His chestnut brown eyes looked a little wild and crazy, and Cotton jumped down, barking at him, probably asking what Niall was wondering; why was he going mental?