Despite chatting to Yaf for most of the evening (including a lengthy conversation about Breaking Bad that was mostly yelling about how good it is) Zayn suddenly can’t think of a thing to say. If Yaf has noticed, he doesn’t say anything and persists with another anecdote, this one about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that is actually pretty interesting so Zayn has no idea why his gaze keeps straying to where Harry is sitting at the bar. He’s earning himself a pie and chips by writing the specials on the board, something Adam gets him to do because he loves his puns. Becoming a vegetarian is a missed steak and Try Karen’s rice pudding. It’s divine. There’s no other way of pudding it!
Zayn really wishes Adam wouldn’t encourage him.
‘I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,’ Yaf says and Zayn’s breath catches in his throat. ‘There’s a Malaysian place in the Northern Quarter I’ve been dying to try.’
Zayn opens his mouth but nothing comes out and if he was unsure how he felt about Yaf, he’s sure then as the thought of being alone with him has his brain greasily grabbing at every excuse he can think of. But before he can think of one, Adam bursts out the toilet door into the bar. He’s been fixing a blockage so when he shouts, ‘Get out!’ Zayn balks, thinking the toilet’s about to explode. But he adds, ‘Karen’s in labour!’
There’s a cheer (not from Sid, of course) and Zayn runs over. ‘Congratulations!’ He hugs him but Adam is shaking and when he steps back to look at him, Zayn’s sure he’s about to faint. ‘Here,’ he says, holding out his hand. ‘Give me the keys. I’ll lock up.’
‘What?’ Harry says, running in with the empty glasses he’s collected from the beer garden. (Another thing he does to earn himself a pint or, if Adam’s feeling generous, a Jack and Coke.) Beer garden is charitable. It’s actually a bench out back, next to the barrels. It’s another reason Zayn likes the Hat and Stick so much, because people want to sit outside in the summer so head for the pubs with outside barbeques. No one wants to sit out there in July, on a picnic bench that’s one more arse away from falling to pieces.
‘Karen’s in labour,’ Zayn tells him.
Harry puts the glasses on the bar and runs over. ‘Holy shit!’ He launches himself at Adam, giving him one of his orang-utan hugs that almost knocks him off his feet.
‘Ta,’ Adam says, spitting Harry’s hair out of his mouth.
Zayn holds up the keys. ‘I said I’d lock up so Adam can get to the hospital.’
‘Yeah. Don’t worry, man. We’ve got things covered here. Go! Be a dad!’
Harry hugs him again and Adam looks like he’s about to vomit.
‘Don’t forget to lock the back door,’ he tells Zayn when Harry finally lets go. ‘And don’t use the toilet in the men’s. And make sure the fryer’s off.’
‘Yeah. Yeah,’ Zayn says, following him to the door and almost pushing him out of it. ‘I worked here for six months, remember? Don’t worry. Give Karen my love.’
When he goes and Zayn turns back towards the bar, Harry and Yaf are standing next to each other and he forgets how to speak again so Yaf does.
‘Do you want me to wait?’
Zayn buys himself a moment as he says goodbye to Sid who grunts and shuffles out the door with a copy of the Racing Post under his arm.
Then they’re alone.
Harry looks at Yaf then at Zayn and Zayn almost legs it out the door after Sid.
‘No.’ He hopes it doesn’t sound as harsh as he thinks it does. ‘It’s okay. I’ll be here a while.’ He nods at the bar but realises a second too late that he’s nodding at Harry.
‘Okay,’ Yaf says, his smile not as smooth as he starts walking towards him. Zayn’s stomach flips about eighty-two times in the few steps it takes for Yaf to get to him, and when he stops in front of him by the door, if he was sure that his legs wouldn’t betray him, he would leg it. ‘Let me know if you read Purple Hibiscus, yeah?’
‘Yeah,’ Zayn says, suddenly breathless as Yaf leans in. He’s right to be anxious because Yaf presses a kiss to his cheek and the shock of it makes him step backwards.
‘Sorry!’ Yaf says as Zayn knocks a chair over, the sound of it hitting the floor too loud in the empty bar. ‘I didn’t mean to-’
‘It’s okay,’ Zayn says, and if Yaf was in any doubt that he wasn’t interested, he is when Zayn opens the door and smiles clumsily. ‘See ya.’
Yaf smiles sadly and takes the hint.
YOU ARE READING
All the Leaves are Brown (Zarry AU)
FanfictionIt's the summer before Zayn's final year at uni and he's got it all sussed. Or so he thinks until he meets 17-year old Harry and realises that he doesn't know a thing.
