Can you love me now, Zayn?

Chapter 14

"Why can't you just come with us? What are you going to do all day?" asked Harry, his big green eyes pleading with Zayn.

"I told you, I'm going to spend the day with my dad. Will you stop worrying? You'll have fun with my mom if you just chill the fuck out. Holy shit, Harry – it's not going to kill you to spend some quality time with her. She just wants to get to know you better. It's a good thing, you're making it sound like she's the most horrible person in the world", said Zayn, growing impatient with Harry's insistence that he go along with Harry and Trisha to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

It was 8:00 am, and Harry had gotten out of the shower before laying back down on the bed to wait for Zayn. He didn't want to go downstairs without him. Finally, Zayn got out of the shower and walked back into the room. Zayn's parents could be heard making breakfast downstairs.

"You should have gone downstairs by yourself, you didn't need to wait for me. Stop avoiding my family, it's getting on my nerves", said Zayn.

"I'm not avoiding them, I just don't know what to say when you're not around", frowned Harry.

" 'Good morning' is usually a good start. Then when my mom asks if you're hungry say 'yes' and if she hands you a plate of pancakes you say 'thank you'. For fucks sake, you're making this way more difficult than it is", Zayn said while he rummaged through his drawer looking for an old t-shirt he wanted to wear.

Harry pouted while seated on the edge of the bed.

Zayn turned around after finding the t-shirt and saw Harry looking miserable. Zayn sighed and sat down next to him. "Harry, you're the most important person in my life. I want my family to get to know you, it's important to me that they do that, so I can have all of the most important people in my life know one another. Why is that so hard to understand? I don't think it's too much to ask for. If you ask my mom I bet she'd even tell you some of the stupid things I did while growing up, I'm sure you'd get a laugh out of it", Zayn said, nudging Harry, trying to get him to cheer up.

"What if she really doesn't like me?" asked Harry with a frown.

"Then she doesn't like you. It won't change anything. We've already talked about this", Zayn said patiently. "Now come on, I'm starving and I smell bacon".

=

Trisha glanced over at the moody young man in the passenger seat who'd been staring out the window as she drove. She'd pointed out a few of the historical sites on the ride through downtown Boston, but Harry would only nod or give one word responses; "cool", "nice", "awesome". If that was all she was going to get out of him for the drive, she certainly hoped he would be more communicative during the day.

She could tell he was nervous about being alone with her so she tried to put on her friendliest smile when she asked, "So it sounds like you and Zayn had a great vacation in France?"

"Yeah, it was nice", said Harry, nodding, then nervously wringing his hands.

Trisha reached over and put her hand on top of his. Smiling she said, "don't be nervous, I promise I don't bite".

Harry immediately stopped fidgeting and returned to gazing out the window, "Sorry", he said.

They were both relieved when they finally arrived at Boston MFA.

When they got to the entrance, Harry quickly took out his credit card to pay the fee.

"Harry, you don't have to do that, it was going to be my treat", said Trisha.

"That's ok, I got it", said Harry.

Trisha wanted to argue, but she thought better of it and just smiled, "Thank you, Harry, that's so nice of you", she said.