Heal [a Zarry story]

Chapter 8

[Edited]

-Zayn-

The next morning, as I was heading off to work, Niall met me in the hallway, holding a stack of folded cardboard boxes.

"I got these for when you start packing or....whatever." He sighed, pushing them into my arms. "I've got some more...I'll bring them later." He added.

I hadn't found anywhere else to live yet, and had only stayed at his place one night so far. I left when I woke up, going to my flat to get ready for work.

When Niall came in last night around midnight, I had no idea he was upset.

I looked into his red-rimmed, puffy eyes before looking over his slumped, why even try stance.

"Are you alright?" I asked, adjusting the stack in my arms.

"I'm fine. I had a great night last night...even told my girlfriend I loved her for the first time." He said flatly.

I waited, trying to decide how to answer. "Um, why's that bad?" I asked carefully.

He sighed again, shrugging. "It shouldn't be. But she freaked out, claimed she was suffocating, needed space, I wasn't her type, it wasn't me it was her, she met someone else, we should see other people...the list goes on." He said sadly.

"I told her I was the one suffocating, because it's a bit hard to breathe when someone rips your heart out and plays with it before throwing it away." He continued.

"Then we started arguing, she slapped me, and....from this I've concluded that I was wasting my time falling in love with someone who...was so good at faking loving me back." He said, looking at the ground.

"Ni....I'm sorry..." I winced, feeling terrible for him.

He shrugged again. "I'm working on convincing myself I didn't love her. I don't get how I loved her so much but....she didn't feel the same. And this went on for months. I guess I should've known someone like me wasn't meant to be with someone as beautiful as her." He mumbled.

"Don't think that way Niall. She may look beautiful but someone who did that to you isn't beautiful." I told him.

"All I ever did was love her, and treat her the best I could and...pray she would say yes if I ever worked up the nerve to ask her to marry me. Is that wrong now?" He asked hopelessly.

"No, she's wrong Niall, you didn't do anything wrong." I said shaking my head.

"I'm going to die alone. Or with Forty cats." He whined, covering his face.

"Hey, no you're not...listen why don't you come with me down to the cafe?" I asked, seeing that he was dressed.

"It doesn't open for another hour but I've got to be there in fifteen minutes. I'll buy you some muffins or something yeah? And we can chat?" I offered.

"A lot of muffins?" He asked parting his fingers and looking at me.

"S'many as you want, mate." I smiled patting his shoulder. He slowly nodded, and followed me to the lift.

I tossed the stack in the backseat when we made it to my mum's car, and got in the same time Niall did.

Our ride to the cafe was mostly silent, with occasional sighs from him.

When we arrived, I had half an hour before I had to be at the register. I pointed to a booth near the windows for Niall to sit at while I went in the back and punched in.

One of my co-workers called Christopher was securing his apron on, which to me meant he had kitchen duty today.

"Hey, could you make a batch of blueberry muffins before everything else? I'll pay for them. They're for my friend out there." I said, nodding towards the front of the cafe.