Aquarelle [h.s]

twenty-four

It turned out that Zayn was actually quite nice to talk to. It shouldn't have been that surprising considering that he was friends with Liam and Harry and they were both quite nice, but it definitely was, because I definitely hadn't forgotten how he'd used to act around me five years before.

He seemed to be more relaxed, and more importantly, he didn't seem to hate me. More than that, he seemed to be actually interested in talking to me. It truly was a new, but I decided that I wouldn't have let my prejudices about him get in the way of what could've become a friendship - or something close to it, anyway.

"So, do you hang out together often?" Zayn asked, moving his gaze from me to Harry, that just stared at him, and then back to me.

Harry hadn't spoken much ever since Zayn had arrived, and I couldn't really tell why, considering that he didn't seem to have any issues in making conversation when we were alone, and that he surely was used to talk to Zayn quite a lot, considering that they were friends. I didn't mind it that much though, because it wasn't the first time I saw it happening. He usually got quite silent whenever he was in a group of people - he'd been doing it for years, too. He seemed to prefer spending time in the company of only one other person, rather than in a crowd.

"Not really" I said when I understood that Harry wouldn't have replied. "We do see each other quite often, but that's because we work together."

Zayn gave me an interested look. "Is this what you do when you work together?" He asked, motioning to what was around us, and I let out a little laugh.

"No, not really. We've already done what we had to do" I replied. I didn't want him to think that we just wasted time when we were together, because we most definitely didn't - even though I wouldn't have minded spending time with Harry just for the sake of being in his company. I wondered if Harry had told him anything, and that was why he was asking so many questions.

"And what did you have to do?"

Harry sent him a little glance at the question. "Zayn" he said quietly, more like a little reminder than anything else, letting his voice drift away and not adding another word. It was obvious that he was feeling a bit uncomfortable, and that really made me wonder if he'd told his friend something about me.

I shrugged, deciding to reply anyway. "Just... some pictures. That kind of thing, depending on what we decide to work on" I replied, and Zayn gave me a nod, seeming to be a little disappointed and leaving me to wonder what he'd expected me to say. For the third time that afternoon, I found myself wondering what Harry had told him. I knew that he liked to spend time with me, he'd told me that, so could it be that his excitement had led Zayn to believe there was something more?

"That's interesting" Zayn commented. "Sounds just like what you used to do some years ago."

A little awkward silence followed his sentence. It truly was similar to what we used to do, but there was also something else that we'd used to do, that we definitely weren't doing now.

I sent Harry a little glance, the look on his face making me understand that he was thinking about the exact same thing - and probably also regretting ever asking Zayn to spend the afternoon with us.

"So I see you managed to find a job in the artistic field, Sierra" Zayn said, seeming to realise the conversation topic had got a bit stale and quickly deciding to move on to a new one.

"Yeah, I did. I certainly got lucky" I replied, knowing that not everyone got to do what I was doing. "And you?" I added, almost as an afterthought, not being used to Zayn actually wanting to make conversation with me. I wondered what Harry was thinking about the whole thing.