Turning Page (Zarry AU)

Chapter 4 - A Connection

Harry’s eyes widen and he nods, quickly gaining his composure and smiling up at Zayn – who isn’t faring so well in comparison. He promptly sits across from Harry, the chair scraping across the tiled floor and attracting a few glares and mutters from other people. Zayn ignores them in favour of looking at Harry, really looking at him. There’s a certain delicacy to his features, not just the shape but the colour as well and Zayn suddenly feels like painting again. Harry hasn’t said a word yet and only then does Zayn realise he hasn’t explained a single thing. His own stupidity sometimes really surprises him.

‘’Sorry, I – My name’s Zayn. I think I found your diary?’’ he blurts, clasping his hands together under the table and awaiting Harry’s response.

‘’You..? But how did you- oh God,’’ Harry groans, placing his head in his hands and taking a deep breath, ‘’You read it, didn’t you?’’ His voice is muffled but Zayn can still hear him just fine, can hear the slight tremor in his voice and now he just feels like a complete asshole.

‘’Not all of it! I stopped as soon as you mentioned this place. Promise,’’ Zayn rushes the words and has to keep himself from actually reaching out. Instead, he chooses to open his bag and places the diary on the table in front of Harry, offering him a tentative smile. Surprisingly, Harry actually squeaks and his hands shoot out towards the diary at the speed of light. Zayn only stares at him, mesmerised, as he clutches the book to his chest and looks up at the ceiling like he’s thanking some sort of God. But why would he? Zayn’s the one that found the bloody thing.

‘’Thank you so much! Zayn, was it? I really have to – how about lunch? You could tell me more about yourself. It’s not fair that you know all about me yet I still only know your name,’’ Harry drawls on, suddenly having gained a strange amount of confidence. Honestly Zayn’s just surprised because from reading his diary confidence was the last thing he expected. If anything he just feels overwhelmed.

‘’Okay?’’ he tries, not quite sure how to react. Even if he knows so much about Harry, he doesn’t really know him and it all feels backwards, making Zayn shift in his chair like he’s sitting on a hot plate.

‘’Great! Just give me your number so we can settle this.’’

Zayn doesn’t know what’s happening to him.

***

Louis laughs for a full five minutes after Zayn tells him about his small adventure. Okay, he doesn’t really laugh, just snickers occasionally and rolls his eyes, but it still manages to get on Zayn’s nerves. So what if they’re going out for lunch tomorrow? So what if Zayn really likes him and asked Louis if lunch wasn’t actually the road towards friendship, with its boring asphalt and traffic and-

What Zayn wants is a beautiful deserted ocean of love and sunshine, something that belongs just to him. Wait, love? This thought puzzles him, and it takes him a full hour of moping and mumbling through the flat to figure out that if it’s something he wants in his future doesn’t mean he’s feeling it now. It’s perfectly fine to want a future with someone and it’s also normal to want to love that person after a certain amount of time. Although he can’t help but feel like he’s going too fast because he doesn’t know Harry. Again – backwards.