The Beautiful Escape [ZARRY]

15

"Are you always unpleasant just for the hell of it?"

"It does give me a nice glow," he admittedly glibly.

"I don't think you've got the hang of the Christmas-spirit thing, Mr Styles."

"It's Harry, and as far as I'm concerned, Zayn, Christmas is just like any other day of the year..."

"But-"

"...except, of course, for the exceptionally high hypocrisy factor."

"You mean you don't celebrate at all?" Zayn knew that it was none of his business how this man celebrated or didn't during the festive season, but for some reason he just couldn't let it go. "What about your family?"

"I don't have a family." Harry hardly even felt a twinge of guilt as he brutally disposed his numerous relatives.

"Oh." Zayn, who was pretty blessed in that department, felt guilty at his abundance. "That's sad, but even someone like you must have friends," he insisted earnestly. He heard Harry's startled intake of breath. Oh dear, that hadn't come out quite as he'd intended.

"Are you trying to wind me up?"

"Why would I?" Zayn retorted, even if it was refreshing in a dangerous sort of way.

"Sins of a previous life catching up with me?"

Zayn repressed a grin. Sarcastic pig!

"Maybe you don't have any friends," he countered nastily.

"I have friends," Harry confirmed tightly. "The sort who respect my privacy," he added pointedly.

"Then it's a religious thing?"

Zayn's swift change of subject made Harry blink. "What is...?"

"Ignoring Christmas?"

"It's a personal-choice thing."

"There's no need to yell," Zayn protested gently.

Harry's nostrils flared. "Hard as this might be for you to comprehend, I don't like the festive season."

"It must be pretty spartan inside," Zayn pondered aloud, thinking about the bleak aspect of the old Hall Harry's housing.

An image of walls of bare brick ran through Harry's mind; the wind from the open window whistling down his neck wasn't the only thing that made him shudder.

"Depends on what you're used to," Harry responded evasively.

He looked at Zayn as if he was used to the best- of everything. In fact, Zayn thought, shooting another sly glance in Harry's direction, he didn't think he'd ever met a man who looked more accustomed to the good life and all its accessories than this man sitting beside him.