Customer of the Month

Chapter 4

As handsome as Zayn is, the wall to the left of the register looks odd without Harry's photo hanging on it.

Afterall, it had been its sole decoration for ten months, excluding the blackboard resume that's now Zayn's and full of new reading material for people to look over. It became blatantly obvious at month four that Louis had run out of inventive questions for Harry to answer once those waiting in line for their morning pick me up had become immune to the board's novelty. But those days are over.

You're welcome, Liam thinks to himself each time he notices someone do a double take at the fresh face smiling back at them behind a squeaky clean frame. He gives himself an extra pat on the back anytime one of them stops their timeline scrolling and takes an interest in reading the bullet points that took twenty minutes to look neat.

At ten, his thoughts are put on pause when the man of the hour arrives, which Liam doesn't shy from boasting about, addressing Zayn as "Early Bird's newest celebrity" at a volume that's a tad louder than he would normally use. He can't say he's fully confident enough to use the same when he's complimenting how the glossy photo looks on display for all, but that doesn't stop Zayn from blushing lightly at the reduced level that is used.

Unfortunately, that's all the flattery he can afford to give while on duty. Business comes first, and thanks to a regional youth chess tournament that's taking place at the community centre a few blocks down, things are relatively busy for a Wednesday. However, he can't say he's too mad at that being the case. With the way he can feel Josie and Niall listening in on his left, he appreciates the abundance of helicopter parents ruining his chance of mentioning how he'd return Zayn his shirt once he finds the time.

It turns out that doesn't come until the end of his shift. A shipment came in that needed tending to for most of the day, and by the time he'd finished, ready to use his post-lunch break as his delivery window, it was Zayn's turn to be preoccupied. And to Liam's surprise, it wasn't due to work. When he peered over at the man in the corner, he saw him on the phone, smiling to the point that his nose scrunched up and his eyes crinkled at the sides like Liam knows his do whenever he's truly overjoyed about something.

"I would've returned this to you sooner, but the day got away from me," he says, handing over one of his many reusable canvas bags to the other who had already clocked him walking up from the counter. "I washed it. Thanks for letting me wear it yesterday."

"The pleasure was all mine." Liam blushes as Zayn shoves the tote into his backpack after inspecting its contents. "You hungry?"

If only that question had been asked one minute earlier, before Liam had nicked a stale cookie off Josie to hold him over until dinner. Not that that stops him from saying yes. A little white lie to spend some extra time with the one you've been fawning over for months never hurt anyone.

"Good, let's grab barbecue. I've been craving it."

As pleased as he is to hear how nonchalant Zayn is about making plans like they've been close friends for years, Liam's equally surprised. But as he watches pens and pencils get stashed away, he finds a different emotion bubbling its way to the surface, one that's been following him around like a thunder cloud for the past forty-eight hours, rumbling but never letting its lightning strike - angst.

"What we did the other night," he prefaces quietly, "I'm supposed to keep that a secret, right?"

A subtle smile comes over Zayn's lips as he zips up his bag and it's then that Liam realizes how damning those words strung together probably sounded, to Zayn himself or any of those within earshot that had heard. Like they somehow broke the law, or that Liam had played a part in corrupting Zayn's relationship, unbeknownst to his lover.