I'm Not Fine At All

Chapter 3

Harry came back out of his room after getting dressed and went down the hall to the kitchen, waving to the boys sitting at the kitchen table. Zayn avoided eye contact, still feeling bad about what he said to Harry in the hallway. "Hey, Harrybear. Did you have a good nap, lovey?" Harry grimaced and moved away from Liam's open arms. "Please don't call me that." Liam frowned. "Don't call you what?" Harry kicked at the floor. "Lovey. Mum used to call me and Niall that. I don't want anyone else saying it." Liam made a noise of understanding and pulled Harry closer. "I'm sorry, Harrybear. I forgot. How is Niall?"

Harry shrugged and squirmed out of his brother's tight hold, grabbing a coffee mug from the cabinet above the coffee maker. "He's okay. Haven't talked to him since he last visited me at the...you know." Liam nodded sympathetically, knowing that Harry still had a hard time saying the word "hospital". "Is he still as cute as I remember him?"

Liam always had a bit of a crush on Niall. Ever since the older lad had accidentally walked in on a naked Niall in Harry's room about two years ago, he had developed quite the obsession. Harry hated it, of course, having his 19-year-old brother fawn all over his 17-year-old best friend, but he dealt with it. At least Liam never made a move on Niall. Harry wouldn't be able to stand his brother and his best friend in a relationship. Maybe Liam and Zayn would get together. Then Liam would get over Niall and they would all live happily ever after.

"I honestly don't know how to answer that question." Liam took the coffee pot out of Harry's hands and held it above his head tauntingly, just high enough so that he couldn't reach it. "I mean, in your gay opinion, is your twink-y little blondie best friend still as cute as I remember him?" Harry whined and stood up on his tippy-toes, desperately trying to get the pot out of Liam's hands. He cursed getting the shorter genes in the family. "Nope, still don't know how to answer that. I mean, I guess he's still cute. But he's too busy pining over useless fuckboys to pay you any mind."

Liam groaned and held the coffee pot higher, as Harry had resorted to hopping up and down on his bare feet, trying to snatch it from him. Harry whined even louder, much more nasal than before, and pounded on Liam's chests with his tiny fists. "I answered your question, jackass. Now give me the fucking coffee before I bite your fingers off." Liam rolled his eyes but brought his arm down, reluctantly handed the pot over to Harry. "Thank you, Li. Now get your ass away from me. I don't want to think about you and Niall anymore."

Harry gagged at the thought of his friend and his brother, together, and chugged the coffee he had poured into his mug. "Oh, Harry, I found your phone in the couch. It was shoved between the cushions. Here you go." Zayn handed the phone to the boy and sat back down at the table, continuing to nurse his second cup of Yorkshire tea. "You, uh, got a call about half an hour ago. It was from...shit, what was the name? Oh, yeah, it was Irish Slut. I assume that's your little Niall friend that Li here is in love with?"

Harry giggled and nodded, tugging his sleeves down to give himself sweater paws. "C'mere, love. You can sit down next to me." Zayn gestured for the chair next to him and the younger lad plopped down, scooching closer to the raven-haired boy, already taking a liking to him. He had forgiven him for what he said in the hallway, and now he just wanted to be all over the older lad. Harry was just so intrigued by him. "Zayn, when did you and Liam meet?" Harry turned his attention to Zayn fully, ignoring his brother on his other side.

Zayn swallowed his mouthful of tea before answering. "Oh, we uh, met in this coffee shop on the community college campus, like, a year and a half ago. It was the week of midterms and we were both cramming before our sociology exam the next day. It turned out that we were in the same class but we were both doing the course online so we had never seen each other before. After that, we started hanging out at the shop twice a week and we would sit together during lectures. We just kind of hit it off."

Harry nodded and leaned back in his chair, now fully facing away from Liam, all of his attention on Zayn. "So are you two, you know, fucking?" Harry flinched when he felt Liam kick his chair. "What, Li? It's a reasonable question." Harry turned around and glared at his brother. "Shut up, Harry. We're not fucking. Zayn and I are just friends." Harry sighed dramatically and rolled his head back. "I wish you guys were fucking. Then you could get over my 17-year-old best friend that has no interest in you."

Liam scoffed at Harry's words. "It's not like I'm in love with Niall or anything. I just think he's really cute. Now would you please stop trying to play matchmaker with me and my best friend? Zayn and I are headed to the bookstore. We have a summer class coming up in a few weeks and the professor assigned us this ridiculous list of textbooks that are going to cost, like, £500. It's fucking ridiculous. Wanna come with?" Harry nodded and stood up. "Let me go grab my bag from my room." Harry left the kitchen and went back to his bedroom, picking his bag up from beside the door. "I'm all ready. Let's go." The group of three walked out the door, Liam locking it behind them, and they headed down the sidewalk to the bookstore at the end of the block.