The Comic Book Store (z.m)

Chapter 11

"Bails! Babe, hey! Umm... Zayn, you mind?" Zayn cringed a little, noticing the position they were in. He knew how it looked but she had to know it meant nothing. Liam was so devoted to her, he just hoped he hadn't caused too much trouble.

"What's going on, Li-li?" Li what?

"Uh... Nothing. Zayn and I were just catching up. Haven't seen him in a little bit and well, you know how us guys are, always stupid rough with each other."

"I see. Come back downstairs with me, yeah? It's getting boring without you!" She grabbed his arm once he was close enough and Zayn really watched, flinching when he saw how tightly she was gripping his arm. With nails as long as hers, that had to have hurt and he couldn't shake the feeling that she was doing it on purpose.

"Will you excuse us, Zayn-"

"Why don't you stop squeezing his arm like that? He won't say anything cos he's Liam but I have a hunch you might be hurting him."

"Oh? Excuse us for a sec, will you, Liam? Just wanna chat with Zayn a moment." Once he'd disappeared, she took a step closer and clocked her head to the side. Her smile was so sweet it put a sour taste in his mouth.

"What exactly do you want, Malik? Hmm? What I do to my boyfriend is none of your business. If I hurt him, it's none of your business. Not even a little bit. He's my boyfriend. Alright? You know, I'm a nice person. I am. But not when I sense things like this. Of course, my boyfriend's straight so he would never stoop so low as to want you but there's something here and I don't want you poisoning him. What if someone else had walked in on you both? Do you know what that could do to his reputation? You clearly don't care about him at all-"

"I'm going to stop you right there." She smirked. Clearly, she wanted to push his buttons enough to have him pissed at her but he was done trying to pretend for her sake. Maybe this would fuck things up with Liam and her but he was going to speak his mind and regret it, later.

"I do care about him. A lot. And you see, there's some people who would feel bad wanting someone else's partner. They call us home wreckers. But here's the thing, love, I'll be damned if I let Liam go without a fight just because he's being held down by a bitch like you. Maybe if you were less... You, I might've considered leaving you two to be happy. But he's not happy. And all I want to do is see his dorky smile, that's all I want for him-"

Liam walked in and grabbed Bailey's hand just as she was about to hit him, his eyes darting from one to the other. Finally, he settled his eyes on Zayn who looked absolutely done with everything. "Zee, what are you even saying?!"

"Nothing. I was just leaving, actually."

"No... No, you can't just say that kind of stuff to my girlfriend. You can't."

"I couldn't bring myself to lie, okay?"

"Lie? What is your problem, tonight, how much have you had to drink-"

"You know what my problem is, Liam? I thought my worst problem in life was getting kicked out for being me. But no. Then I met a guy that set me on fire and I wasn't allowed to have him and now that, that is cruelty itself. Because these feelings are so strong that I honestly don't know how I could possibly squash them. Is this the universe punishing me for liking all genders? This some sort of retribution for my sins or some shit?"

"What... What are you...?" Zayn didn't even realise he was crying until Liam reached forward, then stepped back, standing quietly behind his girlfriend.

"Oh, shoot, I'm sorry. I'm drunk, silly me. I'll get out of your hair. You two... Feel free to fuck on the bed or something, it's pretty fucking firm of I do say so myself." He sent a wink towards a horrified Liam, waving at his girlfriend who glowered back and slammed the door shut. People were giving him looks. Clearly, they hadn't been as quiet as planned but he didn't know even one of them so he could care less. When he finally got downstairs he threw his arms over Harry's shoulders and sighed into his hair.