Mates [Zarry]

One

-Zayn-
For the past fifteen minutes I'd been doing nothing but trying to sleep.

It was all I wanted.

I didn't care that I should've been up and getting ready for work, or that the alarm going off kept triggering violent thoughts.

Lately, me sleeping through the entire night was a rarity because of my constant thinking. I couldn't stop thinking about what was happening between me, and my flatmate Harry.

We'd started off as mates who worked together, slept in the same bed, and shared a flat due to financial limitations.

But after a night of drinking that ended with us tangled between the sheets we shared, things weren't the same.

Since then, every once in a while, we would shag just to satisfy our sexual appetites.

At first, it'd been great, and I didn't mind. Harry was certainly attractive, and the two of us were rarely stressed.

However, recently things had been changing.

Harry was beginning to treat what we had as something serious, when it wasn't. He'd started calling me babe, and being a bit too affectionate.

Several nights while I'd be laying next to Harry in bed, listening to him talk in his sleep, I'd hear my name slip through his lips.

It made me uncomfortable. All of these recent changes did, and they were getting quite difficult to ignore.

Instead of fighting to ignore the changes, and what confusing feelings they may or may not have caused, I often thought about getting my own flat.

If I lived alone, and perhaps had a different job, I wouldn't have to try and shrug off Harry's affection all the time.

I wouldn't have to push certain thoughts and unexplainable feelings to the back of my mind and pretend they didn't exist.

I'd be...free.

Free from knowing that deep down, I'd developed feelings for Harry too. Feelings that'd come out of nowhere, before I could stop them.

Feelings that honestly frightened me, because I didn't understand them, and couldn't control them. Feelings that I would never, ever, admit that I felt.

Admitting something was one step closer to accepting, and embracing it.

I was never one to open up, admit, accept, or embrace anything.

Therefore, I needed to leave before things got any worse. Or feelings got any stronger.

"Babe, breakfast is getting cold." Harry said, standing in the doorway of our bedroom.

I sighed to myself, pushing the duvet away as I sat up and looked at him. "M'not hungry mate, thanks anyway." I said with a small smile, turning off the alarm.

Harry walked over to the bed, sitting down beside me. "Are you still having trouble sleeping?"

"Um, a little, but m'fine." I shrugged casually, getting to my feet and walking to the closet.

As I looked through my shirts, I suddenly felt Harry's arms around my waist.

His chin touched the crook of my neck, making goosebumps rise across my skin.

"I could sing you to sleep." He offered quietly, tightening his warm grip around me. I ignored the fluttering feeling in my stomach, and immediately took action.

"That's alright." I said, prying his arms off of me and chuckling slightly.

"Listen, d'you want to have dinner tonight?" Harry asked, deciding to keep his hands off of me while I put on a shirt.