Wrong Side of Love (Ziam bodyswap)

Chapter 15

Perrie wants me — wants you to meet her at the airport," Zayn says.

Liam looks up from his phone and the game of Candy Crush he was playing. "Tell her you're busy," Liam mutters. "I'm busy."

"Playing a game on your phone isn't busy," Zayn says. "I thought we talked about this."

They did, briefly, on the bus that night. Liam hadn't wanted to, and he knows he probably acted like a defiant child the whole time, pouting and snippy. "You know me better than anyone," Zayn had said. "If anyone could pull off being me, it's you." And he had a point, sure, but Liam doesn't want to. Liam doesn't want to pretend to be the happy devoted boyfriend of Perrie. He wants to play his stupid game on his stupid phone and pretend that their stupid relationship is not a thing that exists, thank you.

"Why do I have to pick her up at the airport? She's just going to get in a car to come here," Liam points out. "It'd be a waste of time. Why make the trip out there just to come back here?"

"Because it's polite," Zayn supplies. "Because she's— never mind, I'll tell her I can't."

Liam's noticed, and today is not the exception, that Zayn's been on edge the last few days. The closer and closer they got to Perrie's impending arrival, the worse Zayn got. He's been constantly pacing, tugging hands sloppily through his hair, and Liam has a feeling his lips are going to be chewed completely raw by the time he gets them back. (If he ever gets them back.)

And Liam knows it's because Zayn's worried about Liam somehow screwing this up and probably ruining his whole relationship for him.

"If you're this nervous," Liam says, "why even let her come?"

Zayn looks up from his phone. "It's not like I had a choice in it, Liam," he says, tense and annoyed. "She's fucking pushy. I told her not to, but she didn't listen, and there's only so much I can protest before she gets offended and starts asking why I don't want her to come."

"Maybe we should tell her the truth," Liam suggests. But then he imagines Zayn telling her the truth, imagines the two of them spending her whole visit together. Imagines Zayn kissing her while in Liam's body, and anger pulses through him. "Actually, that's a really bad idea."

"You think?" Zayn reaches into his pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "She'd have me committed, if she didn't just assume I was fucking around." He tugs out a cigarette, bringing it to his lips, and then he pauses. "Shit, is this okay?"

Liam nods. He doesn't exactly approve, but he figures one cigarette isn't going to kill him. And if it gets that harassed look out of Zayn's eyes, Liam can handle it.

"You gotta make sure to control the conversation," Zayn's muttering around the butt of the cigarette as he smokes, the thick, displeasing smell of it reaching Liam easily from where he sits on the bed, even as Zayn moves to the other side of the room as if he can't sit still. "Just keep talking. And if she tries to talk about anything, don't let her."

Liam frowns. "Why?"

Zayn shrug, takes another hall. "She might, like, say things," he says. "It's just banter though, yeah? We joke a lot, so don't take anything she says seriously, okay? I mean anything."

"Okay."

"Shit." Zayn stops, tilting his head to look up at the ceiling. "This is all going to blow up in my face, I just know it."

Liam gets off the bed, heading over to him. He puts a hand on Zayn's back. "It'll be fine," he says. He plasters his most genuine smile on his face. "I promise I won't screw this up. I'll do my best, okay?"

And he will, no matter how much it kills him.

Zayn's expression softens. "Course you will," he says. "You always do. That's why I love you, Liam."