FRidAY? ↠ zarry AU

chapter 46

"Haz?"

"Gem, where are you?" Harry asked again.

"I'm at the clinic,"

He shot up, completely disregarding Louis who was watching his every move. "What?"

"I'm, I'm sorry. I was just going for a checkup to see how far along I was but, I'm leaving. I'm not going to get rid of it. I'm going to go to Louis' place now to tell him, okay? Uh, please call me later?"

He sat back down with relief washing over him. "I will, I promise." After ending the call he looked at Louis and then checked the time before he looked back at his best friend. "Go home, now."

*

Louis quickly showered once he got home and had almost scrubbed his skin raw from the nervousness he felt. Once done, he paced his room, and thought about how thus scenario would play out. What's going to happen to him and Gemma - their baby, t-
He dropped when three knocks interrupted his train of thought and ran to the door. "Hiya!"

Casual, Louis. Be casual. Cas-u-al

"... You know, don't you?" Gemma asked after she took in Louis' anxious self.

"Pff, I -" His smile fell and he decided to just come clean. "Yea. Yea, uh, I was with Harry when you called him."

Gemma was a bit surprised but decided not to say anything about it. "Can I come in?" She asked while she played with her fingers.

"Of course." Louis said and moved aside for her. "Gem... I'm not upset with you or anything." He said gently once he saw what a nervous wreck she looked.

"... Just what did you and Harry speak about?" She frowned and Louis bowed his head. "... So, he told you about ..."

"Gemma,"

"No, no. It's fine, I mean - he's your best friend and, it is Harry after all."

"Gem," He walked forward and held out his hand to her so that he could lead them to sit on the couch. "What happened? How did everything spiral like that?"

"God," She exhaled heavily. "I was young, Louis. I was only nineteen and James' pull out game was worse than his flirting game, I just had really bad taste back then." She said the last part more to herself than to Louis and he pursed his lips to try and not laugh. "But I was just selfish really." She confided softly. "I had my whole life ahead of me and I didn't want to give it up to look after a kid - I was practically a kid myself...I know you probably think I'm some heartless -"

"No, I understand that you were scared. I understand if you're scared again, but I want you to know that I'll support whatever decision you want to make."

And with that Gemma saw nothing but love and honesty in Louis' eyes. "Louis, I love you. So much, I really do." She moved closer towards him and held both his hands in her lap. "And I want you to make the decision with me, this is your child too."

He doesn't know why hearing the words come straight from Gemma make the situation finally seem so real, as if Harry had simply joked around with him earlier on. "If you're ready and happy to keep it, then I promise to stick with you because I really love you too, more than anything." And he already loved this baby.

For the first time in a while, Gemma finally felt at ease. She leaned and Louis mirrored her posture, both relaxing against the back rest. "You know, I thought you were on the pill, that's why I never really bothered with condoms."

"I was on it." She turned her head to look at him again.

"But then -"

"99% effective. No guarantee that it'll always work." Gemma shrugged and Louis pouted slightly. He never thought that that would ever be a possibility.

"So now we've got to tell our families about this little surprise."

"Yea. Fun." Gemma said sarcastically.

*

"You're keeping it then?!" Harry grinned from ear to ear.

"Yea -"

"OH, I'M SO HAPPY!" He beamed. "You can call him little Harry junior."

"Ha!" Gemma laughed and rolled her eyes. "Not even if it is a boy."

"Mummy is already being so mean to your uncle Haz." Harry cooed to Gemma's stomach.

"More like uncle knob-head." She mumbled, making Louis laugh.

"Hey -" Harry whined but couldn't fight the smile that made its way into his face.

This was nice. It warmed his heart to see how happy Gemma and Louis were with each other after all these years, even with a little one on the way. Yes, they were unsure about how'd they do as parents, but their love for each other refused to waver.

...

Over on Zayn's side, things couldn't be more different. To avoid facing his emotions he drank until he felt numb.

After he had finished almost half of the remainder of whiskey, he got up off the couch and walked to the kitchen to throw the empty bottle away. On his way, on the dining table, were brand new parenting books that he had ordered, untouched and wrapped in the plastic casing. It was as if they mocked Zayn - taunted him about what had happened.

In a fit of rage he grabbed the books and threw it as hard as he could. He flung some of the pulled out chairs out if his way, the wood crashing and immediately breaking once hitting the floor.

"Zayn!" GiGi rushed down the staircase after hearing the commotion. "What are you doing?!"

Zayn ignored her, heading towards the keyrack to grab his car keys.

"Zayn." GiGi tried to get his attention again, following him as he stomped towards the front door.

"Don't!" He spun around once he felt her hand on his bicep. He grabbed her face in his free hand as a warning to just let him go. "Don't." He repeated and she let her grip loosen, letting him walk out.

It must have been almost eleven o' clock at night when Zayn decided to get into his sports car and drive - anywhere that just wasn't here.

He didn't know how long he was driving for, but found himself approaching the countryside. The countryside where everything was safe and calm, with not a worry or care. Being in his drunken stupor and seeing the vast amounts of fresh green grass with no buildings in sight for miles made him feel like he was in another world. The feeling made him to want to start all over in a place where no one knew him and he knew of no one and nothing... maybe Harry if he would give him a second chance.

Zayn was so wrapped in his fairytale daydream that he hadn't noticed that he was swerving in between lanes. It wasn't until bright lights flickered furiously from in front of him that he realised he was not in the lane he should have been in. He swerved to the left, unable to regain control of his car because of the high speed that he was travelling at, and hit a pothole, sending the car in the air. It had summersaulted twice until it came to a stop when it crashed into a wooden post.

Zayn was slumped upside down in his seat, his head and neck pressed awkward against the roof of the car. He lifted his right hand, searching sluggishly for the door handle but was unable to find the strength to do so. He could smell blood but didn't know where it was coming from. He hated the metallic smell. It always made his stomach churn.

A shrill beeping noise of the car rang in Zayn's ears bring the last thing that he heard before he let his eyes rest for a few minutes.