FRidAY? ↠ zarry AU

chapter 51

"How did things with Harry go?" Doniya eagerly asked.

Zayn lifted and dropped his good hand. "I think we're friends?"

"Just friends?"

"What do you want me to do, Don? Drop to my knees as soon as I see him? - Not that I could anyway."

She scoffed at how blunt he was. "Zayn, God. You know that's not what I mean. I just thought that you'd talk about what happened before -"

"No." Zayn shook his head. "None of that. He just wants to focus on present day things."

"You ..." Doniya's voice died down when their younger sister, Waliyha skipped into the room and hopped onto Zayn's bed.

"Hello," She greeted cheerily, tapping away on her phone.

"What are you doing?" Doniya asked her.

"Posting on snapchat. Wanna be on it?"

"No." Doniya and Zayn said at the same time, leaving Waliyha to pout at her phone by herself.

"Why you guys so quiet?" Waliyha asked them when the grew silent.

"Got nothing else to say." Doniya shrugged and Waliyha laughed - either at them or her phone, no one was sure.

"Liam's going to be here soon."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" She asked Doniya with an amused smile.

"I'm just saying, you like him, you know?"

"Oh yea, he's so fit - I just,"

"No." Zayn stopped her admiration for his best friend. "Just. No. He's way too old for you."

"And? He can be my daddy." She said making both her and Doniya laugh.

"I will beat you with half my working body, don't you dare try me." Zayn said, trying incredibly hard to keep a straight face.

"Okay brother bear, you hobble along and try." Waliyha laughed again before she settled back onto his bed, a satisfied and easy smile on her face and her attention once again fixed on her phone. Waliyha had no filter. What you saw was what you got. She would always say what was on her mind, being incredibly honest all the time. It got Zayn reflecting.

He sat in silence thinking about his life. The yellow blur of flowers, trying desperately to vie for his attention. "I need to talk to mum and dad." He finally said and Doniya looked from him to Waliyha before she shrugged and mouthed 'for what?'

"About Harry." Zayn said aloud and Doniya again looked at her sister, who couldn't be bothered by what the topic of conversation was. Doniya opened her mouth to speak but Zayn beat her to it. "I need to tell them I'm gay."

Waliyha finally looked up from her phone, but did not appear shocked or confused by the announcement, but her perfectly sculpted arched brows certainly showed great interest.

"I can't keep living like this. It's going to make me sick. Physically, emotionally, mentally - I'm just going to head in a downward spiral and take everyone I care about down with me."

"... Aren't you actually bi if you and Gi-" Waliyha began to ask.

"No. No I don't like her, not like that, anyway."

"Why didn't you tell anyone, Zayn?" Waliyha asked with a tilt of her head.

Doniya shrunk in her chair and Waliyha figured it out. "Oh. So you have, just not all of us. Why?" She brought her knees to her chest and finally put her phone down.

"I was scared." He says, as if Waliyha had asked him a rhetorical question.

"Of what? .... Of us?" She laughed. "How, wh- Zayn that's honestly the dumbest shit I've ever heard. You were scared to tell us about how you feel and who you are when we've always shown how much we care about you."

"Oh please, you all -"

"No, listen to me. Shut up for once in your life and just listen. Do you know how much mum and dad have sacrificed for us, for you?"

"I've put them through enough in their life, I didn't -"

"You what? Oh my God. You -" Waliyha was lost for words. "You idiot. Everything they've done has all been for us, Zayn. How can you think that you've been some sort of burden? Jesus, mum got a job on weekends just to help with your soccer career, move you all the way out here and out of little Bradford -"

"Yea and how in love are they with GiGi??"

"Because you told and, showed us that you were into her! And she is nice. They were happy because they believed that you were. Holy shit, if you'd just open your damn eyes and see that. That's why they could hardly make it to your soccer matches. Work came first so that we could have a better life, things only eased up when you got onto Man-U."

Zayn looked at Doniya, wondering why on earth she wouldn't confide in him about the money problems his family had gone through. "Doniya?" He called, wanting her attention.

"I just didn't want to stress you out more than you already were, concerning those things, Zayn." She said, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Zayn, yea. Okay, realistically they might be shocked by you liking guys but," Waliyha shrugged. "So what? You're their son. They want the best for you and they'll support you no matter what - we all will."

Zayn clenched down hard on his jaw, fighting back tears. He was just about to hold his arm out to hug her when she jumped off the bed. "Wait, where are you going??"

"Oh please. Your 'favourite' sister is here to keep you company." Waliyha teased with a smile. ".... Besides Liam's here so I'm going to say 'hi'."

"Wait!" Zayn frowned but it was too late.

"I think that's what you've need to hear a long time now, Zayn." Doniya said, making him turn towards her. "You're not a burden, not because of anything that you've gone through or that's happened."