28ᵀᴴ CHAPTER

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                                                   28ᵀᴴ CHAPTER               

 Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present

It comes out more like a growl than anything, deep from within his throat and he has to hold back the urge to roll his eyes to the back of his head and end up sticking them there for the rest of his life by accident. Zayn sort of gets this reaction out of him quite often.

“You can’t simply sell your car, Harry. Not now, at least. It’s not wise,” the black-haired mumbles, fingers loosely wrapped around his pint and eyes hazed, blinking slowly as if to remain open.

There’s the sound of cutlery chattering against each other coming from the kitchen, where Perrie has excused herself to take care of the dishes and leave the boys on their own claiming they need their casual dose of manly conversation just so they won’t lose the habit like it’s happened in the past. ‘Talking to free your soul’ and all that kind of bullshit she keeps repeating for some reason. Those two match, Jesus. God knows how sappy and open their relationship must be.

“Tell me why on earth I need a car, Zayn,” Harry mutters, long finished with his beer and playing with his finger around the rim of the bottle. “I work literally fifteen minutes away from where I’m living, and the furthest I go is to the bank to check on my account. That’s about a half an hour walk, but there’s still public transportations for this matter.”

Suddenly there’s the sound of a door opening and closing again, Elisha showing up from the bathroom at the back of the room, behind the stairs that lead to the bedrooms. She smiles chastely at the two boys and Zayn quickly gestures to the kitchen with his busy hand, mumbling a ‘Pezza’s taking care of dessert in there, if you wanna join’ that mostly dissipates the confusion the short woman faces when she doesn’t spot Zayn’s fiancé where she’d been before she left.

Leesh nods almost instantly, before Zayn’s even finished speaking, and then she’s gone again, mostly because she’s understood they need their talk now, and also because she’s gotten ridiculously well with Perrie. Is there even someone on Earth she does not friendzones within two seconds?

“Your car is the most expensive thing you own right now, Haz. It’s been with you for as long as I can remember and you’re pathetically attached to it,” he reasons, smart as ever – or at least as he always tries to be –, but Harry’s not really asking him for opinion. He’s just stating a decision.

“That’s about right, Zaynie,” he forces the nickname out, smiling unabashed at his friend as if for the first time ever he’s thought it all out better than the usually rational one. He probably has, actually. “This is exactly the point. It’s the most expensive thing I own, and I desperately need the money right now. I’m thinking of something I need more than I need the car, but I need money to give this idea of mine some initiative. Also, being attached to a car is quite pitiful, don’t you think?”

Zayn sighs, exasperated, and Harry recognises it as his admission of defeat. His best friend gulps the rest of his beer in one go and sets the empty bottle over the coffee table, kicking off his shoes before pulling his legs up on the couch and spreading them there, comfortably.

“What’s it you got in mind now, genius?” Bradford-boy asks tiredly, pressing at his temples to force the headache to leave. Harry can clearly see the job taking its toll on Zayn, the dark marks underneath his eyes adding him more age than he actually owns; an apparent additional life experience he still doesn’t have.

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