Dark Matter (a Harry Styles fanfic)

Boys of Summer

The scent of cooking meat was on the breeze, my taste buds salivating in response. The night was warm enough for a dress, and so I had selected a simple white summer frock, one that brought out the meager tan I was able to achieve from the British sun. Wearing my hair in a sleek bun, I had decided to keep my makeup down to the bare essentials –foundation, a bit of mascara, and a bit of tinted gloss, knowing all too well that Zayn hated it when I slathered on more than that.

Making my way to the living room, I peeked out the glass doors, seeing that my aunts and uncles were mulling about the patio, my Mother and Step-Father bickering over the temperature to grill the hotdogs at. Unable to catch sight of Harry or any of the others, I ventured out onto the deck, at last seeing that the boys had immersed themselves in makeshift game of football in the garden, all five of them clad in black shorts and red checkered Man-U Jerseys. Zayn had the ball in front of him, his face screwed up in concentration as he juggled it between his feet. Managing to get the ball past Liam, Zayn had almost made it to the designated net on the opposite side of the lawn when Harry stole the ball from him. Laughing in defeat, Zayn yelled something at Harry while leaning heavily on his knees to catch his breath. I observed Zayn’s beauty in awe, his jetty black hair, ever tanned skin, and dark lashes, as splendid as they had been the previous year if not more.  

“Odette!” My Mother yelped, rudely extracting me from my thoughts. “Tell the boys to come and eat, the food is getting cold!”

At the distant sound of my name, Zayn’s head shot up, his dark eyes falling on me. We simply stared at one another, a small smile spreading across Zayn’s lips after a few moments. “I’ll be right back.” Zayn called over to the others, play stopping momentarily when Harry balanced his foot on the ball, watching as Zayn bounded up the patio steps towards me, Liam, Louis, and Niall looking on curiously as well.

Zayn strode up to me, his dark eyes giving me a once-over. “Hey.” He smiled again, going to scratch the back of his head.

“Hi.” I breathed, my lips breaking into a brilliant smile. Sensing the discreet looks cast our way from my nosy family members, I grabbed Zayn’s hand pulled him around the side of the house. Once we were out of sight, I let go of his hand and leaned against the brick wall. “I thought we could talk here.” I explained sheepishly, noticing that Zayn’s dark eyes had not left me once. “Where no one can hear us, you know.” I smiled.

“You mean Harry.” Zayn corrected me with a grin, eliciting a laugh from deep within my chest.

“Exactly.” I grinned, my breath momentarily hitching in my throat when I noticed that Zayn had closed the large gap between us. He was peering down at me, his dark eyes unreadable as they examined me.

“You look good.” He breathed, subconsciously wetting his lips. “Odette-” He began, attempting to explain his indiscretions the previous summer. I wanted to hear no more of it, nothing more about the girl who the entire world knew he had slept with while in a relationship with me. I had been angry of course, livid even. Time was able to heal wounds yes, and it had succeeded in doing so. But time failed miserably at one thing, however –erasing my all-encompassing need for Zayn Malik.

I placed my fingers on Zayn’s lips, halting his words. “It’s alright.” I assured him with a whisper.

Zayn removed my hand from his mouth, cradling it in his own. “I fucked up, Odette.” Zayn emphasized, his brown eyes drilling into mine. “That girl, she was nothing.” He told me, lifting my chin so that I couldn’t avoid his gaze.

I nodded my head. “I know.” I whispered, only wanting to feel the pressure of Zayn’s lips against mine.

“Can we start over?” He said as he inched towards me, so quietly that I could barely hear him.

I could feel Zayn’s hot breath against my lips. “Yes.” I murmured, so engrossed in Zayn that I almost didn’t notice a football bounce around the corner of the house, rolling towards where we stood. Zayn and I glanced down at the ball curiously, Harry suddenly dashing around the side of the house and freezing in place when he saw us. Zayn took a step away from me, although from the displeased look on Harry’s face, there was no doubt in his mind that we had started up again.

“You coming?” Harry directed his words to Zayn, retrieving the ball from the ground and tucking it under his arm.

Zayn took a breath and glanced towards me. “Yeah.” He affirmed, reaching down to secure my hand in his.

Harry’s green eyes flickered down to our conjoined hands. His gaze was fleeting however, darting away as quickly as it had appeared. “Right, let’s go then.” He mumbled, turning on his heel to return to the game.

Raising his eyebrows, Zayn grinned at me. “Better he find out now than later.” He shrugged. 

And with that, Zayn and I returned to the others, his arm resting across my shoulders as we caught up with my Aunty Gwen. I made sure to ignore Harry for the remainder of the night, not bothering even, to return his poorly hidden glares.