Don't Go

3

Zayn has work after class the next day, but he’d called in early and warned his boss that he was going to need someone to cover the second half of his shift. His boss doesn’t mind. He’s a good guy, and he’s pretty lenient about most things, because he knows that most of his employees are University students, and sometimes shit happens.

He doesn’t make a lot at the coffee shop, though. Minimum wage plus tips, and he doesn’t get nearly as many shifts as he’d like, but he’s got all he can handle. He makes more than enough to cover the apartment, though, and to feed himself. In fact, he’d budgeted rent to be over six hundred, so maybe he’d be able to get cable hooked up on top of internet.

Louis picks him up from work and drives him back over to the building. He doesn’t come in, but that’s less because of Harry and more because Zayn told him there was no point. He was just going to pay Harry, grab the keys, and then they were going to head back to his dorm and pick up his stuff. He’d roped Louis into helping him move by offering to order dinner for them.

“Hey, Niall,” Zayn says, frowning as he bumps into the other boy on the way into the elevator.

“Zayn!” Niall says loudly, and then he engulfs Zayn in a tight hug. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” Zayn says, stepping back to let Niall through. “You visiting Harry?”

He nods. “Good guy,” he says. “Got a thing for Lou, though, eh?”

“Oh, really?” Zayn asks. “I didn’t notice.”

“He’ll be over it in a week,” Niall tells him. “He’s like that. Falls in and out of love in seconds. Anyways, I’ve got to run. See you later.”

Zayn nods goodbye to him and gets in the elevator. The apartment’s on the third floor, but he’s man enough to admit that he’s too lazy to take the stairs. When he gets to the third floor, he can hear someone’s fire alarm going off. As he gets closer to Harry’s door he realizes it’s Harry’s alarm.

“Fuck off!” he hears Harry shout through the door. “Come on, honestly? I’m not burning anything! I took a fucking shower. Can’t you tell the difference between steam and smoke? Damn it!”

Zayn knocks hesitantly at the door.

“Oh, shit,” Harry murmurs, and then he hears the scrapping of a chair across linoleum, and there’s a loud crash as something falls to the ground, and then Harry’s opening the door, hair dripping with water, in nothing but a pair of boxers. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Zayn says, and he figures his eyes are a bit wide.

“Um, come in for a sec,” Harry tells him, pushing the door open wider. “I’ve got to find the keys.”

Zayn slowly steps into Harry’s apartment and shuts the door behind himself. Harry’s apartment is the exact same as the one next door, but everything is flipped so that the living room is on the left, and the hallway to the kitchen is on the right. It’s a lot more cluttered, too. Liam’s apartment had been nearly bare, now that he thinks about it. Harry’s is filled with personal items. There’s a shirt thrown over the back of the couch, a single shoe in front of the door, pictures hanging on the walls, cups littering the coffee table.

“Sorry about that,” Harry calls over his shoulder from somewhere in the apartment. “Niall left and I thought I’d jump in the shower, but then I remembered you were coming, so I rushed, and I didn’t open a window and my alarm sucks.”

“No problem,” Zayn says, because it’s really not. Zayn’s a relaxed person, but he’s used to Louis by now, and Harry’s pretty tame compared to him.

Harry comes out of one of the bedrooms with a shirt on backwards, a pair of green sweat pants, and a set of keys dangling from his fingers. He grins at Zayn and hands them to him, and Zayn hands him the money.

“Oh, wait,” Harry says suddenly, ducking into the kitchen. He comes out with a piece of paper, which he also hands to Zayn. “You need to sign this. I forgot.”

Zayn takes the paper and Harry goes on a hunt through the apartment for a pen, which he finds stuck in the pot of a plant that’s situated beside the television. He wipes the dirt off on his pants and hands it to Zayn.

“My place isn’t always this messy,” he says as he points to where Zayn needs to sign. “I’m actually a neat freak, but Niall stays in the guest bedroom sometimes, and he’s kind of a slob.”

“You should see Louis’ apartment,” Zayn says as he scribbles out his signature for the third time. “I can’t even remember what colour his carpet is.”

Harry laughs and takes the paper from Zayn. “Okay, so one more thing. Or two, actually. Jessie doesn’t need to be walked that often. For a big dog, she’s actually really, really lazy. She’s not picky about what food she eats, either, so just get her whatever’s cheapest. And if you bring over strangers, she’ll probably bark at them at first.” Zayn nods, taking this in. He had a dog his whole childhood. He could handle it. “And Liam’s going to be back in a bit over a month.”

“Cool,” Zayn says, already looking forward to having his own apartment for a whole month.

“Okay, so, um, right,” Harry shrugs. “You can move your stuff in. And don’t hesitate to stop by if you need anything. A friend of Niall’s is a friend of mine, or whatever.”

As soon as he gets back in the car, Louis turns to him and asks, “Did he ask about me?”

Zayn raises his eyebrows. “Yeah, he wanted to know if you were a boxers or briefs guy.”

Louis slaps his arm. “Not funny.”

“I thought you didn’t like him.”

“I don’t,” Louis denies.