Girls [Ziam]

t h r e e

"I'm not gay." Liam says for the trillionth time. He has been living with Louis and Niall for a week and Louis will not give it up. He is convinced that Liam is gay and is happy to broadcast that fact. Louis sighs. He does that quite a lot. And quite dramatically as well.

"Yes you are, you just don't know it yet." Louis drawls.

"No Louis, I do know my sexuality. I am STRAIGHT!"

"My gaydar is never wrong. Ever." Then Louis leaves the kitchen. Niall laughs and Liam scowls. Which makes Niall laugh harder.

"This isn't funny. He is an ass and needs to shut his goddamn mouth." Liam crosses his arms and Niall finally stops laugh.

"I don't care what he is, or wants." Then Niall laughs at his own joke, Liam scowls again. Niall stops, "Don't fight back. Don't give him the reaction he so desperately wants, and thinks he deserves. He wants the reaction, so stop giving it to him. It used to be about trying to convince you. Now it's just to annoy you because he finds it funny. Stop freaking out and he won't taunt you anymore."

<><>

After two weeks of living with Niall and Louis, Liam has finally settled back into a routine. He gets up around seven thirty every morning and then he gets dressed, eats breakfast, and goes to Parker Publishing. He edits, he talks, he procrastinates, he eats lunch, he edits more. Then he goes back home. Some days he will go to the YMCA and have a run, and sometimes he will eat dinner with Niall and Louis.

It's a nice simple routine and he doesn't go to art galleries anymore. He doesn't follow Sophia around in art stores like a lost puppy dog. He has become independent.

Yet, he is sad. He knows that the break off if his two year relationship had everything to do with it.

He starts going on more runs than normal. He goes on runs early in the morning, then late after work. He doesn't try and think too much, but he can't help it. He can't help but wonder if he could've done something different. Then he realizes he isn't the one who caused the fights. He wasn't the one who locked himself in a room and stayed there for days. He gets angry because she didn't even try. He realizes that she was cheating on him. She was married to her work way before they even met.

He stops the treadmill and he pulls out his headphones. He rests his elbows on the sides of the machine and he stays there, leaned over the treadmill. Tears are coming to his eyes and he realizes that this is the first time he has cried over the breakup. He climbs off the treadmill and stumbles towards some chairs. He sits in one of the chairs and slams his water bottle down on the table beside him.

Liam puts his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He is trying to hold back the tears because it's ridiculous for him to even waste time thinking about her.

"Mate, are you okay?" Apparently his attempts at holding back the crying sucked. He looks up and the Zayn guy from a few weeks ago is standing in front of him. Liam is shocked he remembers the man's name. Liam sighs.

"Yea, I'm fine." Liam says. Zayn gives him and look and so Liam gives in, "OK, I'm not fine. I just recently broke up with my girlfriend and it's been tough." Zayn sits beside Liam. His tears have stopped.

"Zayn Malik, " He reaches out his hand and Liam shakes it, deciding not to mention the fact that he remembered his name.

"Liam Payne."

"Listen, Liam, I know how you feel." Zayn shrugs his shoulders, "I just broke up with my girlfriend too. It was a huge crack in the shattered pot of our relationship that finally broke it too pieces, but I suppose that's how the world works innit?"

"Yea." Liam is amazed at Zayn's impressive word smithery.

"I come here and I try and run away from my problems. It doesn't work of course, because I am on a stationary object. That's kinda of how life is though, innit? We try and get to our goal but we don't realize we are stuck on one thing. My thing was Perrie. She was holding me back, but it's hard."

"Sophia, my ex, she and I always fought." Liam sighs. He shakes his head, "We fought over ridiculous things. What I was wearing, how my hair looked, my job, her job, it wasn't good either of us, but, I don't know, I just miss the feeling of having someone. Someone I know will be there when I get home. It's harder than I though it would be." He runs his hands over his face.

"Perrie, she wants to be a famous singer, a famous actress, a famous something." Zayn rolls his eyes, "She loved me, at least I think she did, but it felt like she cared only about her dreams. I mean I am not saying people shouldn't be happy, and follow their dreams, but I just wish she would've tried." Zayn seems to get lost in thought.

"Yea, uh, Sophia went insane and painted our flat."

"Sorry, what?" Zayn furrows his eyebrows.

"Sophia painted our flat, now that wouldn't be so bad if she did something that could actually be considered art, but no, it was like someone gave paint and paint brushes to a six-year-old. Eh, anyway. I should get changed." Liam stands. So does Zayn.

"Yea, me too, actually. I have a ton of writing to do." The both start walking towards the locker room.

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"We should hang out, your pretty cool." Zayn says as he and Liam walk from the heated air of the YMCA to the howling wind of the winter.

"Yea sure, here give me your cell." Liam hands his phone to Zayn who types in his number.

"Talk to you later, mate!" Zayn salutes Liam and walks towards the right. Liam smiles fondly, suddenly feeling a lot better.