Drawn Out Dreams. [A Zarry Fanfiction.]

- Epilogue -

Her two old, big brown eyes slowly drifted away from the television set and towards the mantelpiece. Her living room was warm, provided from the summer sunshine that was flowing in through her large window, and the sounds from the television was enough to keep the house lively enough for her own tastes. Her windows were open, causing the presenter’s on the television to be accompanied with the occasion birdsong, or sounds of children playing. It was a happy sound to a Grandmother, the sound of children playing and enjoying themselves, something that she often found herself missing a lot in these last few years.

It wasn’t however the birdsong and children’s laughter that had captured her ear as she sat with her old, Tom cat though. The presenter on the television had begun a short informational part of the show about Bali, a small Indonesian island that had suddenly captured her interest more than the previous set on sheep in rural Yorkshire did. Long golden beaches with exotic trees littered around them images that she had seen before but not in person, or through the television. She had seen the beautiful scenery of Bali through a more treasured perspective, that of her Grandson.

The faces upon her mantle confirmed her thoughts as she looked at the photo of two young men, stood together in matching swim shorts on a long, golden beach. It was one of her favourites, due to how her grandson’s face was a picture of heaven, and his boyfriend looked particularly good looking also as they both stood side by side. Her mind started to puzzle over where she had placed the one of the many postcards that had been sent to her from her Grandson from their time in Bali, which was where they were at the moment.   

The two boys that were both thought of as Grandson’s to her had seemed to grow up and leave the nest quicker than she could cope. She had watched her beautiful Grandson grow day by day into a more confident person due to the boy he was madly in love with. Harry Styles had arrived into all of their lives and left a huge beneficial print, a beautiful print on her Grandson’s own heart. She had never known another human to care and nurture her Grandson as well as he did, and she was grateful for every moment of the day that Harry had been involved with her treasured boy.

They had both attended sixth form, finishing together with all of the relevant results that they had needed to get into university. The day Zayn had told his Grandmother that he had been accepted into the university he liked most to study art was one of the proudest moments she had ever experienced in her life. There had always been dark times within her life as she had watched her grandson, worrying about his life more than her own. There had been thoughts as to how well her boy would do in the world, and how well the world would carry Zayn through it’s complicated paths.

All her precious Grandson needed was just a hand to hold to guide him through the tricks and twists of the world, and he found that hand within Harry. Zayn had been able to accomplish so much, live a normal life due to Harry, to start a course at the local university alongside Harry was one of the bestest things to have happened to her Grandson, and she couldn't have loved or trusted Harry Styles anymore for that fact. Of course, even though the two were living in a small, student flat together which was closer to their university than their respectful houses, still didn’t mean that she would let the two both sleep in Zayn’s small bedroom together when they would stay around.

She could still remember the night that she had placed all of her trust completely into her grandson’s boyfriend, it had been a quiet moment when the two boys had come back from their small flat in the middle of the city to see her, bringing some light and laughter in those dark January nights. Of course, her two boys always flooded her life with light. Zayn had been in the front room, sat in his Christmas pyjamas even though it was a month past the festive season, Tom the cat within his lap, enjoying Zayn’s soft strokes. She had been stood in the kitchen with the lanky, curly haired boy, watching how his dimples stood out proudly, his thin lips babbling about something that Zayn had said that had been particularly cute, or funny, or all of the above.

“Zayn can only ever love once, Harry, and I think that once is you.” She had spoken softly, leaning on the kitchen counters as her eyes watched over the boy, wanting to see the reaction that meant so much to her.

The boy had shuffled a little from one foot to the other, glancing to his barefeet before looking back up at her with a quietly confident smile.

“I think that once counts for me too.” He had responded, and she had never had to doubt him from that moment on, not that she did very much anyway.

Time had flashed before her eyes once again though, as it cruelly does, and she watched as the small student flat was sold off, her mantle gaining a beautiful photo of her two boys stood together in matching graduation gowns, hands entwined as always. With the gain of the beautiful photograph onto her mantle, came a huge loss. Her two boys had planned their gap year and jetted off quicker than light, and soon enough she was sat on her small sofa, with her old cat, thinking about where her boys were that week.

Of course, contact was kept up to a complete max. She received a postcard atleast once a week, and Hayley had taught her how to use skype, Harry in return teaching Zayn to skype. But her favourites were those huge packages that would come to her door, the beautiful handwriting that she knew off by heart scribbled into her home address on the top. She would open the packages and be met with endless letters and drawings that the boys had collected, bracelets they had found and endless polaroid photographs, which now littered her mantlepiece. She had a picture of her two boys in atleast seven countries, and always grinned a proud grin when her house guests brought them up in conversation. Her two jetsetting boys.

As much as she missed her two boys, it wasn’t like she was completely alone. In losing one of her Grandson’s to the exotic countries of the world, she had gained a much smaller one, who constantly loved her attention. She had full on taken Hayley and her son Alfie under her wing, her newfound Grandson filling her heart with joy everytime she saw his face. The little boy had Zayn’s eyes, and two chubby cheeks that would one day grow into his big brother’s cheekbones. She was blessed with Hayley and Alfie’s presence atleast three times a week, one of her most prised nights being every Friday, when Alfie would stay around her house for the night and sleep in his big brother’s room, leaving Hayley to enjoy herself for the night.

There were the times when she did feel lonely, but with so many new faces on her mantelpiece smiling down at her, the feelings never stayed for too long. There were moments in her lonely nights when her mind would start to convince her that with all of the beautiful things in the world, she would never be able to tempt her beautiful Grandson back to her, but of course, that was only a trick of the mind, the bond between them too powerful to break.

The front door clicked open and distracted her from her mantle. There was a slight shuffling before she smiled to herself, a quiet set of giggles followed by a deep voice, and a ‘fluffball’.

Her two boys had arrived home safely to her once more.