𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑...

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。
𝐋𝐎𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒, 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐀

𝗭𝗔𝗬𝗡

"Zayn."

Harry's voice echoed through the vast penthouse I called home, jolting me out of my thoughts. I hadn't even realized how engrossed I was in my phone until he spoke. A quick glance at the time told me I'd been mindlessly scrolling through Instagram for the past thirty minutes.

"Yeah?" My voice came out rougher than I intended, my head snapping up to meet his intense stare. I didn't even bother asking how he got in. But the look on his face made my brows furrow. "What?"

"What are you doing?" Harry asked as he stepped closer to the couch where I was seated.

I gave him a look before lazily dropping my phone onto my chest. Only Harry would show up at my place just to interrogate me.

"Nothing."

He nodded slowly, his suspicion evident. I rolled my eyes.

"What do you want, Harry?" I asked bluntly. I knew he was here for a reason, and I'd rather he just get to the point instead of dancing around it.

Harry gasped dramatically, clutching his chest like I'd just insulted him. His emerald eyes widened in offense. "Why would you think I wanted—"

I groaned loudly, throwing my head back. "Just say it."

"Do you want to come with me to Devin's for poker night?" He asked, finally cutting to the chase.

I let out a slow exhale at the question. Poker nights used to be a regular thing—just me, Harry, Louis, Liam, or Niall. At some point, we started inviting Devin and a few others. But I hadn't been to one in a while. And by "a while," I meant nearly eleven months.

Harry knew better than to ask because my answer was always the same: I'm busy. Except I wasn't actually busy. And we both knew it.

Poker nights were usually held at Devin's place now. And I just didn't want to be in a house where she could easily walk in.

It wasn't that Devin and I were on bad terms—there was no bad blood between us. We were still cool, still boys like before. But things had the potential to get awkward.

And tonight? Tonight was definitely going to be awkward, given everything that was going on.

Harry must have noticed my hesitation. "Come on, Zayn. Louis, Liam, or Niall can't make it, and it's no fun with just two people."

"No." The answer came without thought. There was no way—especially not with what was going on right now—I was walking into that house.

Harry groaned, flopping onto the couch beside me with unnecessary dramatics. "You can't keep avoiding this forever."

"I'm not avoiding anything." I grabbed my phone again, pretending to be interested in whatever was on my screen just so I didn't have to look at him. "I'm good."

Harry scoffed. "Right. So you just randomly decided to stop showing up to poker nights for almost a year?"

I clenched my jaw, staring at the ceiling. "I just don't feel like going. It's not the end of the world." I tried to reason with him.

"You never feel like going," he pointed out. "And you never have a real reason, either."

I stayed silent, hoping he'd take the hint and drop it. But this was Harry we were talking about. He was stubborn as hell.

"Listen," he said, nudging my shoulder. "It's just a game of poker. A few hours, some drinks, easy money. Why do you care so much? You have a girlfriend."

The fact that he even said that told me he knew exactly why I was hesitant. But he was wrong. I didn't care. I would never care. I was with Gigi. And sure, there were some bumps, no, a lot of bumps, in our relationship, but we were fine. I think.

I exhaled slowly through my nose. He made it sound so simple. Like walking into Devin's house—the house where she could walk in at any moment—wouldn't remind me of everything I'd spent months trying to forget.

But Harry wasn't letting this go. And I was tired of him looking at me like I was some wounded animal.

"Fine," I muttered, giving in reluctantly.

Harry blinked. "Fine?"

"Yeah." I sighed, running a hand down my face. "I'll go."

His lips curled into a triumphant smirk. "Knew you'd see the reason."

I grabbed a pillow and chucked it at his head. He dodged it with a laugh, already standing up.

"Let's go before you change your mind."

I sighed again but pushed myself up from the couch. This was a bad idea. I knew it. But for some reason, I found myself grabbing my jacket anyway.

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

Walking into Devin's house felt oddly good.

For nearly a year, I had every excuse in the book not to come. I was busy. I had late studio sessions. I was out of town. Sometimes, I just didn't answer the invite at all.

But then Harry showed up at my place tonight, practically dragging me here with that smug look that told me he wasn't taking no for an answer.

But the second I walked through Devin's front door, it was like nothing had changed. The same spot on the couch was open for me, the same whiskey was poured into my glass, and the same effortless talks filled the air.

We were so engrossed in conversation that at some point, poker had been completely forgotten. Instead, we were just drinking and talking shit, like we always used to.

I leaned back against the couch, nursing my drink as Devin recounted a night we had in Miami last summer.

"Bro, I swear to God, I turn around for two seconds, and this dude is already in the DJ booth, trying to change the playlist," Devin said, shaking his head. "Security damn near tackled him."

"I don't know why he thought it was a good idea to do that." I chuckled.

"Wait, wait, wait," Harry blurted, setting his drink down. "Who are we talking about?"

"D'Angelo. You don't remember?"

Harry's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah. That tracks."

I shook my head, laughing. "Man, why does he always think he's in charge of the music?"

"Because he's delusional," Devin said. "Zayn had to bribe the club to let us stay. Shit was ridiculous."

Harry smirked. "And yet, somehow, you were the messier one by the end of the night."

Devin groaned, rubbing a hand down his face. "Okay, let's not talk about that part."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Nah, we definitely need to talk about that."

I hadn't realized how much I had missed this—just sitting around, drinking, talking shit without worrying about anything else.

Devin easily could've brought it up. With everything going viral, I wouldn't have blamed him if he had. But he didn't. He just congratulated me on the song and kept it moving. That was one thing about Devin—he was a humble guy. He never involved himself in unnecessary drama, even when he could have.

It made it easier to relax. And for the first time in a long time, I wasn't thinking about anything other than the moment.

After a while, I stood up, stretching my arms. "I'm gonna hit the bathroom."

Devin nodded. "Same spot, man."

I walked toward the bathroom—one that was all too familiar to me. The same one where I once had to help Louis throw up after he got too drunk at a party. Stepping inside, I turned on the faucet, letting the cold water run over my hands. My eyes lifted to the mirror, staring at my own reflection.

I heard some noise outside the bathroom, but I just assumed it was Devin being Devin and Harry being Harry.

I was glad Harry brought me here tonight because, if not, I would've been at home, scrolling through Instagram and trying to resist myself from responding to the hate comments.

I never imagined writing a song would stir up this much drama. Of course, I knew it would get people talking—that's inevitable when you put your emotions out there for the world to see. But this? This kind of fallout? I wasn't prepared for it.

Shaking my head, I tried to push those thoughts away. I had spent so much time in the bathroom that I lost track of time entirely.

I took a deep breath, dried my hands, and exhaled. Then, I unlocked the door.

And froze.

What the fuck?

Why was Vienna here?

Her presence made my heart do that familiar, annoying flip-flop. My stomach tightened as my mind raced to catch up. The same thing it did when I saw her at the fashion show.

I hadn't expected to see her here, but of course, she was. After everything that had happened, I should've known I couldn't avoid her forever.

She was turned slightly away from me, one hand on her hip, phone in the other. She hadn't noticed me yet, but I noticed her.

And just like that, all the ease, all the comfort I had been feeling vanished.

She turned in shock as soon as she heard the door click close, her eyes widening when she saw me. For a split second, neither of us moved.

"Oh," she said, her voice faltering for just a second. She quickly recovered, though, as she placed her phone down. "I—I'm just dropping something off for Devin."

Vienna shifted uncomfortably, and for a moment, I wondered if she felt it too. The awkwardness. The heaviness in the air.

I blinked, trying to process. "Right... Where is everybody though?" I muttered, my mind still catching up with the situation.

Vienna's eyes flickered to the side, clearly uncomfortable, then she explained, "Devin's just putting what I dropped off in his room. He told me to stay out here."

I nodded, looking around, trying to find Harry or anybody to stop this awkwardness. "What about Harry?"

"He went outside to say hi to Laura."

"Of course," I chuckled and glanced away, then heard another soft laugh. I looked back up, only to see Vienna chuckling quietly too, her white teeth on display.

I didn't notice it at first, but I smiled a little more upon seeing her smile, like it had somehow made me feel more at ease in this situation.

Vienna cleared her throat, making me glance at her. "Uh, thank you for defending me on Twitter."

I opened my mouth to respond but hesitated, unsure of what to say. "You don't need to thank me," I finally said, my voice steady but certain. "I wasn't just going to sit back and let people talk about you like that."

Vienna gave me a small, appreciative smile. But I could tell she was anxious, the way she clasped her hands behind her back and kept bouncing slightly on her toes told me everything.

"I know I keep apologizing, but—" I started, only for Vienna to cut me off.

"It's okay, Zayn, really." My name coming from her lips did something to me that I couldn't quite place. "You don't need to keep apologizing. It's just Twitter, I can handle it."

I pressed my lips together. I wasn't going to apologize for that. But the fact that she mentioned it made me feel like this wasn't the right time to bring up what had happened nine months ago.

Before I could say anything else, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Everything okay down here?" Devin's voice carried through the room.

His eyes flicked between Vienna and me, and for a moment, it felt like he was sizing up the situation. I didn't blame him. He was Vienna's boyfriend, and I was—well, I wasn't sure what I was to her anymore. That alone was enough to make anyone uneasy.

Where the fuck is Harry?

"Yeah, we're fine, babe," Vienna said, nodding toward Devin before walking over to him and giving his shoulder a quick squeeze. "Anyway, I gave you what you needed, so I'll leave you guys to it."

"Alright." Devin nodded, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. Watching it felt borderline illegal for some reason. "Bye, Vi." Devin waved.

As Vienna was walking out, she glanced back at me, offering a small smile before stepping outside. Just as she disappeared, thank God, Harry finally walked in.

"Oh, hey, Vi," he greeted as they passed each other. Vienna murmured a quick reply before heading to her car, where I spotted Laura in the passenger seat.

Harry looked from me to Devin, then over his shoulder toward Vienna's retreating figure. "Oh."

As if he couldn't make things any more awkward.

"Don't know about you guys, but I think I just scored a date with Laura."

©𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞