Haven

"Ladies and gentlemen," William clapped his hands, in order to gain our attention. "I personally think that it's way too warm today to give you all a lecture, let's be real- all the thinking makes you sweat- and thought I'd treat you guys with some ice cream?"

The class cheered, and even if I was excited about what to learn next, I couldn't help but breathe out in relief. It was a pretty warm day, not many students got motivated by the warmth that hung in the lecture hall.

"Uhm, yes?!" Tara grinned, shamelessly doing a happy dance once everybody shoved their chairs away, standing up after that as they packed their bags.

"Gotta love him," I mumbled, packing my Herschel bag myself, secretly craving the ice cream we were about to get.

William chuckled at the enthusiastic response but told us to quiet down once again, "Okay, guys. I know you're all excited, but keep your voices low in the hallways. We'll meet at the parlor around the corner. Be there in ten minutes."

Loud chatter soon turned into whispering or mumbling, and soon enough everybody left the hall to either go to their lockers- or walk towards the parlor already.

I waited for Tara and Norah, noticing a lost looking Zephaniah, who hesitated once he saw us standing near Tara's locker.

Zephaniah. He had given me a tiny smile when we first saw each other this morning, which had made me feel rather special, as he hadn't done that before. I had smiled back instantly, secretly also feeling relieved that he wasn't upset with me.

Something I had thought after I had made the comment about him never asking questions. He had become awfully quiet after that, and I was afraid I had hurt him as, typically Haven, barely thought the words she was about to say through, and therefore blurted it out before I had the chance to overthink it.

I hadn't meant it in a bad way, I was just genuinely curious about it.

Once Zephaniah locked eyes with me for a brief moment, I waved him over. His cheeks were flushed, but I wasn't sure if it was because of the heat or his inscrutable feelings

"Hi.." Zephaniah gave me a short, shy smile, turning his face away before I had the chance to greet him back.

I did so, anyway. "Hey, Zephaniah! You want to join us?" I wondered, trying to gain our eye contact back.

Zephaniah nodded quickly, subconsciously taking a step closer towards me. I wasn't sure why, but I had the feeling it made him feel less lost. "Okay,"

Once Tara and Norah had returned from their lockers without their backpacks, we were ready to go and silently left the building.

"Why don't you go with Abel, Louis and Luke?" Tara had sneered towards her cousin. Zephaniah hadn't answered.

Once everyone had arrived at the parlor, William had instructed us to simply line up, order and search a place on the grass. "We don't want to occupy every single seat here. Tourists want to sit too,"

Once we were lined up, Norah behind me, Zephaniah and Tara in front of me, I tried to look at all the different flavors, deciding which one I was feeling like today.

I wasn't the only one who was already deciding, Zephaniah tapping on Tara's shoulder. "Which one will you have, Tara?" He asked, his eyes squinting as he stared up at the roof, his lips parted and moving slowly as he was saying something, probably to himself.

"I'm not going to tell you, because you'll choose the same. What are you looking at, anyway?" Tara chuckled, staring up at the roof as well.

"There's- there's a spot they missed with painting," Zephaniah said quietly and as my curiosity got ahead of me, I looked up as well but it took me more than a few minutes to finally find the tiny spot he was looking at.

Details.

I wondered how, I wondered why.

"What will you have, Ittarah?" Zephaniah asked again, this time with a frown on his face.

"None of your business. I know you. Once I tell you what I'm going to have, you'll tell me you want it too so you don't need to order," Tara rolled her eyes, shoving him away.

Zephaniah's cheeks flushed pink, his expression turning rather shy, or ashamed, perhaps both. "No, Tara." He said softly, shaking his head.

"Yes, Zephaniah. I know you longer than today. Order yourself, how old are you? Does your daddy still order your meals at a restaurant too?" Tara pinched his cheek, Zephaniah slapping her arm away, huffing.

It was quiet for a while, the line moving closer to the ice cream displayed next to the counter with the cashier.

"Tara, do you want the- the blue ice cream?" Zephaniah asked, his voice soft, yet manly.

"No, Zeph, gosh. Leave me alone," she pushed him away and glared at him, to which Zephaniah simply shrugged. "What is up with you?"

"I- I do not know how to pronounce that," Zephaniah whispered with a frown on his face, pointing at the blue looking ice cream.

"I don't know either, Zeph. Just point at it, they'll understand. If necessary you call it smurfs ice cream, just like you did when we were little, I don't care, save yourself this time." Tara walked over to the counter and quickly told her order, so Zephaniah had no chance of her ordering his ice cream as well.

Zephaniah visibly gulped and stared at the ice cream, suddenly getting a total black out. He turned his flushed face towards me, "You, uhm, can go," he stammered out, fiddling with his fingers.

"Zeph," I said, not realising I used his nickname, "You wanted the blue one, yeah? Just point at it, it's okay." I whispered softly, repeating Tara's words, but, in a nice way.

Zephaniah glanced at the woman behind the counter, a somewhat annoyed expression visible on her face. He quickly pointed at the blue ice cream, the woman placing her scoop in the right gallon. "You want a cone or a paper cup?"

"Uhm," Zephaniah's cheeks turned even redder, "a cone, please." He said politely, pushing his fringe away from his eyes as he intensely watched how the woman scooped the blue cream on his cone.

"You're welcome, enjoy your ice cream." She said, giving him a short smile.

Zephaniah quickly walked away, my heart clenched for some reasons. Once I had ordered my strawberry ice cream, I searched for Tara, Norah, and the rest of the study group and sat down in the grass.

It was quiet for a while, the eight of us silently enjoying our ice creams. Zephaniah was absently playing with blades of grass, staring at it while slowly licking the blueness in his cone.

Luke, Louis and Abel were chatting about a soccer match from last night, Tara and Norah about the latest episode of Riverdale, something I didn't follow.

I felt bad for Zephaniah as he truly seemed upset minutes ago, so, I scooted closer and decided for a small talk. "How was the pizza with your mum?" I asked, remembering what Hannah had said at the library.

Zephaniah looked up and briefly glanced at me, the left corner of his mouth curling up slightly. "Good. Margherita, without to-tomatoes, though."

"Yeah, why?" I wondered, smiling as he seemed to not mind a conversation for once.

"Do not like when they are warm," he mumbled, plucking more grass. "Texture is just weird,"

I listened in amusement, trying to figure him out. "I see. I don't really like them warm either. They taste less good. Was it fun with your mum?"

"Yeah," his smile grew wider, his bright green eyes suddenly looking up at the sky. "Bought ice cream, too. So, second one of this week." He pointed at his blue ice cream, making me smile as he wiggled his eyebrows for a short moment.

Suddenly, Tara pulled up the shirt he was wearing, exposing his flat stomach. "You spoiled only child. How comes you're not even getting fat? You eat so much." Tara huffed.

Zephaniah frowned and quickly pulled his shirt back down, glaring at her. "I am not spoiled, okay."

"Yes you are. Mum and dad buy everything for you still, even clothes." Tara snickered, making Luke and Louis chuckle.

"But too broke to buy socks?" Luke pointed at Zephaniah's bare feet, as he had just taken off his faked Vans.

"I don't like socks," Zephaniah mumbled, glancing at Luke, who rolled his eyes at him.

"Zephaniah always walks barefoot, even in winters. And he doesn't like wearing underwear underneath his swimming pants, doesn't like towels, doesn't like plastic cups, blah, blah. I told you, you're spoiled. I don't understand why your dad still listens to you special wishes." Tara lied down on her back once her ice cream was finished, not once feeling bad about her own words towards her cousin.

I thought they were rather mean, as it was clear that Zephaniah wasn't pleased with what she just told us.

"Special wishes, huh. Does that include having older, mind me- way older girlfriends too?" Luke challenged, clearly confusing Zephaniah.

"What?" Zephaniah glanced at him, turning his attention away when they made eye contact. I had wished he had held it- so Luke would understand Zephaniah wasn't intimidated by his behaviour.

"The woman you kissed in the library. She seemed thirty, dude. Gross." Louis mixed himself into the conversation, fake gagging.

Zephaniah's frown became deeper, and after a few minutes, he simply shook his head and turned his attention away. I didn't understand what they were talking about either.

"Brown hair, dimples." Luke sighed, "I don't even know. Don't act like you don't know what you're talking about. You were with Haven."

His mum.

It dawned on Zephaniah much later than it did to me, but it was something I had noticed before. He sometimes needed more time to process things, which was totally okay. "That's- that's not my girlfriend,"

"Don't lie to us, we know better than that." Louis chuckled, raising his eyebrows when Zephaniah glared at him.

"She's not!" He said louder, getting defensive. "She's- she is my-"

"Zephaniah," I stopped him, shaking my head. "You don't have to tell them. It's not their business." I explained him, knowing they would never leave him alone if he said it was his mum.

Obviously, I hadn't known yet what had happened as Hannah seemed to be so young to be a mother, but I knew it wasn't my business.

"But- but they're asking.." Zephaniah frowned, an unsure expression appearing on his face. He seemed to be confused, and as Luke and Louis kept making comments about how Zephaniah fell for elderly women, he got fed up.

"It's my mum, she's not my girlfriend." Zephaniah said, voice sounding upset. The blue ice cream dripped down his cone, onto his hand, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, and she's only thirty three," Tara added, giving Zephaniah a fake smile to let him know she really didn't care about the comments Luke and Louis were making towards him.

Luke choked on his ice cream, clutching his stomach. "So she was like fourteen when she gave birth to you?! What a whore," he whispered the last words and that made me defensive.

"You guys are awful, how dare you say something like that? You don't know anything about someone else's life, at all. You didn't know the situations they came into. Such toxic people, you are." I mumbled the last part and scooted closer to Zephaniah, making clear I was standing by his side.

"Stop pitying him, Haven. He's always been a dramatic person." Tara rolled her eyes, slapping her cousin's knee, who was clearly upset, though I got the impression he hadn't quite followed the conversation. "Though, I have to agree, don't talk like that. Hannah is still my family, the comment got a bit out of hand."

Once they turned their attention away from us, I took the opportunity to talk to Zephaniah, who was cleaning his hand and licking his ice cream quickly.

"I'm sorry about that. You don't have to answer them, you know? They don't have to know if you don't want them to, that's totally okay." I explained slowly, wondering if he'd answer as he seemed to be in his own world.

"Baba told me to answer questions," he shrugged, not looking at me. "Rude not to. I stopped caring a while ago, Haven. I know they talk, they always have." He said quietly, suddenly staring down. "They get on my nerves, is all, okay. Things going on at home.. sickness."

I could tell the words had still hurt him, and I just wanted to hug him but I knew I couldn't, so I took the risk and softly reached for his hand instead, touching it, wanting to take his worries away.

"Your cousin has no right to just throw private things around like that. It seemed like you didn't quite like that. You should tell her that," I said sadly.

He suddenly looked right into my eyes, cheeks once again pink. I wondered why, then remembering my hand was on top of his, and he hadn't moved away. "She does- does not listen."

"Things will fall into place, just trust. I'll help you, okay?"

Zephaniah glanced at me twice, as if he was making sure I was speaking out of my heart. "You want that?"

"I want that, Zephaniah." I confirmed.

"Oh," he said, not having expected that, cheeks coloring the lightest shade of pink. "Okay," he whispered, a small smile appearing on his lips.

~~~

How was this? Any fun? Boring? I don't know.

Haven standing up for Zeph? His same old sensory issues??

The following chapter is more Zayn- Hannah- Zeph (one of my favouritess)

Question for you: what are you studying/ do you want to study?