Haven

Suitcase wheels rolling over the floor was the only sound being heard, the sleepiness was still too much present, therefore not many students were talking. I dragged my suitcase behind me as well, searching for Norah and Ittarah in the crowded area- all the Philosophy students that were in their first year would be leaving today.

Amsterdam.

My heart fluttered, a smile appeared on my face while a contented sigh left my mouth. I had wished my family goodbye already, telling them it would be too busy once the buses full of students would leave. It was probably better like that and besides, I didn't really have trouble saying goodbye.

"Haven!" Norah's voice was heard above the other suitcase and student noises, a few students glaring at her for her loud noise in the early hours. It was only thirty past six, but who would think about time when excitement would take over, right?

I smiled once she stood in front of me, short, deep breaths leaving her mouth as she had jogged over. "Today is the day! Gosh, I can't wait myself." She grinned, pinching my cheek. "Nice beret, the dark red colour fits you."

"Thanks, Norah." I chuckled, starting to jump up and down. "Amsterdam today! Woohoo!"

"For goodness' sake!" Luke sneered at me, giving me a push against my shoulder. "Shut your mouth, Have. It's way too early to be that enthusiastic."

"Not a morning person, I see." I chuckled, twirling around as I started dancing. "Woohoo! Amsterdam, here I come!" I cheered louder, more annoyed students glaring at me, muttering things to their friends. A few shut ups flew through the air, but I couldn't care less. Spreading positivity wasn't a bad thing.

"Have," Norah laughed, getting ahold of my wrist and pulling me closer to her. "You're embarrassing yourself like that. Besides, you've got somebody watching you pretty.. intensely." She pointed at a specific direction and once I looked there, I saw Zephaniah.

The left side of his mouth curled up lightly, his eyes squinting as he laughed. He wore a beanie, the headphones that numbed noises on top of it. Tara stood beside him, her expression looked annoyed. I wondered why, but maybe she was just tired.

Glancing at Zephaniah again, I wondered where he was, it seemed he wasn't standing beside Tara anymore. Moments later, he appeared from behind her, his headphones and beanie off. My heart stopped beating for a brief moment when our eyes met, his ones averting to the floor right after.

His hair was now scissor cut- the sides definitely shorter, the hair on top longer. His fringe was still there, but shorter as well. He had most likely ran his fingers through it, because as it usually rested on his forehead, it was now naturally dishevelled, revealing his face fully- except for a few stubborn strands that still fell down.

It made him look different, more mature. It gave me feelings I didn't know I had inside of me. He was attractive, extremely attractive. The dark colour of his hair yet the bright, strange colour of his eyes not exactly helping my feelings towards him. I realised I had been gazing at him for quite a while, making me feel flustered.

I was quiet, awfully quiet, but my heart thumped louder.

"Have?" Norah chuckled but frowned, it softening when she looked his direction as well. "Goodness. Can't believe he's autistic. He looks so.. normal. He really doesn't look autistic. If that hadn't been the case I would've probably already jumped inside his bed by now."

I gave Norah a deep frown, shook my head and walked my way over to Zephaniah and Tara. Not being able to greet them, I gave them a warm smile instead, my eyes lingering on Zephaniah for another while. He had been aware of my intense staring. He couldn't make eye contact and his own cheeks were lightly flushed pink.

"Are you guys-"

"Shut up." Tara grumbled, glaring at me. "I'm still sleeping and I have to babysit my cousin, who's older than me. Isn't that ironic?"

"More ironically would be that dad only asked for us to look out for each other yet you see it as babysitting." Zephaniah said simply, yet his words always seemed to have more power as it wasn't that common that he was standing up for himself.

Zephaniah looked up when I laughed quietly, his lips curling in a tiny smile, though his eyes suddenly lingered on my beret. He kept staring at it, his gaze never leaving. His eyebrows were furrowed lightly, it seemed he was deep in thoughts.

Clearing my throat, I desperately wanted to make eye contact with him, wondering if he saw me. "I really like your new haircut. It looks good on you."

"Thank you." Zephaniah answered after a while, his eyes blinking a little faster.

Tara rolled her eyes, clearly noticing Luke after that as her face brightened, looking his direction. "Keep on flirting, love birds. Luke, Louis! Abel!" She yelled, making Zephaniah flinch. "Come here!"

"Flirting?" Zephaniah gave me an uncertain expression, furrowing his eyebrows when Tara wouldn't answer him.

"I don't know what she means with it, either." I smiled sheepishly, glaring at Tara when she glanced my direction. Zephaniah fiddled with his fingers, his eyes going everywhere around the area. "Are you nervous?" I asked quietly, wanting to make him feel at ease if Tara failed to do so.

"Yeah, I couldn't really- couldn't really sleep also, so I'm tired too." He said without hesitation, as if he didn't mind that I knew this information about him, when clearly, things had been different weeks ago, where he would barely speak due to his nerves.

"It's okay. I couldn't sleep either." He didn't need to know my reason was different. The excitement took over when I started thinking about today- it had taken so long yet the days flew by. "We'll make it a fun time." I smiled.

Zephaniah glanced at me as he gave me a small smile back, retrieving his beanie and headphones. Once he had adjusted them on his head- the headphones around his neck, we looked up when William started talking.

"The buses have arrived! Let's get through the journey quickly. Find a partner to sit with inside the bus until Dover, which will take about five hours, from there we will hop onto the ferry that will lead us to Calais, France. You can roam around the boat, so don't be afraid- legs and bums can be stretched. The boat trip will take about an hour and half. From France, we will get onto the bus again towards the Netherlands, where we will arrive later tonight- after dinner time. It'll take about four hours. So I hope you all fancy a meal from Mcdonalds tonight?" He grinned, chuckling when most of the students cheered.

Zephaniah started hesitating right away, glancing at me quite a few times, but taking a step back when Norah wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "I'd be your partner, but Abel.. asked if I wanted to watch Netflix with him so.."

"All you're trying to say is that you're ditching me for Netflix. Got it." I nodded, remembering Norah and I had agreed to travel a while ago, but maybe her cancelling led to the opportunity to sit beside Zephaniah, if he wanted to, at least.

"I love you, Have! You know that." She blew me a kiss, but did walk away after that.

Zephaniah was fiddling with his fingers, chewing on his bottom lip as he watched the other students pair up. Walking over to him, I gave him a smile as he glanced at me. "Hi, again. Want to be my partner?"

"I find partner such a strange word. When I was little Grandma said Grandpa was her partner. It was a love relationship. At school I got paired up with- with another boy once. I did not want to marry him." Zephaniah blurted out, his cheeks flushing red. "I- I want to go home." He started flapping his hands, his eyes focused on them, but once he noticed he was doing it in front of me, he stopped.

"Zeph?" I swallowed sadly, realising it was probably starting to get real for him now, too close. "You don't have to hide your nerves, remember? Flap your hands as hard as it takes you to feel more comfortable."

"Sparks, Malik! Get on the bus!" William yelled, standing at the doorstep of the building. "He's leaving in five!"

Zephaniah pressed himself against me when more students walked by, the two of us getting caught up in the crowd. I heard him breathing near my ear, nervous sighs leaving his mouth. His arm was still pressed against mine- I wondered if he did it on purpose or because he didn't want other people to be in his personal space.

Once we were outside, my luggage was basically snatched out of my hands, stuffing my suitcase away, along with the other suitcases. Zephaniah hid it, though, and took the suitcase with him as he entered the bus.

"I'm sorry, boy. But your stuff must be in the luggage space outside the bus. They're loading right now." The bus driver said, stopping Zephaniah who had gulped loudly, clearly being overwhelmed.

Zephaniah didn't say anything for a while, he just swallowed nervously, his eyes scanning the bus. "I want to- want to keep my stuff with me."

"Luggage space, boy. No suitcases in the bus. Only troubling for other people. Get out, give it to your teacher, get back inside." He frowned, as if it was obvious, but I noticed it was something Zephaniah wanted to have control over- his own stuff, which was actually logical to me.

"What does it matter?" I mixed myself into the conversation, raising my eyebrow at the bus driver in confusion. "I'm sitting with him, it'll be at our feet. I don't mind." When he kept staring at us with a bored expression, I simply gave him a smile. "Thank you for driving us!" I said sincerely, even when I was feeling slightly irritated. If only the world would look after other people sometimes.

"Come, Zeph." I said, taking the lead so he could follow easily with his suitcase. "Where do you want to sit?"

"The back." Zephaniah answered simply, his eyes blinking fast as the students had awoken from their morning sleepiness, their loud voices screeching and yelling and laughing. He flinched away a few times when people stood up- too close in his personal space. "Have?"

I stopped abruptly, making him bump against me. He squeezed his eyes closed in response, giving me another uncertain expression. He didn't understand mine, it seemed. Neither did he understand why I stopped so abruptly. But, he had called me Have, and I was sure he had never done that before.

The name coming from his mouth sounded so good, so attractive that I wondered what was wrong with me. I hadn't ever felt this way before, and it scared me.

"Sorry." Zephaniah frowned, looking away. The situation was unclear to him.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Zeph." I said quickly, not wanting to make him feel even more uncomfortable. "What did you want to say?"

"Can I, uh, maybe sit next to the window.." He mumbled out, staring at the floor. "Sorry, you can sit there too, okay?"

"No, it's fine." I smiled, turning around and continuing to walk, the way he pronounced Have lingering in my mind. "Go ahead, Zeph." I pointed at the two empty seats, taking a step back so he could climb in first- it wasn't as spacious in the bus. To be fair, it was quite narrow here, especially with all the students that kept standing up and switching seats, big backpacks accidentally pushing everybody away.

Zephaniah sat down with a sigh leaving his mouth. I was afraid he would be overstimulated any time, so I didn't question when he pulled his beanie further over his ears, the numbing headphones on top of that. He kept his suitcase and backpack close, rapidly fiddling with a small label that was attached to the zipper.

Tara and Luke sat down a row in front of us, which made me sigh. It'd be fine if they would mind their own business, but Tara already turned her attention to us. "So much fun, yeah? Sitting beside Zephaniah." She grinned, patting Zephaniah's head, who flinched at the sudden touch.

"His daddy doesn't want people to label him, yet he attached a label to his backpack when he was little." Tara chuckled, turning her attention back to Luke. I wondered what she was talking about, but when I realised she meant the label Zephaniah was playing with, I tried to read what was on it.

Hi, I'm Zephaniah. I have epilepsy and autism. If you think I occur in a dangerous situation or an emergency please call my dad Zayn or my mum Hannah.

Below were written the numbers that most likely belonged to them. I didn't think his dad labelled him, it would only be practical. What if he was somewhere alone and started to seize? Have a meltdown? There were a lot of oblivious people in the world who would simply think he was retarted. It was only thoughtful and safe to put a little note of information.

Glancing at Zephaniah, I could tell he was still extremely nervous, but the numbing headphones seemed to help him calm down a little.

Hopefully, I would be able to make him feel at ease during the whole trip.

~~~

Its startinggg!! Who's excited??

There's a lot happening in that beautiful city, so prepare...

What do you think is going to happen?

Do you think Zephaniah will feel alright during the whole trip? Will Haven help him feel okay or would it be too overwhelming for him?

Let me know your thoughts! Votes, feedback, comments much much appreciated. Love, H ❤️ 90+ votes?

Happy birthday to our sweetest Zayn! Can't believe he's 27 today!!