It's about a week later when the door slams heavily to Zayn's apartment.

"Lou knows about Des."

Harry damn near chokes on the apple he's eating and Calum sits up, startled from the nap he'd been taking on the couch.

"Excuse me?"

"Lou knows about Des," Luke grits frustratedly, throwing himself into one of the armchairs.

"What?"

"Lou knows about Des!?" Luke exclaims, using his hands and shit. "Okay? He found out we're dating and--and, fuck!"

"That's it?" Harry sits on the edge of his seat, "She's the only one? Or...?"

"You don't think he'd be pissed about Kez, right? Like, I mean, he knew we were friends and he shouldn't be pissed we're like...y'know...Right--?"

"Fuckin' hell...You think he'd...? How'd he find out?"

"Doesn't matter how he found out," Luke snaps. "But he did, and he's not too fucking happy."

"How'd--What happened?"

"You saw 'im?"

Luke shakes his head. "Des did."

"She knows Lou?"

"The fuck'd he say?"

"Called me," Luke replies. "Called my phone last night and we were talking about the party and how the tuxe got shipped to my house and then," Luke claps his hands together, "then all of a sudden he's on about how sweet my girl was and I'm like, 'My girl?' And he's like, 'Yeah, met her in the bank, why didn't you tell me?' And before I can answer he's like, 'Don't answer that, 'cause I already know why,' and fuckin' asked me how long I was gonna think I could keep her a secret from him, unless I was just never gonna tell him so I, so we, wouldn't ever have to admit that we were wrong."

Calum and Harry both cuss simultaneously, "Fuck."

Luke can only wet his lips, eyes searching the apartment. There was so much tension in the flat he can't keep his hands still. It doesn't help that no one else knows what to say.

So, he speaks: "The fuck is Zayn?"

"Out."

"Headed to Bradford, mate."

"Right...Perfect timing."

Luke pulls out his phone.

"He's gotta know. I gotta fucking tell Zayn."

Lou knows about Des

He gets the text just as he pulls up to Asmaa's flat.

And Zayn stares at this message flashed across his phone.

For a while.

There are so many questions swirling in his mind; so many possible responses to a single statement.

He runs a hand across his face, pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes training on the road ahead and the cars speeding by and sighs.

Before he texts back.

What about Asmaa?

Luke's response comes back almost immediately.

Nah don't think so

Good—the breath Zayn had been holding is suddenly released, oxygen returning to his lungs.

This was absolutely not how Zayn wanted to begin his vacation.

Because despite this bit of relief, and despite the fact that Louis still didn't know about Asmaa, Zayn was dying to know how Louis found out about Luke. He was dying to know who told him about Desirée. He was dying to know how Louis told Luke. He was dying to know if they had a conversation. He was dying to know what Luke told Lou.

No one was safe.

Zayn was absolutely trying to make it through this wedding unscathed. He was trying to get through New Year's Eve without any attention being drawn to himself and Asmaa...his own ties to Phoenix. Zayn was absolutely, and selfishly, not trying to be proven wrong.

After that argument...after that huge blow-up...the one that ended their friendship...Zayn didn't know what he would do if Louis would finally be proven right.

Not today.

Not if Zayn could help it.

He quickly types Luke back.

Talk later mate

Because they did need to talk, and he sends off another text to Harry, too. It's accompanied by eye emojis.

Hazza Lou knows about Ms. Sangria and Luke

And Zayn unbuckles his seatbelt, his mind clear enough for him to get out of the car and meet Asmaa, who was waiting on him, upstairs.

This wasn't even news he wanted to bother her with.

And he's riding up the elevator to her flat when both Luke and Harry text him back.

Let me know when you're in Bradford, says Luke.

I FUCKING KNOW, comes Harry's reply.

Zayn is outside of Asmaa's place, typing back.

But then Harry double-texts, replying to his own text first.

Heard Lou really didn't take it too well.

Shit.

"Zayn!"

The door's thrown open, and Rory's standing on the other side of the threshold.

He forces a smile, pocketing his phone. "Hey, Rory," he grins, throwing an arm around her shoulder as she steps forward to greet him. "'Sup?"

"Oh, nothing," she grins. "Just living vicariously through my best friend slash sister-wife as she goes off for a cute winter vacay with her man."

Zayn laughs; Rory made him laugh, even with the shit going on. This was a nice distraction.

"Sister-wife? Didn't know about all that, yeah?"

"Yeah, she didn't tell you?" Rory smirks. "We're practically already married."

"S'that mean I'm dating both of you? 'Cause I don't know how well that'd go over, Rory."

"Ha ha," Asmaa deadpans, appearing in the hallway. "Aren't you two just hilarious."

"Hey wifey," Rory grins, floating towards her down the hall.

She plants a kiss on Asmaa's cheek and Zayn laughs as she flinches, pulling away, nearly dropping her duffle bag.

"Ew."

"Hey," Rory pouts, "love me back."

"No," Asmaa cries, rushing into Zayn's arms. "Protect me from her!"

"You love this pussy, don't lie!"

"See?" Asmaa wrinkles her nose, "See what I have to deal with?"

Zayn laughs. "I mean," he shakes his head, "the real question is, does Hazza know? Or you think he likes that?"

"He probably likes it."

"Yeah," he pokes out his lip, nodding. "Pro'lly."

"Wow," Rory groans, rolling her eyes. "Fuck outta here, Zayn."

"Right," Asmaa grins mischievously, rising on her toes to plant a kiss on her man's lips. She purses her lips, turning to Rory, "Does your man know that you're in this relationship with me and my man? 'Cause," Asmaa smirks, "I don't think your man got the memo."

Rory's eyes narrow. "Zayn, our girl wasn't this sassy until she met me," she pulls a face, "Just so that goes on record."

"Zayn, it's funny 'cause Rory still hasn't answered any of my questions about Harry."

"And I'm not gonna!" Rory sings, to which Zayn laughs aloud now. "See y'all in a few days! Have fun! Zayn," She points at him, "beat that p--"

"Rory!"

"What?" Rory exclaims. "I was gonna say, 'beat that pretty ass into the bed,' so you're wrong because I wasn't about to say 'pussy.' Bye."

"I hate you."

Zayn is beet red.

"Now," he nods, "I see what Harry has to deal with."

"Bye," Roy waves, "Good-bye, Zayn."

"And actually," he hikes a thumb over his shoulder, "I think that's my cue."

"Yes," Asmaa laughs. "Mine, too."

Zayn smiles down at her, slipping his hand into hers. And she's smiling up at him and Zayn can't help but think back to their first date; their tourist date and that wonderful day and the way it ended so perfectly and how he really wasn't trying to give this up. Not for anyone. Not even for Lou.

He kisses her quickly. "Ready, babe?"

She nods, beaming. "Ready."

It's about a four-hour car ride from London to Bradford.

"S'nothing special, really," Zayn apologizes, as he helps Asmaa throw her luggage into his car. He's been apologizing more and more recently as they got closer to this trip, and she didn't know who was more nervous at this point, her or him.

"And my sisters are all home, and they're all going to ask him a million questions, so I hope you're prepared for that and don't believe anything any of them say about me..."

"Zayn," Asmaa giggles, now the one to reassure him. "It's going to be fine."

"Yeah..." He mutters, "That's what you say..."

Asmaa is asleep for most of the ride.

She's exhausted.

Out.

Out like a light.

Literally passes out as soon as they hit the highway, her head pressed against the window, propped against her arm and the pillow she had brought.

Zayn takes multiple pictures.

He also saves them as his background screens. 

She wakes up about two hours in, blinking her heavy eyelids tiredly. It's funny because at first, Zayn doesn't notice her awake. He's got one hand on the steering wheel, the other bent on the center console between him, free fingers playing in his beard, eyes trained on the road ahead.

He's singing softly to himself, absentmindedly crooning to Nicki Minaj's 'Sex in the Lounge,' off of Asmaa's literal favorite album ever, because of course that's what she wanted to hear, and so he's singing Bobby Valentino softly as he drives.

"Cause we doing it like nobody's around, and when we doing it, I can hear her make a sound. Shawty was singing' like me..."

"Don't stop, don't stop."

"Jesus--" He jumps, gripping the wheel tighter to keep from swerving off the road. "Someone's awake!"

She chuckles bashfully. "It's been a long semester, my guy..."

"Wow," he laughs aloud. "You really do need to spend less time with Rory."

"All true," she grins. "And you didn't believe me."

"I do now," he replies. "She's like," he nods, "quite a character."

"I love her, though."

"I know," he grins, "And since we're talking about love," he nods, "you talk to your sister?"

"Not since she said she'd be here."

"Asmaa..."

"Zayn."

"Isn't she coming. Like, soon, yeah?"

"...Yeah."

"You gotta rip that Band-Aid, babe," he grins kindly. "Can't avoid her forever."

"I'm not trying to avoid her," Asmaa chuckles sleepily. "Just the conversation I have to have with her."

"Same thing."

"Not exactly."

"Asm--"

"And speaking of avoidance..."

"Oh, shit," he chuckles. "We on about me, now?"

"Yes," she giggles. "We are."

"Classic case of avoidance."

"Bye," she screams, "What about you missing your mate's bachelor party?"

"Love, seriously," Zayn shakes his head, turning back to the road, "that might be for the best."

"Please explain how, Zayn."

"I..."

He pauses.

Did he tell this story? Did he involve her in this? He was really not trying to. He was really not trying to burden her with this truth.

"It's...It's a long story."

"Yeah?" Asmaa motions to the road ahead. "Seems like you've got the time."

Luke leaves Calum and Harry alone in Zayn's.

"I'm gonna..." Luke sighs. "Go. I should..." He stands in the middle of the floor with his hand on his neck. "I got this fuckin' Christmas party and Des..."

And like, mid-sentence, he's gone.

"Well," Calum rises to a stand, not long after the door closes behind Luke, "looks like I've got to go break up with Kez."

"Right," Harry snorts, "Liar."

Calum chuckles. "Don't tell her I said that, would you?"

"Yeah? Why shouldn't I? I could finally show her what she's missing."

"I won't tell Rory you said that."

"Please don't."

Calum snorts, chuckling beside himself; besides this situation.

Harry falls against the couch.

"Fuck," Calum curses. "Fuck."

Harry scrubs both hands across his face. "Jesus Christ, Calum."

"This," he sucks hard on his bottom lip, "This is the end, isn't it? I mean," he shrugs, "he finds out about this and," he stares across the room, eyebrows pulled tightly, "and this is it. So much for a reconciliation."

"Makin' it sound like we've separated."

"'Cause we have."

"Cal," Harry sits up, resting both elbows on his knees, "you've known Kezie. Zayn met Asmaa at King's. You didn't know."

"Doesn't change the fact that they work at Phoenix."

He made a good point. 

Fuck. 

That was the problem. This was why Harry wanted that bachelor party to be at Phoenix. He wanted an out. He wanted to be the one to break this news to Louis. It would have been a much better situation if they got to tell him--drunk and celebrating his marriage, barely focused on the fact that everyone seemed to be dating a stripper. 

This? Louis finding out on his own? Thinking that they were hiding the girls from him?

It made the whole situation ten billion times worse. 

And Calum lifts his chin, "You gonna tell Rory?"

"Tell her what?" Harry laughs. "That I can't see her anymore? That I'd rather die than admit I fucked around and did exactly what I told Lou not to do? That I fell in love with a stripper leaving Phoenix?"

"Love?" Calum fights a grin. "You love her, mate?"

"Fuckin' hell, Calum," Harry groans--Of course he would attach to that one fucking statement because that's how this day was going, apparently. "I was being facetious, Calum."

"But, you like her."

"I never said I didn't like her."

"Of course you didn't. Because you've fallen in love."

"Look!" Harry exclaims, suddenly frustrated and warm and feeling as though the blood rushing to his face was betraying him, "The point is I told Lou what he was doing was wrong. I told him he was being a fool; a fucking idiot, in front of him. In front of her! Now, this?" Harry laughs aloud. "There really is no coming back from this, Cal."

"We're his groomsmen, Haz."

"Until he un-invites us from the wedding."

"He wouldn't do that."

"You think?"

Calum turns away, not answering this question. 

Harry nods. "Not too sure about that, either."

Luckily, Zayn doesn't have to tell Asmaa about Lou.

Luckily, Asmaa is so exhausted she falls asleep not long after she wakes up, right at the start of his story. 

Out, again, like a light. 

Zayn drives to her playlist, all the way to Bradford.

He shakes her only after he's pulled up to his front door.

"Asmaa," his low voice and soft touch shake her awake. "Asmaa," she blinks, eyes opening to meet his warm brown ones and that slight smirk on his face.

"Huh?"

"Hey, sleepyhead" he hides a smile, reaching out to run a finger down the smooth skin alongside her cheek, "we're here."

Harry's head is swimming.

Had been since Luke barged into Zayn's that morning. It's like the room started spinning on him and hadn't stopped. This fucking close to the wedding and days out from the bachelor party they'd been planning and Louis finds out that Luke's with a stripper? And not just any stripper; the most popular stripper at Phoenix.

Phoenix, the place they'd given him such a hard time about.

All Harry could think to do at this moment is Rory.

And he thinks about her all day.

This was so unfair.

They had just started to really talk, to really hang out. They had just reached a point where she actually knew his name and spoke voluntarily in public and let him cook for her and wanted him to text her and liked when he slept over.

He, like Luke, needed to talk to Zayn. He needed his mate, who would absolutely start helping him get his game plan together.

Because he was stuck.

Stuck between telling Louis the truth...or breaking things off with Rory so he really didn't have to.

Harry didn't want to do either.

Why? Rory was a stripper. She, like Luke's Sangria, was a stripper at Phoenix unlike Asmaa or Kezie who were lawyers and doctors and Harry didn't know if he could explain himself or his feelings about a "just" stripper.

Because he liked her. He did. He couldn't even lie to himself, but admitting it? Actually voicing those words out loud made him not only scared of Rory's reaction to the feelings he had caught but scared of the permanence. He could avoid and deny the truth when these feelings lived inside his head. 

He couldn't avoid shit after admitting them out loud. 

Hence, why even he was hesitant to tell Calum. 

Hence, why he was more hesitant to tell Lou. 

Harry didn't know where that left him. 

The knock on the door startles her from sleep.

She had been just about to wrap her hair for bed when the pounding makes Rory jump up.

"Coming!" She calls, a little concerned because what if it's Amsaa? What if she's back? What if she called off her trip with Zayn? What if it's Kez or Des and something happened...?

Something boy-related?

And these thoughts are swirling in Rory's mind so when she grabs the door and yanks it open and finds Harry waving at her from the other side, she can't help but feel slightly relieved. 

"Hi."

"H-Hi," she replies, bemused as she steps aside to let him in, "I don't remember scheduling any dick or  a chef tonight, just saying."

He chuckles,  "Thought I'd pay a surprise visit."

"Surprises can be nice," she nods, and turns, her laughter fading as she finds this man staring at her from her kitchen. 

"Can be?" He hikes a brow, leaning against the counter, "Bet you're shit with surprises, Rory," he chuckles to himself, shaking his head, "You're too anal to like a fuckin' surprise."

"That is..." she nods, because he totally pegged her, "Okay, whatever. Fuck you."

He laughs, his eyes glassy from evident intoxication, and he's licking his lips and the sight has turned her on, dammit.

He wets his lips again, "Knew it."

She walks his way, feeling his breath catch in his chest as she snakes her arms around his waist. 

She squints up at him, "You checking for me, Styles?"

"Been for a while, actually."

She rolls her eyes playfully. "Feels like you're not here tonight just to check up on me."

"I had a really," he begins, even more slowly than usual, "really shit day, and--"

"And?"

"And I figured I'd see you," he cocks his head, "'cause I like you."

"Yeah?" Rory blinks. 

"More than most people, actually."

She laughs. "You're sure?"

And before he can respond to this, she's shrugged. "So, I have to be honest, I was really about to just go to bed."

He lifts an eyebrow, eyes raking over her flannel pajama pants and long-sleeved tee. "Really? Couldn't tell."

She pokes him in the stomach, watching him recoil with a laugh. "And, I've had a long-ass day, so you can keep the remarks, Styles."

"Same..." Harry sighs, dying to tell her about Louis and the boys and Desirée and not even knowing where to begin. 

Rory cocks her head, eyes shining with interest. "So you said."

She shakes her head, "So," she laughs, "I'm kind of," she jerks a thumb over her shoulder, "going to bed..."

He exhales, "Kicking me out already?"

"...and if you're just going to come to bed," she continues, backing towards her bedroom, "you're welcome to stay."

Harry wasn't expecting this. 

He honestly wasn't expecting to shower and return to bed in sweats he'd left from before and he didn't expect to crawl into bed beside Rory and do just that, go to bed. He really didn't expect her to let him pull her into his chest and kiss the back of her neck. 

"Harry..."

"What?" He whispers in darkness. 

"I have class tomorrow, I can't--"

"What?" He props himself on his elbow. "Class? Class, where?"

"UCL," Rory murmurs. 

"Class in what?"

She chuckles throatily, "Okay, so I'm actually getting my Master's, thank you very much. I do have courses before I report to your favorite strip club, sir."

"It isn't my favorite place," he mutters childishly, and she snorts, amused. "Why didn't I know this about you?"

"You never asked."

"Rory."

"What? Harry," she turns in bed to face him, "I'm sleepy. Can we do this tomorrow, please?"

"If you promise to answer all of my questions."

"Depends on the questions."

"See? See why I'm pestering you, now."

"Harry," her lips meet his and he stops talking. "I'm teasing. I'll talk tomorrow, I promise."

"I..." He has so many questions, but he nods. "Okay."

"Thank you, baby."

And Rory turns over but she fully just called him 'baby' and they're perfectly sober and that pet name wasn't spurred by anything sexual so now he's feeling a way.

He reaches around her waist, again. "Come back and give me another kiss."

"Harry..."

"What? I can't sleep without one. Or two. Or--"

She turns, "Harry!"

"What?" He slips his hand beneath her shirt and rubs circles along her back. 

She laughs tiredly, "I'm about to talk to you like my momma used to talk to me when I was being hard-headed like this."

He plants a kiss on her lips. "What?" He pouts, faces inches apart in the dark, "I just wanted a kiss."

"Boy," she says between the additional kisses he keeps planting on her lips, "if you don't stop I won't say shit about software engineering when you ask me about it tomorrow."

Harry sits up immediately. 

"Rory, you're an engineer?"

___

sorry this took ages guys i'm back! i've just been hella busy with class good lord. 

comment and vote! <3