Young & Beautiful

You’ve got to be patient with him.”
“Zayn,” Louis says, taking a seat on Zayn’s left. He holds his stare, articulating each word, hoping
to sink them into Zayn’s understanding. “I was nice to him. On Monday, I told myself that, no
matter what shit he pulled or bullshit he spit, I was gonna be nice to him. And do you know what
happened? He treated me like dirt. Like fucking pond scum. For no fucking reason!”
No reaction emerges from Zayn, just calm, lidded eyes framed by impossibly long eyelashes that
tickle the sky. “Did he know you were acting nice? On purpose, like?”
“What?” Louis blinks, confused. “I dunno. Yeah, I guess.”
Zayn shakes his head, lets out another sigh. “I’ll say this once, Louis. Every day he deals with
phony people. They just hang about for his money or his dad or his name or whatever. They
pretend to be nice. They do whatever he says. At home, if they remembered he was there, he was
treated the same. Given what he wanted, pushed aside. I saw it myself. Louis,” Zayn says, voice
emphatic, and Louis leans forward, feeling like a dumbbell’s just dropped on him. “There’s a
reason he reacts the way he does.”
Louis stares dumbly.
Fuck.
Fuck.
“That makes sense, doesn’t it,” he says quietly.
“I don’t have all the answers. There’s a lot I don’t know about him—he doesn’t talk about
anything. Never. But it’s not hard to put some of it together, yeah? Be patient with him,” he
repeats.
Patient. With Harry. Yeah.
Fuck.
“Yeah. I will be,” Louis promises, but he’s barely registering his own words, instead lost amongst
the hundreds of words that have barreled him over during this brief encounter. “I better go.”
He stands up and, with wobbly legs, makes for the door, Zayn remaining in his throne at the head
of the table.
“There’s one more thing you should know about Harry,” Zayn’s voice suddenly says, cutting the
silence of the room and the chaos of Louis’ thoughts.
Louis pauses, turns to face him, his emotions already overburdened. He gives an expectant look.
“His family is everything to him. Des is all he’s got left. His mum’s gone. And his sister’s wasting
away. She doesn’t care. His father’s all he’s got, Louis. Even if Des…” Zayn stops himself,
reassessing his choice of words. “Des has no right to Harry’s loyalty,” he amends. “But he’s got it.
He’s got it in spades, and Harry won’t ever change.”
Louis swallows. “Why do I need to know that?”
“Because if that’s the only thing that matters to him, then it’d probably affect his life, wouldn’t it?”
Zayn hints.