Liam just stared at us for a few minutes in silence. I could feel my cheeks heat up with each passing second. Niall was the same, yet his skin showed more blood rushing to his cheeks than mine. It was cute. I slowly scooted away from him and leaned over to my side table. I opened the drawer and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. I tapped one out of the box and put it between my lips. “I’ll be outside.” I wandered out to my balcony to give Niall and Liam some time alone to talk. I hoped that Niall could do this on his own.

As I sat outside I sighed, lighting the stick between my lips. I inhaled deeply, loving the taste of nicotine as it invaded my senses. I had realized that I hadn’t been coming out to the porch as often as I did the first week of being at the Horan’s. I looked out to the barn and smiled. I wasn’t so hard pressed on going back to the city anymore. I had new friends here. I had Niall here. I had a foster mother that I knew cared for me like her own son, though she would never replace my mother. This was home. Finally. This was really home.

I smashed my burning cigarette butt on the bottom of my shoe as I usually did. I then just sat on the porch, blankly staring out into the field, taking in the fresh air and thinking things over.

Did I really want to pursue anything with Niall? I liked that I could finally touch and kiss him, but being in the same home gave us some obstacles. I didn’t want to ruin this new home by dating Maura’s son. If it was even dating… We would have to keep is a secret from everyone, well, except Liam. We could play the barn party fiasco as a drunken act that meant nothing, but eventually something will get out and I don’t want to ruin it and have to move out.

I guess that meant that I couldn’t have a relationship with Niall, which sucked. I hope he was thinking about the same thing. Things were different in the country. I’m pretty sure that there were some people who wouldn’t see eye to eye with us and try something stupid, ending up with everything hurt and at worst, dead.

I had heard the stories of some closed minded extremists trying to rid the streets of people like Niall and me. I was fortunate to only encounter a few pricks with harsh words, but I knew that the others were out there. It was a rough world.

After a few more minutes outside I got up from my seat and went back into my room. Niall and Liam were grinning and talking about the new video game that Liam had bought. I guessed that things were good between them. “You guys talk?” I asked.

“Yeah, Liam said there were no problems as long as I didn’t touch his butt.” Niall chuckled.

“Yeah, no butt touching. And that goes for you too Malik.” Liam moved over so that there was room between him and Niall. I sat down in that spot and Liam handed me a controller. The TV was across from us and the game was already playing on the screen. “Alright, this is jump, this moves you around and this is shoot. Ready, go!” He pressed start and I was completely lost in the beginning until I figured out the moves and found my way around the map we were playing on. I found Niall’s player and got a headshot. He groaned and nudged into me.

“Sorry, gotta be quicker than that.” I chuckled. I couldn’t tell you when the last time I had fun like that was.

--

Falling asleep that night was rough with so many things running through my head. I was exhausted from the riding trip Niall and I took, but I was also wired because I kept thinking about Niall sleeping in the next room over. I wondered what he was thinking about and when I finally decided to get up and just go see, a small knock came to my door and then is slowly opened.

“Hey, you awake?” Niall asked, voice thick with sleep and more country twang than I had expected. I made a small mumbled that resembled a yes. Niall closed the door behind him and walked over to my bed, sitting down on the edge. “Sorry, can’t sleep.”

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “Same.” I could vaguely make out Niall’s features in the dark. He looked tired. “Go on, lay down.” I told him, laying back down myself. He lifted the covers and slipped underneath.

“I’m scared of what tomorrow is going to be like.”

“Why?” I said quietly, moving my hand under the covers until I reached Niall’s hand. He reacted quickly and moved his fingers to fit between mine almost perfectly.

“My mom was just giving me today to blow some steam, but I know I’ll get my punishment tomorrow. And it’s the weekend so I might have to clean the entire barn. It’s going to be hell.” He groaned loudly and I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“Out of all the things you should be worried about, cleaning the barn shouldn’t be that bad. I can help. I’m sure Maura… I mean your mom, is going to give me something to do as well because I took the blame with you.”

“That barn hasn’t been cleaned in years.” Niall groaned again, this time taking his hand away and rubbing his palms into his eyes, rubbing them harshly. “I really hate this.” He moved onto his side so that he was facing me. “Sorry I said let’s go to that party.” He apologized.

“Don’t do that. I had fun.” That was a lie. I didn’t like the party at all. Really, all I liked about it was the alcohol and the fact that Niall kissed me. Other than that it was pretty shitty. Especially with that girl hitting on me.

“Well, tomorrow won’t be fun.”

“I’m sure we will make it through.” A little work didn’t kill any one. Though the next morning I was regretting that decision. After waking up in Niall’s arms and heading downstairs for breakfast, Maura was standing there in the kitchen waiting for us.

“First breakfast and then barn, boys.” She said, pointing at the table where we had waffles. We ate slowly as to postpone the dreadful barn cleaning, but after thirty minutes and only half of our food eaten, Maura took our plates and pointed to the door. We begrudgingly got our boots on; Maura had bought me a pair, and went outside towards the barn. I could slightly hear the phone ringing inside the house. Who could be calling that early on a weekend morning?

We did everything in the barn.

First we let all the horses out into the fields, then we cleaned the stalls, next the halls and hay barrels, and finally we climbed to the top of the barn and stood before a large room filled with random things like old bicycles and more hay.

“Maybe we could break and eat some lunch?” I asked, wiping the sweat from my forehead. I don’t think that I had ever worked that hard in my life. Niall quickly agreed, wiping his face with his shirt.

“Do you think your mom made something or do we have to fend for ourselves?” I asked. Niall shook his head.

“Nah, she’s never been that cruel. I bet she made sandwiches or something. If not, we can go over to the little drive up place that’s down the road. They have good burgers.” After Niall was done talking, his stomach growled loudly. “Heh, I guess the burgers just sounds really good.” He rubbed his stomach and smiled. “Okay, lets go see if my mom made something first.”

We headed back down the main floor of the barn, out of the loft and back to the house. We left our boots outside like Maura had told Niall to do the first day I had ever been there. I didn’t want to make her even madder than she already was. Cleaning the barn was enough punishment as is.

She was nowhere in the kitchen and there was nothing made. Niall and I could have easily made our own sandwiches because we were fully capable of doing so, but the burgers down the street just sounded way too good.

“Hey mom!?” Niall called out. “Can I have the keys to the truck?” Maura didn’t reply and it seemed like she wasn’t even in the house, but after a minute or so, she walked into the kitchen, holding the phone out as if she were handing it to me.

“Zayn, uh. You’re father wants to speak to you.” She held the phone out for a while until I grabbed it and pressed it to my ear. I hadn’t spoken to my father in years. I didn’t even know if he was still alive or anything. This was definitely a shock to me.

“H-hello?” I answered the phone. Honestly, I couldn’t remember what my dad even sounded like. I was also questioning why he was even calling in the first place and how he even found me out in the middle of nowhere Tennessee.

“Ah, Zayn. How are you, son?”

A/N: Three updates in a week! wow! I know theyre short chapters, but that's how it goes! Why do you think Zayn's dad is calling??? Please vote and comment!

Much Love

Jachxx