Zayn was on his way out of the door when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He stopped and took it out to read the notification.

That suprised him because he hadn't spoken to Maitea in a while now. But he still smiled and sent her a reply.

The next text came in quickly.

Seconds later, the phone rang and Zayn answered the call right away. "Hello, Maitea."

"Hey. How are you?" She sounded very bubbly.

"I'm good. You?"

"Yep."

"That's great. I haven't spoken to you in a while."

"Oh yeah. I know. That's why I was calling to see if we could hang out. You said you're going over a friend's house?"

"Yeah. I am. I was on my way right now."

"You'll be there all evening?"

Zayn thought for a moment. He wasn't sure. Days with Harry were never planned. If he did end up staying, it would just be because that was how long he stayed. He never counted his time with him. "I don't know. I'll see. Why are you asking?"

"Well, my mother is making Chilaquiles tonight. It's a mexican dish that I think you'll love and I want you to come over and eat dinner with us at seven o'clock."

"Really?"

"Yes. Really. I did promise you and Louis that I would invite you over for dinner one day. So this is it. I've called Louis already and he agreed to come. I know it's last minute for you but I would still like for you to come over. If you can't, we'll schedule for another time."

Zayn shook his head, even though she couldn't see. "No, no. I would love to come over."

"Really?"

"Of course. It sounds fun and I can't wait to try that dish. Whatever you called it."

"Chilaquiles."

"Yeah. That."

She laughed into the reciever. "Alright then. Some girls from my friend group are coming over as well. So if you want to bring your friend with you, that's okay too. The more people, the better it'll be. I'm gonna put on a movie after dinner in the living room and we'll all just pile up in there and watch. There will be about seven of us plus my mother."

Zayn hummed. "Yeah, okay. That's nice. I guess I'll see you this evening, then."

"Yes. One more thing. You dropped me off at home that night we went to the ice cream parlor together. Do you remember how you got there or do you need my address for the GPS?"

"No. I do remember, strangely enough."

"Then I'll see you there. Can't wait to meet your friend."

"Yeah, can't wait for you to meet him too. See you later."

"M'kay. Bye."

He hung up the phone, then opened the door to his house and went outside. After locking the door, he took the grass over to Harry's house and rang the doorbell. There was a short greeting with Harry over the intercom before the door was opened to him.

"Good day. How are you feeling?" Harry questioned.

"Ahm. Okay, I think." Zayn said. "But you know, Ace... I've just realized something."

"What?"

"I didn't really smoke that much when I was smoking. Only three or four at the most, just to keep the taste in my mouth and the nicotine in my system. But ever since I've stopped completely, the urge to smoke comes more often during the day than it ever did. I've already chewed four pieces of gum today. That's weird."

"That's because your body really wants the nicotine and you're not giving in. But I'm proud of you for not giving in. You've made a whole week already."

"Yeah and it feels like three weeks. Ugh."

Harry smiled. "Maybe one way to take your mind off of those cravings might be to teach me something new. The color blue, right? That's what's next?"

He smiled. "Yes. That's what's next."

"Then let's go. I'm ready."

He followed Harry to the kitchen where they sat down at the kitchen table. Zayn was actually a little bit surprised that Harry chose the kitchen table instead of the living room couch this time but he didn't complain because he didn't plan anything spectacular for this color. So at least the setting was different.

He took out his phone and turned on the screen, then picked from the notes he had taken down earlier. "Okay, here we go. It says here that blue is the color of the sky and sea. Blue's most associated qualities are depth and stability. It also symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth and heaven."

"All good things."

"Yes."

"I'd like to wrap myself up in that color."

Zayn paused. He didn't know why, but hearing that made him want to hug him. He really liked the way Harry would make those colors come to life. To be a friend of Green and wrap himself in Blue even sounded wonderful. "Oh yeah? Well, I wish I could do that for you but the best I can do is get you a blue blanket so you can wrap yourself in that this winter."

Harry laughed. "That would be lovely, actually."

"Well then I just might do that." He looked down at the phone again and found his place in the notes. "Blue is calming and is linked to consciousness and intellect. This thing also says that blue is a masculine color but I don't really agree even though that's the common belief."

"So I heard. People thought me liking pink was too girly because that color was for girls. But what is that supposed to mean? What's really so different about boys and girls that we can't like the same colors?"

Zayn smiled. Harry's last sentence showed him exactly why his blindness was often a blessing for him. It allowed him to view things from a more innocent point of view. His memory and perception could never be influenced by what he saw. And what was even more unique was that he would never know things could easily be influenced by sight because he had always seen things his own way.

"So is that all?"

"Huh?" He was snatched out of his trance.

"You went quiet so I assume that's all on the color blue."

"Oh. No. There's more. I'm not finished." And he blushed just a little. He went quiet because he got carried away with admiring Harry and what made him so different. "Um, dark blue is expertise, and stability. It also represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness while light blue is associated with health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness. Like you."

Harry chuckled but was confused. "Like me? What's like me?"

"Tranquility and softness."

"What? Why do you say that?"

"Because that's what I always feel when I'm with you."

Harry paused. He made Zayn feel softness and peace whenever he was around him? Really? "Yeah, right."

"What?"

"That's not true."

"Yes it is. It is true. To be honest, I wish you could meet more people than just me and Niall and Liam and Mindy so they could see your soft side and how intelligent you are too."

Harry hunched his shoulders sheepishly. "Stop it, Zayn. But I do agree that I should get a bigger list of friends. It's just hard to trust people, you know."

Zayn sat his phone down on the table. "Oh, I know. But I have two other friends of mine that I could possibly add to your friend group."

"You do?"

"Yes. Louis and Maitea. I've told you about both of them. In fact, Maitea asked me over for dinner this evening and told me I could bring you."

"Both of us?" Harry asked curiously.

"Yep. So Louis will be there as well as Maitea's girl friends. Well, friends who are girls."

"Oh." He was searching for the right words. "So... when you say us, you mean... She knows?"

"Knows what?"

"Like..." He was hesitant. "Me and you at the park. When we kissed. She knows that?"

"No. I haven't told her yet. I haven't told anyone, actually. Just like you haven't."

"Hm."

Zayn did notice the look on Harry's face. His eyebrows were hiding a bit behind his sunglasses but it was easy to tell that his lips were pressed into a thin line.

"You haven't said anything. Right?"

"No." He answered. "There's nothing to say. You're not even my boyfriend. Although it's probably going to be pretty funny showing up there as the only two who know we kissed and then introducing ourselves as friends to everyone else there."

Right away when he said that, Zayn started to feel bad. Harry was so kind and patient with him and he was grateful for that. But he had to admit that a large part of this really wasn't fair. He couldn't keep putting Harry in these awkward positions like this and then benefiting from it. At some point, he was going to have to own up to what they did.

For the next two hours, Zayn stayed there with Harry and watched TV. But then the clock was approaching six o'clock and he decided he needed to leave.

"Harry. It's almost six. Since Maitea said dinner is at seven, I'm going to go home and get freshened up and then put on something nice. Will you do the same?"

Harry had seemed extra attentive to those words but also slightly terrified of them.

"Are you okay?" Zayn questioned.

He nodded. "I'm fine."

"Okay. Then I'm gonna go next door and get ready. We'll leave here at six thirty."

"Okay."

Zayn had gone home, taken a ten minute shower and then dried his hair. Afterwards, he put on a plain red shirt, black jeans and a pair of multicolored Jordan sneakers. Then he parked his car in front of Harry's house and knocked on the door again. When Harry opened the door, Zayn was taken by surprise to see him only wearing boxer briefs.

"Harry. Whoa." He said as he turned away. "Why aren't you dressed? I told you we'd leave at six thirty. We only have about seven minutes."

"I know." He said as he lowered his voice.

"What's wrong? You don't want to go?"

"No. I do."

"Then why aren't you dressed?"

"Because I couldn't figure out what to wear. Whenever I have to dress nice, I'm usually with Mindy and she always picks it out because I don't know if what I'm wearing looks stupid or not. And I don't want your friends to make fun of me. I want to leave a good first impression."

Hearing that, Zayn faced him and kept his eyes trained upward on his scraggly hair which was still wet from the shower he had obviously taken. He also noticed he wasn't wearing any sunglasses right now so he could see his gray eyes. "What? They're not going to make fun of you, Ace. I especially know that Louis and Maitea won't. They're both really sweet and good people."

"But still. I don't want to look stupid."

Zayn softened. It was true that sometimes when Harry went out with him places, his wardrobe wasn't always as put together and well matched as someone who could see what outfit they were choosing would be. But that never bothered him ever. "Is that why you gave me that look earlier when I said I was going to put on something nice?"

He nodded shyly and Zayn huffed.

"If you felt that way, why didn't you just tell me? It doesn't have to be Mindy that helps you find something to wear. I'm not a fashionista or anything but I can do it. And I don't mind doing it either."

"You don't?"

"No. I don't. But first, we need to get that hair dried. You're dripping on the floor."

"Oh."

He stepped over the tiny puddle of water and grabbed Harry's hand. He knew he wasn't a big fan of going into Harry's room. But the fact that Harry allowed him to take a nap there last time made him brave enough to walk in there and into the bathroom inside of his bedroom. "Dry your hair and while you do that, I'll find you something nice for you to wear so you don't have to worry at all, alright?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

After that, he left Harry in the bathroom and went to his closet to search his wardrobe. Right away, he noticed that Harry had a lot more clothes than he himself had ever owned at one time. It was so overwhelming that if he tried to go through it all, he'd probably end up choosing to stay and not go over Maitea's house for dinner after all. So instead of going through everything, he imagined what he thought Harry should wear.

He thought about earlier when he said Harry represented baby blue so well, so he would love to see him in baby blue tonight. When he looked in his closet, he only owned one baby blue shirt and it was a T-shirt with tiny penguin patterns on it. Zayn wasn't a big fan of it but Harry could easily pull that off with plain pants. So he took that from the closet and laid it on the bed.

He didn't have to look too hard to find a black pair of pants because Harry had plenty of those. He also had a few colored pants, including colored shorts and bright red and pearly white pants. It was no wonder Harry was afraid to pick out his own clothes. What if he accidently chose those red ones with that baby blue shirt instead? Yikes.

Despite having many items of clothing, Harry didn't own many pairs of shoes. He only saw old boots, a pair of dark green Vans, two pairs of flip flops and a cheap pair of white tennis shoes. He picked the white ones and sighed. There. All done.

He noticed the hair dryer was still going in the bathroom so he came back and stood in the doorway. He blushed because he forgot Harry was still in his underwear. But for some reason, he couldn't take his eyes away either. He just looked so innocent there, so pure. It was then that Zayn even realized he hadn't had a tattoo in sight unlike himself. Just beautiful skin and a pretty naked little face. And really that was all he needed.

The hair dryer turned off and he watched Harry fiddle for a safe place to sit the hair dryer on his semi messy counter.

"Zayn!"

"I'm right here." He said softly.

"Oh. Have you picked out anything?"

"I have and everything is lying on your bed."

Harry smiled. "Ooh. Okay. What did you pick out?"

"Well, I noticed you have a lot of patterened shirts in there. But I managed to pick out the baby blue one with the penguin pattern on it. I also picked you a pair of black jeans and your white shoes. Nothing too fancy but you'll still look great."

Harry smiled. "Thanks, Zayn."

"You're welcome. Now go on and get dressed. It's already after six thirty." He backed out of the way and let Harry go to the bed. He found the clothes right away and started to get dressed.

Zayn really didn't want to stand there and watch him get dressed because he didn't want to seem like a peeping Tom. But again, he couldn't take his eyes off of him. Harry had the smoothest skin he had ever seen and he wanted to rub his hands all over it. But why did he want to do that so badly? Why was he getting that feeling?

Harry finished putting on his shirt and pants and retrieved a pair of socks in the drawer. Once those were on his feet, Zayn handed him his shoes to put on.

"Need any help?" Zayn asked.

He shook his head. "No. I've got it."

And he did. Zayn was amazed to see him tying his shoe laces just as quickly as he tied his own before he left to come over here.

"Finished." Harry said.

But Zayn came over and he rolled the sleeves on Harry's shirt up just a little. "There. Ready to go?"

"Yes. As soon as I get my house key and sunglasses from the kitchen."

He scurried out of there and Zayn went turning off all the lights. Whenever Mindy got married and moved to a new city, these were the things Zayn was going to have to do for Harry. But after what happened today, he wasn't sure if Harry would let him. He was going to need to talk to Mindy about this. Because a large part of him was thinking that the time to tell Harry what her plans were for the future should be coming up sooner rather than later.