Soldier

"I don't want to get up.." I groan, the alarm (or what seems like it) ringing in my ear.

I turn over and groan, and realize it's my phone.

"Hello?" I groggily answer.

"Zayn?"

I am left speechless, and I can't talk. I sit up.

"Zayn, it's Liam." He starts.

"Liam, it's 3 o'clock in the damn morning. Why did you call me?" I look at the flicker of streetlights outside of my window. Then, focusing back onto Liam's voice.

"I just. I don't know. I'll talk to you later." He hangs up.

I look back at my phone and just stare. I am puzzled. More or less because he called me, or because he sounded like he was upset, maybe crying.

I couldn't go back to sleep, so I just sat in my bed, watching that same streetlight flicker on and off. I keep thinking about Liam, and why he called me this early. I can't get my mind off of him, and that streetlights' noise is confusing me as to why it keeps flickering off and on. I can't stand to hear him that upset, and I just assumed it was maybe because it was a bad dream or something of the like.

But, I still don't stop the possibilities. I slouch in my bed, and the ceiling becomes more interesting than the street light was. I started to think about Liam some more, before drifting off to sleep with the thought of him on my mind.

*A few hours later*

Yawning, I sit up, and the streets are now crowded, cars trying to pry their way out of the neighborhood that we consumed. I swing my feet over the side of my bed, grab my glasses off my nightstand, and walking downstairs and simultaneously putting my glasses on. I walk over to my coffee pot, turning it on, and waiting for it to brew.

I pad over to the door and I unlock it, then walking back into the kitchen, and pouring myself a cup of steaming black magic. I open my glass door to my porch, walk on to the wood and sitting down in my normal spot and watching the sun rise. Like normal. I had grabbed my laptop on my way out, so I decided to read a few emails.

When I first opened my email, I saw a few unread emails from a few old friends, but I was looking for an email from someone else, maybe an explanation for this morning.

I saw one from Liam, and read it aloud.

'Zayn,

Hey man. Look, I am really sorry. The house, it's the house man. I really don't know what I am going to do. Bills are too high, and with my mom, and how bad of a condition she is in, I don't know if we can stay here any longer. I have a way to pay the bills, though. I'm being deployed out to Iraq soon, and I am quite scared, Zayn. I need to say something so we both know: Zayn, I love you. We have known each other a while, and I think it's time you knew that I was gay. Maybe it was a little too soon, but, yeah. I find you so amusing, so utterly perfect, it is quite unreal. I think that if I remotely tried to tell you this on the phone this morning, I would have broke down, as I was already crying before I called you. I want to be with you, but I don't think you feel the same. 3 years is a long time to know someone, and each day of all those three have made me love you even more. I hope I can see you before I leave.

Liam'

I stopped reading aloud a few sentences in. I couldn't speak. I was literally speechless again.

I started to type.

'Liam,

I will meet you at the coffee shop in a few days.

Zayn.'

Notes

Holy. Shit.