Picture Perfect

“What’s wrong Parker?” Niall was rushing down the spiral staircase. I wanted to run over to him and let him subside the pain with hugs; let him hug the oncoming tears away. I felt more vulnerable now than I have ever felt in my life. All because of the camera whose remnants I was clutching onto - almost as if I was clutching onto the camera for dear life. My favorite camera.

“Come here, darling.” Niall’s hands stretched out toward me and I stepped into his arms. His muscular arms wrapped around me, fitting perfectly with the crevices of my small and utterly pathetic body.

Harry then made the same trip down the spiral stairs, as the tears began pouring down my face. “Parker, angel, what’s wrong? Louis come down here - Parker’s crying!” His fingers lingered over my chin as he attempted to get me to look him in the eyes to no avail. I hadn’t looked up from my spot on Niall’s lap, at all. Instead I buried my face further into Niall’s masculine smelling t-shirt. “Niall, what the fuck happened?” Harry sucked in a deep breath. Though he hated cursing, he did curse - only in those situations that he was genuinely upset or angry.

“I’m just going to safely assume something happened to the camera sitting there in pieces.” Niall shifted in his seat, probably pointing to the remaining bits and pieces of my camera. My favorite camera. “Hey, Parker, calm down. It’s just a camera. Tell us what happened.”

I shook my head ‘no’ and buried my face even further into Niall’s shirt. I blinked profusely; the tears that hadn’t fallen yet made patterns on Niall’s solid blue polo. My hair was being ruffled and played with as I breathed in Niall’s masculine and delicious scent.

Louis reached the bottom of the stairs with a loud thud. “Parker, baby girl, who hurt your feelings? Don’t they know you have five brothers who can easily kick their ass?!” I chuckled silently, shaking the Irishman below me. The tears were still flowing, staining his shirt an even darker blue.

“Yeah right, Louis. You’d definitely be able to kick someones ass!” Niall chuckled, shaking me in return. My phone began ringing.

♪ ♫ Now I’m in town, break it down, thinking of making a new sound. Playing a different show in front of a new crowd. ♫ ♪

“Ed Sheeran, huh? You know, he’s my best friend, actually,” Harry chuckled. “Now, where’s the phone?” I assumed that he walked closer to the sound of his best friend’s voice. My phone was still in the pocket of my bag. “Yeah, hey Zayn,” he paused to let the person on the other line speak. “Zayn, we can’t really leave. We have a little situation on our hands - No, no, no it’s not the fans. The employees are outside trying to divide the crowd into two halves so they can put up barricades - It’s another kind of problem.- Parker - No, she’s fine. Physically, at least - She’s kind of crying.- I didn’t do anything! - No, Louis didn’t do anything either - It wasn’t Niall - It was her camera - It broke - I don’t know; she’s just crying and wont tell us - Zayn, don’t -- Because there are a lot of fans outside! - You’re going to get hurt - That’s a stupid idea; no girl can be as attractive as you, Zayniepoo - I’m kidding - Still, don’t do it - Well then make Paul come with you - Right, where’s Liam? - Ok, see you soon.”

“What did he say?” Louis asked, probably still confused as to why Zayn had asked if it was him who’d made me cry. Hell, I was confused as to why he even cared.

“Asked why Parker was crying and made arrangements with Paul to get here unnoticed. Liam’s in the hotel room - he was just shopping for a gift for Danielle,” Harry summarized his talk on my phone with the tanned Bradford boy.

The tears were still flowing; Niall’s shirt being drawn on by dancing tears. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re fine, that’s all that matters. It was just the camera that met an early demise, not you. It’s fine. Just a camera,” Niall cooed sweetly into my ear. Mere whispers of affection would’ve usually gotten me to put my walls back up, stop being vulnerable and stopped my tears. This time, however, these coos did not help at all. Not in this situation. Not with my camera. Not with my favorite camera.

A hand began rubbing my back, trying to get me to calm down. I wasn’t able to identify whose hand it was - as Niall was still ruffling my hair.

After an hour of staining Niall’s shirt with my tears, the salty liquid stopped pouring out in such mass amounts. The door to the store opened, filling my ears with those god awful screams of murder.

“Zayn!”

“Zayn, you’re sooooo hot!”

“Malik!”

“Zayyyyyyn!”

Due to the screams, it was only knowledgeable that the person who had just strolled in through the door of the clothing store was Zayn. I heard the noise of keys rattling as Zayn bent down to look at me, making sure our faces were at the same level. “Hey, hey, Parker. Look at me,” his fingers found their way to my chin, trying to make me look at him. He was mimicking the very same routine Harry had tried an hour ago, to no avail. “Parker, it’s just a camera. At least it wasn’t you that got hurt.”

I instantly shot up, picking my head off Niall’s torso and started screaming at him. “Look, save the ‘look on the brightside’ bullshit for later. That was my -”

I transfixed my gaze on the box Zayn was holding toward me. "Happy birthday?" he said, though it sounded more like a question. He handed me the box. The same box I had unwrapped nearly 6 months ago. The box to my favorite camera. "Now, before you snap at me and call me an idiot for spending that much money on you, I just want to say that I hate seeing people when they are upset. So seeing you - one of my very best friends - upset is truly heartbreaking. Secondly, it was Liam's idea, so if anyone has to face the wrath of Parker Cannon please let it be Liam," he chuckled lightly, lifting my mood.

I shook my head, tears welling in my eyes. "I wasn't going to snap at you. I was just going to thank you. This is without a doubt one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me - even if it was Liam's idea," I hugged Zayn, breathing in his delightful scent, from my position on Niall's lap. The tears cascaded down my face and for the first time in ages, they were tears of happiness.