Save You Tonight

It was unknown how I got there, but somehow I was in a pitch black room with a single overhead light shining down on me. I peered down, finding myself in a deep red evening gown. One foot was clad in the sparkling heel that matched the one I had given Harry. The other foot was completely bare, making me wonder if he was still in possession of the shimmering stiletto.

My cell phone, somewhere in the darkness, began to ring incessantly, interrupting the mystery I was trying to solve. I shut my eyes in frustration at the noise, only to open them to a bright bedroom: the exact opposite of my previous location. With a slightly delirious realization, I came to find that the phone ringing in my dream was actually ringing in real life.

Stretching my arm stiffly to my bedside table, I grasped the device in my hand and quickly answered it, hoping it hadn’t reached voicemail yet.

“Hello?” I mumbled sleepily into the phone, yawning as the other end of the line screeched at me.

“Have you seen the Sun?” Margo yelled, panic-stricken and frantic. I crawled out of bed and stumbled slightly toward my window, gazing into the overcast sky.

“Wha-no, Marg, I just woke up. What? What’s going on? It’s cloudy, I can’t see the sun,” I replied groggily, reaching for my bed and falling back on the soft sheets with a sigh.

“Maya, no. The tabloid. The Sun. Let me just read you the top read article of the day so far. ‘Pop star Harry Styles of One Direction seems to be finally falling for someone his own age. Just four days ago, the 18 year-old heartthrob pulled the mysterious young lady, introduced as ‘Maya’, into his Livestream Twitvid camera. He confessed to his viewers that she was the ‘most amazing girl’ he thinks he’s ever met. Considering he also spilled to the thousands of viewers that he had met her the night before, what is the singer implying? Is this enigmatic girl just another one of the ladies that Styles has bedded? Apparently not. The two were photographed just yesterday outside the condo that the boy band sensation leases with his fellow One Direction member, Louis Tomlinson. The possible couple was also found strolling the streets of London later on with laced fingers after midnight. So has the notorious womanizer found something serious or is the mystifying Maya just another fling for the curly-haired flirt?”

As my friend read aloud the story, my mouth ran dry. With a jolt, I sat up straight, now extremely awake. “What have I done?”

“I dunno, love. Expect Cameron within the next few days. This is a big one. I have to go, but I thought you should be made aware of this,” Margo said quickly, hanging up and leaving me speechless.

I had no time to think when there was a banging on my front door, startling me to the point where I was frozen for a matter of seconds. Usually, I was prepared for such meetings with Cameron. But here I was, in just a sports bra and undies and I was about to fight off the big guy? I think not. Pulling on a tank and some shorts, I did 20 quick pushups to get my blood flowing, continuing with cartwheels and round-offs through the sitting room only to find myself staring at the white, blank door. Why was I so nervous? I had beaten Cameron so many times before. What was one more to me?

My heart raced as I listened for any clues on the other side of the door. Silence.

I reached for the cold knob and turned it slowly, only to find a beautiful, olive skinned, dark haired boy staring back at me. His dark brown eyes met mine and I bit my lip nervously. I had never seen this agent before.

“I-I… you- hi. You must be Maya,” he greeted me, a desperately anxious smile upon his gorgeous lips. “I’m Zayn. I…”

“With a ‘y’?” I asked, filling in as he trailed off. I watched as his features lit up in amusement. It had to be some sort of inside joke.

“That’s it. Harry left something in the car downstairs and the git left me here after he’d already knocked on your damn door,” Zayn told me, the words flowing out of him now. He raised his hand to scratch the back of his neck and opened his mouth to say something more when the bell on the lift rang, alerting us that the doors were about to open.

An upset Harry stormed out of the lift and down the hallway, a magazine in his hand. I took a lucky guess that he had seen the Sun despite the cloudy day, too. “Maya, I’m so sorry this happened. Please forgive me for putting you in this situation.”

“I’m not going to lie,” I started, taking the rolled tabloid from his hands and opening it to the respective pages dedicated to the article about us. “I’m going to be in deep shit for this.”

I scanned over the article, each word matching exactly with the memory of Margo reading it over the phone. The pictures included a screenshot of Harry and I sitting in the coffee shop on his webcam, a terrified look upon my face. Then there was a picture of us standing close together when I had bumped into him on the street. It must have been when we were talking just before Louis pulled us into the building. Lastly, there was a photo of the two of us holding hands just outside my place, the one from the runaway paparazzi. My blood boiled with anger as I looked up at the two boys standing just over the threshold. I waved them in and shut the door behind them.

“Can’t stay long, we gotta get to the studio to record, but… I just felt it’d be right if I told you about it. I feel so bad for getting you in this mess. Are you free this afternoon? I think we need to talk,” Harry said with a serious expression. Seeing him in such a way made me uneasy, but I knew if I agreed to have plans with him, I’d at least get to see him one more time.

I was certain that this would be the end. Harry, being the guy that he kept proving to be, would probably try to tell me that it was in my best interest to stay away from him with my obvious ‘ninja skills’ and his fame.

“I came all the way up here to watch you two talk about talking… later?” Zayn interrupted the silence, clearly disappointed that he didn’t get a show. “I thought it’d be longer than that.”

Harry blinked at his friend. “That’s what she said.”

And just like that, Harry Styles was back. Zayn and I howled with laughter as Harry forced him out of my flat and back to the hall. I blushed as Zayn winked at me from the headlock he was currently in while Harry held the door open and craned his head around the door frame to keep eye contact with me.

“I’ll drop by ‘round six?” he asked, a smile playing on those lips that had been as close to me as possible just hours before.

“Six it is,” I concluded, watching as he shut the door behind him.

Tuning in to the conversation in the hall, my aorta seemed to be out of control as I heard Zayn begin to speak. “You’re damn right, Harry. She’s fuckin’ hot.”

A loud smack followed and I felt my innards turn to mush. I’d never heard anyone call me hot before, so having two of England’s most famous teenage boys calling me attractive was weird and completely amazing.

My head was spinning, making my blaring cell phone ring seem like it was back in the dream. But, like always, that damn gadget was getting in the way of my thought processes. I jogged back into my room, grabbing the phone off my bed and answering it hastily.

“Hello?” I asked, still in a daze.

“Stay away from Harry Styles,” the woman on the other end of the phone hissed.

“What? Who is this?”

There was a click, then a dial tone. She had hung up.