The Romantic & the Cynic

The rest of the guys showed up about twenty minutes later, their voices coming through the the door before they did. Sky had remained in the studio, deciding it would be best to leave Zayn alone instead of going after him. He was definitely not in a mood to talk and she wasn't in the mood to drag it out of him. She had pulled out her cameras, finding a spot she could set up her accessories for easy access but without them being in the way, before she had taken a few test shots of the vacant studio. She hoped to use them as a kind of bookend to the pictures. Before the madness, after the madness. By the time she heard the arrival of the rest of them, she had pushed it out of her mind and focused on her job. She hoped she could continue to do that when he came back in the room.

Louis and Harry came through the door first, their voices deep in conversation as they casually walked in. They definitely weren't expecting Sky to be there as she heard the words that came from their mouths.

"As if you would have a shot!" Harry loudly guffawed at Louis and hit him in his arm. "First of all, you are stupidly entangled in a serious relationship and secondly, there is no way that she could avoid falling for my charms."

Louis stopped in the middle of the room, his hands on his narrow hips. His body language said he was clearly offended. "We are definitely talking hypothetical because I am in love with Eleanor and because I am way more charming than you."

Harry shrugged off the jacket he was wearing and threw it on the chair, it landing right beside Sky but neither of the two boys noticed her presence.

"Come on," Harry said as he stood with his arms and legs outspread as if he was on inspection. "I have been the sex symbol since the day this band started and it will not change now. What heterosexual woman over the age of thirteen could skip this piece of male perfection?"

Niall finally entered, a granola bar half eaten in his mouth. He noticed Sky and winked at her. "Would the two of you just stop this silly argument? If either of you even had a chance with Sky, you blew it now because she is sitting right behind you." His words were muffled as he spoke but Louis and Harry seemed to have gotten the point. Both looked in her direction, Harry over his shoulder with his body still proudly displayed, and went immediately red with embarrassment. It was Louis who recovered first, slapping Harry in the arm again but this time with a little more force.

"Get your bloody idiot self together!" Louis ran a hand through his immaculate hair while Harry meekly stood down from his pose and turned to face Sky, his eyes darting everywhere but hers. "Look, we are so sorry. That was very inappropriate and we both," another slap made Harry quickly nod his head in agreement. "We both profusely apologize. You are a cool bird and we were just being silly."

"Yeah, what he said," Harry muttered as he came to stand beside Louis.

Sky chuckled as she quickly snapped a picture, knowing it would probably be kept for her personal collection. She stood and easily walked over the short distance to the two men.

"Well, Louis," she said as she draped one hand over his shoulder. "You'll just have to be on your best behaviour or I may have to send a troubling report to Miss Eleanor to keep you in line. And Harry." She placed her other arm over his shoulder and leaned in against his still red cheek. "You will just have to contain that animal magnetism coursing through your body or I may not be able to control myself. Even if we're not alone."

"What in the hell!' Liam's voice carried loudly through the small room and made everyone turn around and go on alert. Sky quickly dropped her arms from Louis and Harry's shoulders and nervously stood between them, hoping Liam would see the interaction as harmlessly playful. By the look on his face, she didn't think so. "I thought that we were all professionals here! What makes you think this is acceptable?"

The question seemed to be directed at Sky but it was Louis who stepped forward first. "It was just some stupid shit. Harry and I were being twats and Sky overheard us and was giving us a dose of our own medicine."

"Yeah," Harry said with a voice much more confident than just moments before. "We were being stupid and Sky was just making sure we knew it."

Liam seemed to ponder for a moment but his concern for another topic seemed to come to the front of his mind and he looked quickly around the room. "Whatever. Just as long as it doesn't happen again." Another series of glances and he didn't seem to find what he was looking for. "Where in the hell is Zayn? Paul said he drove him here two hours ago at Zayn's request."

"He was here when I came in," Sky said as she stepped from between Harry and Louis. "We talked for a few minutes before he went to get a coffee and smoke. He should be back soon." It wasn't exactly a lie. They had talked, just not nicely. And she figured he probably had gone for a smoke and coffee. That was what all the smokers she knew did when they were stressed and upset. She doubted he was any different. She just skipped telling the middle part since it would probably result in a lecture for either of them from Daddy Direction.

Liam gave her a questioning look but did not push her any further. "Fine, let's just get started then. I wanna look over those new vocals we wrote yesterday and see if we can get a melody going. Maybe even lay down some really rough tracks."

Both Harry and Louis seemed to be relieved at the fact that Liam had decided they weren't worth the distraction and quickly hunkered down to look at the notes they had made. Instead of joining them, Niall came and sat beside Sky.

"Don't let Liam worry you," he said as he pulled another granola bar out of his pocket and quickly unwrapped it. "His bark is way worse than his bite."

Sky snapped a few shots of the writing session, enjoying the look of concentration in each of their eyes.

"You guys keep saying that but I don't know if I will ever believe you."

Niall smiled and ate the last of the granola bar. "Trust us. We've known him a lot longer than you have. Hey, was Zayn really here like you said? I was worried when he took off."

"Yeah, he was crashing on the couch. He just stepped out to get some air." Sky decided this might be a good time to refine her advice from the night before. She turned to face Niall and took a deep breath. "You know how I told you guys to just talk to him. To talk to him about anything and eventually he would open up to you?"

Niall nodded, his eyes going cloudy for a moment. "We tried it but I gotta say that it didn't quite work. We appreciated it and all but it may not work with a sullen Brit. He just seemed to get more pissed with us the more we tried."

"I figured as much." Sky patted Niall's hand before continuing, making sure that Liam wasn't watching. "When I said talk to him, I didn't mean constantly. He gave me the impression this morning that you guys went a little bit overboard."

"But you said ..."

"I know but talk to him like you normally would." She saw confusion in Niall''s face and pressed on. "Would you let him hang out in his room alone before? Would you watch the television and say a simple hi if he walked in the room?"

"I guess." Light began to dawn on Niall's face. "We just want him to know he can talk to us."

"And if you don't treat him like glass, he will know it sooner." Sky stood up and grabbed her camera, hanging the strap off of her neck. "I have some shots to take and I think Liam wants you."

Niall nodded and stood up before heading over to the others, another granola bar mysteriously finding its way out of his pocket. Sky chuckled and took her non-obtrusive position.

Sky watched with fascination for the next half hour as a song began to be crafted in front of her. The process mesmerized her and she found herself dropping the camera and momentarily forgetting the job she was there to do. The give and take, the different voice and thoughts each had but the desire to get to the same goal. It was beautiful. But then the weight of the apparatus would come back to her and she would raise it again, trying to capture not only the process unfolding but the passion it created in each of them.

It was the door opening that finally broke through the moment and each head turned to see Zayn enter, the vapour of cigarette smoke entering with him.

"Hey guys," he said as he closed the door behind him and tucked his hands in his pockets. "What are you guys working on?"

It was Liam who answered, frustration simmering on the edge of his voice. "Where were you? We were supposed to start half an hour ago."

Zayn seemed surprised by the anger and took a small step back. He saw Sky to his side and wondered just what she had told them about their interaction that morning. Her face revealed nothing.
"I know. I was just grabbing a coffee before I came up." He held a paper cup in his hand and lifted it in proof of the statement.

He saw the anger in Liam's face and looked to the others for help. None of them stood, each of them aware of just how stinging Liam's anger could be. And wanting none of it.

"If we're going to get this done right, we need to all be here and be a part of it." Liam stood from his chair but took no steps. "I know Paul drove you here almost three hours ago, plenty of time to grab a cup of coffee and get here on time."

Zayn didn't know what to say, his mouth sealing it's own self shut. He just wanted to get this over with so he could curl up in the corner and bury himself back in his sketchbook, back into pictures of Perrie. He shifted uncomfortably where he stood and was surprised to see Sky move beside him, her hand resting lightly on his arm.

"He left later than he planned because I was showing him some stuff on the camera." She flipped the camera around and showed Liam the screen, the test pictures she had taken flipping across the screen with the timestamp showing that they had been taken just before the others had arrived. "It was my fault."

Zayn wasn't sure why she was doing this, focusing Liam's anger on her when she still didn't officially have the job past the end of the week. As he looked towards her, she avoided his gaze and stared only ahead at Liam.

Liam looked unsure of the explanation but didn't seem to want to fight it. Sky wondered if she had just blew any chance she had of staying on past Sunday but she hadn't been able to stop herself. She felt Zayn pull away from her and her hand seemed to instantly go a few degrees cooler at the loss of contact. She watched as Zayn made his way to the same chair she had found him on that morning and dropped himself into it. His sketchbook was beside him and his fingers danced towards it but didn't make contact.

"Fine," Liam said as he moved back towards the soundboard. "Harry, can you help me set up the board while Niall does his solo?"

And just like that, they returned to the equilibrium they had yesterday. Liam and Harry sat hunched over the board, sliding buttons up and down as people cycled in and out of the booth to record various lyrics. The song they were working on today was upbeat and seemed to help lift the mood. Louis and Niall scratched words on a notepad, another song taking vague shape. Zayn remained in his chair, the sketchbook always hovering around but not always in his hand. Sky took it as a sign of progress.

He hadn't thanked her for her save earlier but she hadn't expected it. She just hadn't been able to stand seeing the discomfort that he had been showing when Liam talked to him. And after his reaction that morning, she didn't take it upon herself to talk to him about it.

The day gradually passed by and Sky began packing up her cameras and lenses, making sure that each one was safely stowed before moving on to the next one. The guys were getting themselves together and she heard murmurings of a club night being planned by them for Saturday night. Jessica had drooled over the thought of going to one of the expensive clubs with rock stars but it wasn't Sky's thing.

"You should come with us." Louis' voice beside her shocked her and she nearly dropped the lens she had been holding. She turned to face him and smiled, after setting the lens down.

He had apologized earlier about the comments he and Harry had been making as well as Liam's reaction. She had shrugged it off, not wanting to seem like it bothered her. He had also used the same line that Niall had about Liam's temper but Sky reserved her judgement on that one.

"Thanks," she said as she finished packing her things away and getting ready to leave. "But I am going to have to turn you down on that one. Clubs aren't quite my thing."

"Oh come on," he said as if he were a five year old with a lost puppy. Those blue eyes could be deadly. "We will have to celebrate the fact that you are going to stay! And the best way to do that is alcohol and a dance floor."

"First of all, we don't know that for sure." Louis was about to speak but Sky stopped him. "We don't. Secondly, I haven't been to a club in months and have no desire to go to one."

Harry had made his way over and he made a double attack of the puppy dog eyes. "Seriously, you are making me forget you are under forty. You have to go to a club at least once while you're here and if Liam kicks you out on Sunday, this could be your one and only chance to party like the rock stars we are." This statement warranted a kick from Louis.

"Really?" Louis gave Harry a disgusted look before turning back to Sky. "But he is sadly right. It may be your one and only chance to rock the naughty librarian look with those glasses and a not so suitable dress."

Sky sighed and shook her head, her ponytail swinging side to side. She was going to so be in trouble if these two made it a regular habit of teaming up against her.

"Fine," she said as she made her way to the door, resting her hand on the knob. "I surrender. But from now on, only one of you can try to convince me of something at a time. Otherwise it is completely unfair."

Harry and Louis responded by whooping and high fiving each other. But as Sky left the studio and headed towards the car, there was one face that stayed with her. Zayn when he had heard that she would be coming on Saturday. A face of pure frustration, contempt and fear. Just what you wanted when you were going to party like a rock star.