The Romantic & the Cynic

Sky and Louis looked at each other with confused gazes, their conversation now forgotten, before leaving their private spot and following Harry back inside. Several times Louis trid to ascertain just what had rushed him outside but the curly-haired boy simply continued to push through the crowd and back towards the raised area the group had been occupying.

The first thing she noticed as she got closer was the number of people who were around it had grown. She could hardly call it a mob since most people were still absorbed in the throbbing of music that still permeated the walls of the club but it had certainly grown She saw concern on Louis' face at the scene and hurried to cross the little distance that was left. She needed to know what was going on beyond the bodies.

When she finally reached her destination, the scene shocked her. Liam was standing on one side of the low table, his fists clenched at his sides, his eyes staring intently at Zayn who was on the other side. But what position she saw Zayn in. Zayn and Niall.

Niall's arms were wrapped around Zayn's tense shoulders, the blonde struggling to hold his lunging friend back from Liam. Zayn's eyes held no recognition of friendship as he glared across the table. As Sky got closer, she heard the tail end of his words, each one coated with violence.

". . . keep his bossy ass out of business that doesn't concern him," he said with an angry voice, straining against Niall's grip. His voice was slurred with the alcohol but it was clear enough to be able to distinguish the harsh words he spoke. Harry came to help the tiring blonde but it took both of them to hold Zayn back. "You can only control so much of my life and this isn't part of it!"

Liam had seen Sky and Louis return with Harry and she thought she could see a flash of frustration fly through his eyes. And for some reason,she knew it was related directly to her. Her and Zayn and what had happened on the dance floor. He took one more breath before speaking, visibly forcing himself to do so calmly.

"I am not going to get into an argument in the middle of a club. I'm only giving you advice that you should bloody well take. Because if you don't ..." Another pause, another glance at Sky. Where Zayn's voice was loose and loud because of his drinking, Liam's was calm and cool. Sky should have expected no less. "Well, if you don't it's your own sanity and the band's friendships you seem to want to throw down the drain."

Zayn lunged again, barely being held back by Niall and Harry but stumbling all the same. The group was growing around them now and Louis and Paul tried to make a wall to stop people from seeing the fight that seemed certain to take place but the platform was raised so it was pretty difficult to be able to do any good.

"My personal life and this band are completely seperate," Zayn screamed, his voice miraculously being able to climb over the loud music. "Something you don't seem to want to understand. Sometimes, I wish to god Simon would've told us to take our sorry asses back home five years ago and you would be out of my life!"

Sky saw the hurt on Liam's face immediately. Everyone knew that it was the alcohol talking but that didn't mean that the words weren't like daggers as they were spoken. Probably because there was a drop of worry that Zayn meant what he had said. She decided that this had to stop. Anymore words that were said could only cause more harm. She pushed herself between Liam and Zayn, turning to Liam first, hoping to appeal to the rational one first. She said the first thing that came to her.

"Stop," she said with a voice her mother would have been proud of. "Look, let me talk to him. Let me calm him down and then we'll figure out what to do." She saw him struggle with this, wanting to control the situation like he was normally so capable of and then resignation. This was the Zayn he didn't understand and couldn't say the right thing to. He lifted his hands in surrender before turning his back and leaving the raised area, Louis following him with his arm around his shoulder and speaking quickly to his side.

Zayn was next. Sky turned to face him now and saw that with the removal of Liam, he had calmed down slightly. He only slightly struggled against only Harry now and it was more to only free himself and not to attack anyone. Sky put her hand gently on Harry's arm.

"Let him go," she said softly. Harry looked at her for a moment before letting his arms fall and stepping slightly away. He moved to the end of the area, him and Niall replacing the barrier that Louis had vacated.

Zayn fell slightly forward, the release of pressure against him catching him slightly by surprise and causing his now freed body to waver as he tried to steady himself. Sky caught him with her still outstretched arm. The contact caused an immediate shock to her skin, a rememberance of the time that they had shared on the dance floor, and she retracted it after he had steadied his balance as much as he could. As he stood himself up somewhat straight and looked at her, he tried to speak but between the loud music and the alcohol he had consumed, he was unable to. She could tell that although he wasn't spitting venemous words, he was still angry. The emotion still danced on his features.

Sky moved to the side and gestured to the couch that they had been sitting on before. "Sit down," she said as she did the same thing herself. "Did you want to tell me what that was all about."

Zayn paused before following her lead and sat/fell down beside her. He grabbed the beer bottle that she had assumed he had been drinking before the altercation had started. He took a deep drink before wiping a line of it from his chin and setting it down again.

"He's just being his pain in the ass self," he said as he grabbed a cigarette and lit it. From the smell of alcohol coming off of him, Sky was surprised that he didn't go up in flames on the spot. "He can't seem to stop running my life even when it doesn't involve his precious band." He lit the cigarette and took a deep drag, blowing it out in curls in front of him. The smoke caught in Sky's throat and she coughed. He gave her an apologetic but still took another drag, his need for the nicotine stronger than his desire to impress her.

Sky let the moment pass, wanting to find a way to defuse the situation instead of challenging the drunk Zayn. He continued to have another few drags of the cigarette before giving her one more look and stubbing the butt out on the coaster in front of him and setting his body back on the seat, the beer never leaving his hand. Sky took it as a moment to speak.

"What happened," she asked as she turned to face him, her hands crossed on her lap and away from his now visible arms. She felt a strong desire to investigate the lines that were drawn on his skin but stopped herself. Now was not the time. Or would it ever be.

Zayn stayed silent for a second more, the beer bottle finding his way to his lips again. "You heard," he slurred, his voice sounding tired and deflated now. "He was sticking his arrogant nose in where it didn't belong."

Sky barely understood the words but didn't ask him to say them again. She took a look at Harry and Niall, the two who could maybe help to explain what had happened while she had been talking to Louis but they were occupied with two pretty ladies again and had lost interest in the scuffle they had been involved in minutes before. She turned back to Zayn.

"What were you guys talking about?" She was curious now. Maybe Zayn would let slip what she was sure Louis would keep silent on now. "It obviously upset you."

Zayn winked and pointed his wavering finger at her. "We were talking about you," he said as he drew a shaky circle in the air. "He was warning me about you and how I need to be appropriate." The last word was said harshly and in a mocking voice.

Her? Sky felt her heart beating faster as her fear about her behaviour on the dance floor and Liam's reaction seemed to be coming true. He must have been upset with how her and Zayn had gotten so cuddly on the dance floor and taken it out on Zayn. But she had been a very willing partner in the escapade.

"Don't worry about it," Zayn said as he tried to lean forward and almost fell on to the ground. "I told him to mind his own ..." A loud burp and Zayn chuckled. "... mind his own bloody business."

Sky could see that Zayn's colour was changing from it's usual smooth caramel, a distinctive tinge of green creeping in around the edges. And his eyes were getting bloodshot and half closed as he seemed to struggle to stay awake. She could see that the alcohol was finally dropping him from the exuberant high of earlier to the low that never seemed to far away from him. She turned for help from Harry and Niall and saw that they, and their hands, were still occupied and would be of no help. Paul stood to the side but he was keeping himself separate, used to making sure the boys didn't hurt themselves but not stopping them from living their lives. She was relieved to see Liam and Louis finally return, Liam seeming to have calmed down from his earlier frustration with the help of Louis. They walked up the steps and stopped their conversation when they saw the state that Zayn was in. He was currently leaning forward with his hands holding his head over his legs. He was breathing deeply and the beer bottle had finally vacated his hand.

"Shit," Louis said as he ran a hand through his hair, making sure it was perfectly put back after. "I knew he was drunk but not this bad."

Sky felt her hand raise and start to softly rub the warm back beside her. She felt the muscles underneath, tight against the skin, and her mind had a brief desire to fell her hand on his skin. She shut it down quickly. Liam saw the movement and raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything about it.

"We need to get him home," she said as she felt the sweat start to seep through the cotton on his back. "He is in no shape to stay."

Liam nodded and seemed to ponder what to do with the situation. Pictures of Zayn stumbling out of the front door of a bar would only refuel the tabloid stories that had finally calmed down since the breakup but Zayn was clearly too far gone to stay at the club. He remained silent before sitting down and heaving a huge sigh.

"There is no way that we are going to get him out the front door without a clusterfuck happening and it being all over the papers. We need to get him out without the paps seeing him." Liam was right. The paps knew that they were there for the night and tonight was the first time that Zayn had been seen in public since the breakup story. As harsh as the words had been between the two when they had argued, they were still as close as brothers and none of them wanted to have him have to deal with the pain that would cause the hurting one. But how to avoid it? They had to leave the club at some point of the night and the paps weren't going to leave anytime soon. It was a recipe for disaster and someone getting hurt since Sky was sure that Zayn could not stand on his own let alone walk.

Louis, Liam and Sky remained silent for another moment, each of them trying to find a way to avoid the scene they thought was coming. It was Harry, who had finally pried himself off of the blonde that he had been snogging, that gave Sky a thought. He was oblivious to what had transpired since the girl had grabbed his attention and he had the grin of a guy who was about to get lucky at some point of the night.

"Do you want to head out to another club?" The girl beside him continued to nibble at his exposed neck and run her hands through his now thoroughly messed up hair. "I'm not ready for this night to end just yet."

Sky snapped her fingers and looked at Liam. "I have an idea," she said as he looked at her with surprise. "I think I know how we can get him out of here."