The Romantic & the Cynic

Sky now stood with Zayn and Rick in the back of the club, his body heavily leaning against her side as she waited for the signal from Rick to tell her it was clear to leave. She hoped her plan would work and get her and Zayn back to the house with as little commotion as possible. It had been a spur of thought and she hadn't been sure that the group would go along with it. But it had become clear that there were few options for them and this would be the best one available.

Her plan had been very simple, maybe too much so. As Luis and Liam had anxiously leaned forward to hear it, the words had caught in her throat as she had tried to speak.

Half an hour earlier ...

"Why don't we just give them what they want," she finally said. Liam and Louis gave her questioning looks and she held her hand up to stop any questions before she could finish. "They want a picture of you guys leaving right? You and Zayn?" Louis and Liam nodded slowly, waiting for her to finish. "Then let's do that. You guys head out the front, drag all the paps there. Make a scene, take your time, act like you're waiting for him. At the same time, he and I head out the back and escape to Malibu."

Liam thought about it for a moment before standing up and clapping his hands softly, seeming to agree with Sky's logic.

And that was how she now found herself standing in the dark door of the back exit. The plan come together quickly with the help of Paul and the bouncer Rick. Step one was to have Paul walk outside and ask for the valet to bring up the van. He was easily recognizable to the group who followed them regularly and so when he went out, he primed them for the band's appearance and they all focused themselves on the the front door. Paul played the act well and they bought it, even the ones who had taken a chance and gone out back earlier made their way to the front of the building.

Step two involved the bouncer Rick. Because it would be more realistic if Paul stayed with the rest of the boys if they weren't going to split up, and Zayn was about to stumble headfirst over his own feet, they needed to find someone to stay with Zayn and Sky. Paul had already talked to him so he was ready to have Paul come to him and ask if he could take Zayn to the bathroom while he got the others in the van. Rick was quick to heave a semi-conscious Zayn off of the couch and walk towards the washrooms, SKy following behind. And the rear exit happened to be down a dark hallway just past them. Where she stood now.

Part three was occurring now. A few moments after she, Rick and Zayn had left the VIP area, Paul gathered up Liam, Louis, Harry and Niall, the girls still attached to their sides, and headed to the front door. The van was supposed to be a few minutes late, making it seem like the boys were annoyed to have to wait, their body language as they stood showing clear signs of frustration. And the fact that they were never all visible as the lights flashed in the night made it seem normal that Zayn wasn't there or in sight.

Step number four was what she was waiting for now. As Paul and the boys were out front, Rick and Sky were in the back, getting ready to take his car out of the club and back to Malibu. After hearing the two men talk, she realized that the large man was more than just a bouncer. He had security training that would allow Paul to trust him with his charge. When the back was clear, Sky would text the front group and they would make their way out while Sky, Zayn and Rick would head to Rick's car that was parked in the back with the other staff cars.

"Hey," she heard beside her and turned to see Rick pulling Zayn towards him, his body like jello as he was transferred. "I think it's time to go."

Sky nodded and took one last look before heading out first, just to make sure everyone was gone. When no one jumped out from behind the dumpsters, she texted Liam that they were going to the car. At the other side of the building, Paul would be ushering the boys outside towards the freshly arrived van. She could hear the noises of the photogs rushing the group and felt bad for them, knowing that it would be a madhouse as the men simply tried to get to the car. Rick was close behind her as she made her way to his car, a silver one had pointed out earlier. When they reached it, she opened up the back door and Zayn was slid in, an undistinguishable string of sounds coming from his mouth. Sky slid in beside him to make sure that nothing happened on the hour long drive back towards the house. As she buckled Zayn's seatbelt and then did her own, she felt him lean against her, his body warm and sweaty.

Rick pulled out, heading in the opposite direction that the van had gone. She quickly sent a text off to Liam and told him that they were on their way. The final part of the plan was for the rest of the group to head to another club briefly while they made their way home. They would return to Malibu in another couple of hours. She saw Rick's dark eyes glance regularly through the rearview mirror as the car's GPS read out the directions that would lead them back to the house. Her phone chirped at her that Liam had sent her a message saying he was glad the plan had worked and that they would see them in the morning, inviting Sky to stay overnight at the house in Malibu. Sky didn't answer back and instead tucked the phone into her purse and kicked off her now painful heels before closing her eyes and resting her head against the seat behind her.

The ride was quiet. Rick was definitely the silent type and he was also focused on making sure they weren't being followed. Zayn, for his part, was silently leaning against her side, his breathing heavy and deep. She too endedup falling asleep, the alcohol she had consumed making her own body lethargic, and it was only awakened when the door beside her was opened and Rick poked his head inside.

"Excuse me Miss," he said as he softly shook her shoulder to wake her. "We're here."

Sky rubbed her tired eyes, carefully moving her body away from Zayn but not letting him fall. As she got herself enough seperation, Rick took the young man's weight and let Sky move herself completely from the back seat.

"I'll gethim inside," he said as he grabbed the inebriated Zayn and got him to a semi-standing/mostly leaning position beside him. "You just show me what bed to put him in."

Sky nodded and walked to the door, using the key Liam had given her before they had split up to open the heavy wooden door to the house. She opened the door and walked in, setting her purse and shoes to the side and grabbing Zayn's other side as she walked into the living room.

"His bedroom is down this hall," she said as she pointed down the corridor where his room was located. "Just help me get him in there and I will take care of the rest of it." As she spoke, she thought she heard Zayn say something about taking really good care of him but she brushed it aside, sure she had heard it wrong. She helped Rick guide the barely walking Zayn to his room, opening the door with his free hand and moving Zayn to the bed.

"Thanks Rick," she said they finally got him lying down, his body splayed out and his shirt pulled up so a ribbon of his smooth stomach was exposed. "You can head back. I'll get him set for the night and then hit the sack myself."

"Are you sure you don't need any help ..." The large man paused, his eyes shifting to where Zayn lay on the bed. "I mean, I can get him changed if you want."

Sky thought for a moment but knew that a sober Zayn would have been pissed if he found out that she had let another man change him so she merely shook her head and ushered Rick outside. "Thank you but no," she said as she walked him to the front door. "I am sure that he will appreciate all of your help in the morning though."

Rick chuckled as he headed back outside. "It's all part of the job," he called as she walked across the driveway towards his car. "You'd be surprised they didn't see Lindsay Lohan stumbling out of the club."
Rick got in his car, waved goodbye to Sky and left. After watching his taillights gradually disappear, Sky closed the door and headed back to Zayn. On her way, she grabbed three bottles of water from the fridge and a bottle of aspirin from the cupboard and walked down the hall to Zayn's room.

In his room, Zayn had remained where her and Rick had laid him, his arms spread out against the covers and his legs hanging over the edge. His mouth was slightly parted and his eyelashes rested on his caramel skin with his eyes closed. She was about to leave him that way and curl herself up on the window seat where she had sat the other night with a blanket and pillow but changed her mind. He could hardly be comfortable and would be sore on top of sick when he woke up in the morning. She needed to move him and take some of the clothes off.

The first step was to take off his shoes, which was harder than she thought. His feet were heavy with no help and the shoes he had worn were laced and tight against his feet. After a few minutes of struggling and one quick dodge to avoid getting kicked in the head, she was able to extract his feet from each one and place the shoes and socks in the corner of the room. Once she had those off, she heaved his body around and got him lying with his body facing the right way in the bed. Seeing that the shirt was already starting to show signs of the sweat that was slick on his body, she decided to take the t-shirt off. She not so carefully shimmied the shirt up his torso, exposing each marvellous inch of it. She had a brief thought about how a woman could possibly choose another man over the one laying in front of her before pushing it away and putting the shirt with the shoes and socks she had removed. After putting Zayn on his side in case he was sick during the night, she put the water bottle on the side table along with the aspiring, popped a couple herself along with a swig of the refreshing liquid and began to cross the short distance when she felt his hand reach for her wrist, catching it in a surprisingly firm grasp.

"Sky," he said with a soft and slurred voice that was also muffled by the pillow his head rested on. "Don't leave. I don't want anyone else to leave me. I promise I won't do anything wrong."

At this, Sky felt her heart officially break, a tear sliding down her cheek for this broken man. How could a man who had so much going on in his life, so many people around him who cared about him and wanted him to be happy be so alone in the dark of the night? It was a feeling she herself understood. The heat of the contact seemed even more intimate than the moves on the dance floor earlier, more basic and searching. She knelt down so she was even with his face and stroked his soft hair out of his face.

"I'm not leaving," she said as she gently removed his hand from her wrist. "I am going to be just over there." Her answer was a soft moan as the contact was broken. And then she did something she knew she shouldn't. She placed a simple kiss against his cheek, brushing it away with her hand right away. She stood up and again made her way towards the window seat, this time making it. As she sat on the seat and put the pillow behind her and blanket over her, she turned to look at Zayn again, his face relaxed in his sleep.

Sky again felt a twist inside her, a shift in how she saw him. In the past twenty-four hours, he had shown so many sides to her that she was struggling to mix them all into one person. A person that she was beginning to think would make her job more complicated than she wanted it to be.