The Romantic & the Cynic

Sky barely slept that night, worst case scenarios drifting in and out of her mind as she tried to. The next day she got ready slowly, forcing herself not to check the internet for anymore stories that had bubbled up through the night in regards to her home wrecking ways. There were several texts from Jessica and she was sure it was about what they had talked about the night before but she ignored them, determined to keep her day as free from drama as possible. She dressed in a casual outfit of jeans and a t-shirt before grabbing her bags and purse and heading down to the garage to start the commute to the studio.

She had been expecting a hoard of photographers to greet her as she broke in to the sunlight but there were none and she breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe Louis was right and it would all just blow over like all the other stories that seemed to be written about the five men and the people in their lives. As she drove the forty-five minutes to the studio, she listened to more of their music, trying to get even more of a feel for the five boys who had started as one homogenous group to her and were now distinct personalities that drifted through the music. She could clearly pick out their voices now mixed in with the instruments and was amazed at how the lyrics seemed to fit the one singing them or maybe it was the man making them his own as the words left their mouths. Either way, it always seemed to just fit.

She pulled into the parking lot and was surprised whens she saw that there were a few photographers waiting around. They were all dressed in t-shirts, jeans, ball caps and sunglasses and were lounging by the front door with large cameras hanging around their necks. It threw her for a moment when she realized that the same tool she used to capture the memories that were so treasured could be used to cause havoc and pain to people's private lives. She felt her stomach roll as she thought just how little she had seen of it and how much she immediately hated it. They seemed to immediately recognize her and started across to intercept her but a large Rob was waiting for them. He appeared from the front door and came between them as soon as she had parked, his presence making them acutely aware that she was under the protection of someone now. As she made her way across the asphalt and towards the front doors with him beside her, she thanked him with her eyes. When they entered, she turned to face him.

"Thank you ," she said as she took a sigh of relief. "I thought that I would be free of them today since they didn't come to the apartment. I guess I was a bit naive."

Rob shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Paul called me this morning when he saw the news and wanted to make sure you weren't hassled when you showed up. I'll be here for the next couple of days to make sure that they don't cross any lines. They probably didn't show up at the apartment because they didn't know where it was. Where the boys have been recorded has been known for quite awhile so there was a pretty good chance that they could take it easy and catch you there."

Sky was surprised by the news and the fact that nobody had asked her whether she wanted it. She hadn't expected her own personal escort across a parking lotfs and she certainly didn't have the money to pay Rob for his time. "I can't pay you," she said as she took a deep breath. "I appreciate Paul's concern but I'm just going to have to deal with it I think. They can't be too crazy, right?"

"Right." There was a chuckle in his face as he spoke and crossed his arms over his large chest. "Look, don't worry about the money. They are picking up the tab for me hanging out and chasing away the mosquitos. And I am very glad to do it."

For some reason, the thought of someone taking the liberty of hiring someone to babysit her made her cringe. She was an independent woman who liked to think that she was capable of taking care of herself. But she didn't want to take it out on Rob, especially since he had just scared away a couple of those mosquitos only a few moments before.
"Well, thank you for that this morning. And I'll talk to Paul about the future arrangements." She heard her phone beep and pulled it out of her purse to see a text from Louis asking if everything was okay and that they were all upstairs. She quickly responded back that she would be up in a minute before tucking the phone back away and smiling back at Rob. "I had better get going. I'll see you later, okay?"

Rob said goodbye and took his post on a chair he had positioned near the door. Sky made her way up the stairs to the studio which she now considered her second home after the amount of time she had spent there during only the last week. She made her way inside and a similar scene to what she had seen the first time she had entered the small room greeted her. Similar except for one glaring distinction. Zayn. He had been sitting at the soundboard with Harry and when he heard the door opening and Sky entering, he immediately stood up and came to her side instead of cowering on the couch.

After their conversations the day before, she should have felt more comfortable with him. The had spent hours on the phone the night before going over minute details of each other's lives. From simple tastes in pizza to dreams that they had held on to since they were children. But he had asked that final question. He had asked her about an intimate moment in her daily life that she had told no one about and that she clutched close to her soul. He couldn't have known the significance of the question and she shouldn't blame him but he had still crossed an imaginary line that she had created for those in her life. He was beside her and she could sense that he was unsure of where they stood as well. And she decided that she needed to move beyond that moment and back to the easy conversation between them they had been enjoying so much recently.
"So, you don't trust me to walk across a parking lot now?" She tried to sound light but her voice carried an edge to it that she could not bury. She hoped they understood the edge wasn't towards them but she doubted they were that good of mind readers.

Zayn answered quickly, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. "It was my idea," he said with an apologetic tone. "I was worried after we talked last night and didn't want those guys to make you uncomfortable. Being followed kind of comes with the territory with us but there was no way that you could be used to it. I talked to Paul and he arranged for Rob to be here this morning and he will be here when you leave. He is used to dealing with them and has the ability to make them understand that they are not welcome. He calls them mosquitos and he can be your own personal fly swatter."

The answer surprised her. She had assumed that the person responsible for the concern over her safety had been Liam, the responsible one. Her and Zayn had certainly gotten over some of their issues over the past forty-eight hours but she hadn't thought that he would show that level of concern for her well-being.

"I appreciate it but I think it's just a little bit of overkill. Louis said last night that it would all blow over and I agree with him. Why should they care about a wedding photographer from Atlanta? And I can't have you guys footing the bill for having him sit down there all day. It's such a waste of your money."

Louis came beside her now, slinging an arm over her shoulder. "You can and you will, Zayn was quite insistent on it. And don't worry about the money. We just might have enough to cover it."

"But really guys, it is so unnecessary. There was nobody at the apartment this morning and I'm sure that they will be gone from here when I leave."

"And if they are, that's fine." Zayn shrugged his shoulders. "But if they're not, than there is no way that I want anything to happen to you just because you went out one night and had a good time with some new friends. And they may seem like insignificant pests but if you don't know how to handle them, the situation can become very dangerous for everybody."

Sky lifted her arms in surrender, knowing she wasn't about to win this one. "Alright," she said with a somewhat weary voice. "I give in. But you have to promise that the moment the world forgets about me, Rob goes back to his seat beside the door."
"Deal," Louis said as he dropped his arm and bounced over to a chair. "Now, can we move beyond this whole serious crap and back to the fun that is our life?"

"Absolutely." Sky set her bags down and started to get ready for the day, taking out her camera and lenses that she had planned on using.

The rest of the day passed easily. Sky had grown so comfortable with them that it was like hanging out with friends and not employers. Even Liam sent her a couple of smiles. They continued to work through some of the songs she had begun to hear the very beginnings of during the last week. She enjoyed watching them bounce the different ideas off of each other and saw that now that Zayn was interacting with the creative process, it was like the whole picture had been completed. The moments that had sounded odd and disjointed before was beginning to sound cohesive. A lunch of Chinese was brought in when they took a break before continuing on with their work.

It was later in the afternoon, when the energy began to dip that Sky began to wonder if there would be anyone waiting for her outside. She had made a how of brushing it aside when she had first showed up despite Zayn's obvious concern but now the thoughts were eating at her mind. She had never dealt with anything like this and found fear of stepping out in to the sunlight and being faced by them again. What if the fears that Zayn, Louis and Rob had expressed were true and they didn't stop at just snapping pictures? What if the rumours didn't just blow over and only got worse? She was in the middle of picturing her flying down the road with men aiming cameras at her and only feet behind on motorbikes when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Zayn beside her again, his eyes awkwardly trying to stay steady with hers.

"I hope you aren't still upset with the whole Rob thing. I was worried after you hung up last night and when I saw that the stuff was still all over the internet this morning, I called Paul to see if he could make some arrangements to keep you safe."

Sky looked at him, still surprised that it was his concern that had prompted her escort that morning. It seemed to hit her in that moment just how different their relationship had become in such a short period of time. One week earlier, he had been crying by the side of the building and told her to banish herself from his presence. That man would have never even thought twice about sending her to the wolves that were the paparazzi waiting outside the lair that was the recording studio. But the one on the phone the night before, the one who cared what movie she watched when she was sad, had cared enough to call and make arrangements to walk fifty feet safely. A tug of something deep pulled at her, another flush of warmth that was the same as the one she had felt at the kitchen counter.

"If it really makes you uncomfortable, I can call him off starting tomorrow but at least let me make sure that you are safe getting home today."

Sky nodded, the action stiff as she tried to not let him see her confusion at her own sensations. "Don't worry about it. I appreciated him being here this morning. I guess I was just surprised to have anyone care so much about me and who I went out to a club with."

"I can certainly relate to that. I remember the first time I saw a website dedicated to my hair. I still get chills about it." Sky watched as he visibly seemed to shake with the uncomfortable memory. "I do hope you don't change your mind about working with us."

"Absolutely not." Sky set her hand on his arm, skin on skin contact that she knew would cause her heart to jolt. It was a sensation she was unsure of but was beginning to crave. "You are stuck with me until the end."

Zayn smiled at her, the corners of his mouth eager to tilt up. "Good. I'm not quite ready for you to leave yet." She felt his hand reach for hers, taking it with a gentle squeeze before holding it loosely at his side and drawing circles with his calloused fingers.

The two remained quiet for a moment, oblivious to the buzz around them. They didn't see Louis and Liam's observant stares or the arched eyebrows of Harry. They were wrapped up in themselves and the energy that they were creating with the small contact. Energy that they didn't understand but didn't seem to scare either of them anymore.