The Romantic & the Cynic

A picture of Perrie splashed across the screen, the flash of the bulbs harsh against her pale skin and hair. Harry made an attempt to change the channel but a hand stopped him by grabbing the remote. Zayn's hand.

"Hey man," Harry said as Zayn took the remote and tucked it beside him. "You don't want to watch this shit, do you?"

Zayn didn't respond but instead trained his eyes on the large television hanging off of the wall. The whole groups was uncomfortable with the images and words coming off of the screen and Sky could feel Louis squeeze her shoulders even tighter.

"While both camps have confirmed the breakup, neither has confirmed the reason for it after the couple had been together for four years," the anchor said as she stared brightly into the camera. Sky wondered if the woman understood that the people she was blissfully talking about could be watching. "Well now we have the truth."

Pictures of Perrie and Zayn had been streaming during the opening and now it switched to grainy pictures that seemed to have been taken outside a nightclub. It was a picture of a person who looked like Perrie and a man as they leaned into each other, their lips just before the moment of contact.

"These photos were taken one month ago and two weeks before the breakup happened. Sources claim that they are pictures of Perrie and actor Jackson Wood, the star of the film that Perrie had a small role in. "

The look of raw pain on Zayn's face was greater than Sky thought was possible. She to had felt loss and pain but it had never been for public consumption, narrated by a stranger. A stranger who was still smiling. She wanted to go over and wrap her arms around him, or maybe go and scratch this Perrie's doe-like eyes out. A feral reaction she hadn't felt in years.

Zayn was horrified by what he was seeing. He had met Jackson eight months earlier, when he had tagged along with Perrie during her press tour for the movie. He had seemed like a nice enough guy and he couldn't remember thinking that there was anything going on between them at that point. Now he felt his mind clicking back through the times they had shared and began to wonder if they had been seeing each other since they had worked together or had they just recently decided to begin a tryst. Either option left him wanting to vomit. Either she had been cheating on him for long months or short weeks. It didn't make a difference.

Zayn could feel Harry's fingers trying to pry remote from his hand but he seemed unable to let go. His fingers were like vice and it took both of Harry's hands to finally open them enough and remove the remote from his grip. Harry lifted the remote and turned the television off, the room immediately becoming silent. The absence of voices made the sound of the waves outside seem even louder and no one seemed able to move from their rooted spot. Zayn wanted desperately to get up and scream, to stomp his feet and have a two year olds temper tantrum. He could feel every muscle in his body tense and he felt his mind forcing his body to remain seated.

It was Sky who was finally able to break the tension, her non-engagement in the issue an asset. She swung herself out from under Louis' arm and smiled a little too brightly.

"I would definitely like a tour of this beautiful place," she said as she did a small turn in her spot. "It looks like it could possibly be amazing."

The words seemed to shake Louis out of his stupor and he nodded vigorously. "Yeah," he said as he loosely took her hand and gently pulled her towards a random hallway. "Come on, we'll start with the bedrooms."

Sky let herself be led from the room and towards where Louis said the bedrooms were. Louis was nervously rambling about the view from each one of the large windows centred in each and didn't notice that Sky wasn't paying attention to him. Instead, she was taking in the details as they passed each room. They had been lucky enough to find a house with enough bedrooms for each of them to have their own and their bodyguards had one to share.

The first she saw was the one Louis was staying in. For someone who presented themselves with such a crisp image, his room was a disaster. Clothes were piled high in the corner, cd's were slid across the unmade bed, pictures of him and a brunette were tucked around the mirror. It was the room of someone who had other things to enjoy in their life besides keep it clean.

The next room was Liam's. If Louis was the opposite to the way he presented himself, Liam was a carbon copy. There was not an item out of place, not a sock on the floor. There were pictures of him and a brunette also but they were in frames and neatly lined up on the clean-topped dresser.

Harry and Niall's rooms were the average rooms of young twenty-something males. The only thing of note in Harry's room was the large number of pictures with him and various females. Each one was hungrily groping him and he was always smiling cheekily at the camera. It only cemented his reputation as a cute and adorable letch that she needed to keep at arm's length.

"Zayn's room is on the other side of the house," Louis said as he stopped at the end of the hallway. "He wanted the quiet. Let me show you the rooftop deck, it's back down the hall and through the kitchen."

As Sky watched him turn and head back down the hall towards the kitchen, she saw a tenseness in his shoulders and jaw that she hadn't seen in him yet today. He seemed such a fun, easy-going guy that she knew his concern for Zayn was still rolling through him. She followed him back again and when they reached the kitchen, she saw that Harry was sitting on the couch without Zayn now. Instead Liam and Nial were sitting with him, their heads deep in conversation. Louis took it in with a quick glance before continuing on with the tour and leading Sky through the sliding glass door off of the kitchen and gesturing towards the stairs that led up to the roof. Sky followed his lead and walked up the stairs.

When she reached the top and turned to face the ocean, she immediately wished she had her camera with her. The sun was just starting to kiss the unbroken line of horizon and turning the rich shade of orange that she loved to catch. She found herself hoping this wouldn't be her only visit here, just so she could take the perfect shot.

Louis had finally gone silent behind her. She turned to face him, leaning back against the glass and metal railing that encircled the roof.

"Zayn didn't have a clue, did he?" Time to get the elephant smack dab in the middle of the room.

Louis paused for a moment before speaking, the emotion of knowing his friend was badly hurting making his throat close for a moment. He looked up from his shoes where he had been staring before moving to the railing and leaning on it, as if the burden of his unbridled happiness in contrast with his friend's overwhelming pain was too heavy for the moment.

"If you ask him now, he would say no." Louis' voice was torn as he spoke and Sky leaned down beside him. "I mean, we all knew they were having problems even though he was always brushing it aside when we asked. If he was to go back and think about it in a few days though, I think he may see the signs, see the hints that were there."

"What about you?" The question was simple but deep. Did Louis know his friend's heart was about to get trampled on in such a public way? Again, he hesitated before answering. When he did, it was like he was confessing.

"For sure, no." He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his smooth hair. "I had heard a couple of odd conversations, heard some rumours from some friends. But it was nothing substantial, no proof. Nothing that I would feel comfortable going to him about."
Louis went silent again and Sky was quiet as well as she looked out at the ocean. They were companionably silent for a moment more before Sky spoke.

"He's going to be okay because he has friends like you," she said as she gently nudged Louis' arm. "I can tell you guys all watch out for each other and that is the best bandaid there is."

Louis awkwardly chuckled before he pushed himself up off of the railing. "Yeah, look out for each other so much that I let him get hurt. I knew something was off but I didn't say anything to him because it was easier for me. I let him walk into that pain without any part of the truth to shield him."

Sky wrapped her arm around Louis' waist and lightly hugged him. She knew that he was hurting out of guilt, the worst kind. The kind that you could do nothing about because it was independent of you. And while the other person hurt, you were reminded of what you had, or hadn't done. Louis wrapped his own arm around her waist and squeezed her back.

"Come on," she said as she guided him towards the stairs that led down to the main floor deck. "I was promised a tour and you aren't finished yet."

Zayn had watched Sky and Louis walk down the hall and he felt the undeniable urge to get up and head to his quiet bedroom. He wanted to be alone with his pain. With this fresh, unforgiving pain. He wanted to swim in it and drown until he couldn't breathe anymore and it seeped into every pore. It was like the scab that was covering his raw wound had been ripped off by a doctor with a bad bedside manner. He violently stood up and immediately felt Harry and Liam beside him, their uncomfortable and awkward caring touch on his tense forearm. It was Liam who spoke first, Harry being uncomfortable with the level of emotion surrounding him.

"Zayn, let's talk about this. She isn't worth the anger anymore. She's shown it with this." Liam was obviously desperate to calm Zayn down, desperate to refocus untie the knots that the report had tied him in. "We want to help you but you keep shutting us out."

Zayn threw the contact off and stalked to the hallway that led to his room. He turned to face his bandmates and hated the pity that was dripping from their eyes. It only made his anger even stronger. This was her fault. What she had done made him the sad one of the group, the lost puppy dog that everyone took in but nobody adopted.

"Did you ever thing that I'm shutting you out because you don't know shit about what you are talking about, about what I am going through. She was the love of my life. We were together for four years. I thought we were going to make it to the end of this whole thing." Zayn's face was streaked with tears but he didn't know. It didn't register in his pained soul. "You have the perfect girlfriend," he said as he waved his hand towards Liam. "And you can have any girl you want." This time Harry got the gesture and he visibly cringed as he shifted uncomfortably in his spot. "What the fuck do you know about this? You guys aren't the fool. You guys aren't the one being laughed about behind his back as the two of them lie naked in bed after having fucked. I am. I'm the one that will forever be known as the sap who got cheated on. The second best. The one who couldn't keep her. The one who couldn't satisfy her. And he could, every night I bet."

Liam and Harry were shocked as they stood there, taking in the poison that Zayn was throwing up on them. Neither knew what to say but knew enough that any words would be thrown back at them like a grenade. And they didn't want to get hit with the shrapnel. They watched as Zayn turned his back on him, the anger visible in every movement, and disappeared down the hall towards his room. They heard the door slam. They heard the angry scream. They heard the mirror crash. And they remained where they stood, unable to fix their friend.