London Calling

Zayn’s voice was magical. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. His eyes were closed as he belted out the bridge to More Than This with as much passion as he could muster. Jen, Danielle, and Eleanor watched from the bedroom doorway of Liam and Danielle’s room because there was a camera recording the acoustic session with the boys. She smiled softly and closed her eyes for a second, letting nothing but his voice invade her senses. She opened her eyes finding his eyes on her as he sung the last notes of his solo before joining the rest of the of the boys sing the ending. She wasn’t surprised that they were as big as they were now. She can totally see the talent seeping from each man as they sung as if this was the last song they would ever sing and they needed to put their heart and soul into it.

After they finished More Than This, they closed out the acoustic session with Jen’s personal favorite Little Things. Jen smiled wider as Zayn smiled at her as he began the song. This was the part of the song that was able to calm her down in any situation; even in her panic attacks Zayn’s voice and his words could bring peace to her racing heart. She was admiring Zayn some more when she felt her phone vibrate in her dress pocket. She pulled out her phone out and read the text message from the unknown number:

Hey bitch. I’m out and I’m coming for you.

Jen resisted the urge to drop her phone and run as fast as she could. Of course she knew exactly who had texted her. Her heart went from her chest to her stomach in a matter of seconds. She felt her panic begin to set in, but she had to keep herself from freaking out so no one knew there was anything wrong. Zayn couldn’t know that her rapist was coming to get revenge on her for putting him away. He was coming to finish what he started; her life was more in danger than ever. She had to go somewhere and get away from the spotlight. She couldn’t be seen with Zayn so Doran didn’t know where to pinpoint her. She needed to leave London the moment her school was done. She needed to see if she could take her finals early so she could hide herself easier. Doran didn’t know that she had moved in with Jon in Chicago which meant he would stalk Winnipeg and would buy her some time to finish the semester and go into hiding. The question was where she would go to fly under the radar. First she needed a new cell phone and number and to destroy this phone. She did the first thing that came to her mind and that was to flush it down the toilet to get rid of it.

She walked back into the main room with a sheepish look on her face. “Zayn?” she said softly, “I-uh-dropped my phone in the toilet… .” she told him.

He looked at her with wide eyes before the whole room erupted into laughter. Her cheeks turned bright red and looked down. “I need a new one because I’m not getting it out of there.”

“We’re flying back to London tomorrow, can you wait until we can get one for you there?” he responded.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” she told him while nodding.

*****

Zayn was definitely worried about Jen. Ever since the acoustic session, she had been fidgeting and jumpy and any sudden movement put her on high alert. Zayn couldn’t touch her without feeling the flinch that shook her body. He had no idea why she was so afraid. He didn’t like her being afraid, she had been afraid too much in her life already and she didn’t need any more of it.

At first Zayn thought it would be best to just let her figure things out for herself, but after a week she was still looking around warily every where they went, even when they were in school. She looked like she was expecting to be attacked at any moment and he had no idea why. She was becoming more distant with him as well. Zayn knew that something was bothering her and every time he asked her about it, she would brush him off and assure him that everything was fine.

Fine, Zayn hated that word. To him it was a girl’s way of telling him that she was either pissed or not willing to trust him enough to ask for his help. Zayn realized that Jen was an independent soul and didn’t feel the need to include him in her life entirely or tell him every single thing that was going on in her life. He didn’t tell her everything that bothered him or was going on with him either, but he knew that he would tell Jen if it was something he knew he couldn’t handle on his own. He trusted her to be able to give him comfort or help him through a problem. He wasn’t sure Jen felt the same way. She was just so used to keeping things bottled inside her until she exploded and needed help to recover.

He walked into the art studio that the two of them used in between and after classes to get some work done before they went to their apartments and continued with life outside their artistic abilities. After burying themselves in their various forms of art for a few hours longer, Zayn had to return to his band work and Jen had to go back to worrying and looking over her shoulder. He stopped when he heard that Jen was on the phone with her brother. She spoke in rapid French and had a very worried tone to her voice. She would pace for three steps before turning and doing three more steps. She repeated the motion in a fast succession. It worried him how nervous she was. He needed to know what she was freaking out about, now. He couldn’t wait for her to come to him; he had to find out what the problem was before she drove him mad with worry.

Suddenly she turned and abruptly said good bye to Jon before hanging up. “What’s the matter?” he asked her as he gave her a hug.

She shrugged in his embrace and replied, “Dealing with the fact that Jon’s management wants to talk to me about my relationship with you and how it’s going to effect the organization if it is at all. They don’t want all the press I’m going to get when I get home to overwhelm me and they are going to hire someone to help me to deal with the paps, so it doesn’t have any backlash on my brother. They don’t want the press to see me as a distraction to Jon with my new found status. Management wants me to get my own apartment in another building than Jon so the press doesn’t hound him when he’s in the middle of playoffs. I’m trying to talk to the Blackhawk organization about getting all my shit moved there before I get back and it’s just one giant mess,” she sighed.

He kissed her on the head and held her tighter to him, “I’m so sorry this is giving you so much stress to go back to. I would come back with you and try to help, but the tour is going to start as soon as our semester’s over.”

“I know what I signed up for when I got involved with you and it’s just a little overwhelming right now, but I’m a big girl and I can handle it without you and Jon.”

“I’m positive you’ll do brilliant.”

She looked up at him and pouted, “Mostly I’m trying not to get too involved with you because it’s going to make it that much harder for me to board that plane and leave you here.”

Zayn smirked, “Well let me show you just what you’re leaving when you walk away from me.” He put a finger under her chin to make her look up more before attaching his lips to hers. The best part of their relationship was the fact that they both seemed to think they were in it for the long haul and therefore it wasn’t needed to have a fast paced or fierce kiss. Zayn lazily moved his mouth on hers, taking his sweet time in order to memorize everything about the mind blowing kiss.

He could tell she didn’t have much experience because she was content to let him take the lead. The fact that she hadn’t kissed many men before had made Zayn swell with pride. It meant that he meant a great deal to her. She wasn’t one to need a man in her life unless she genuinely had strong feelings for them so she didn’t waste her time as she put it ‘sucking face with everything that had a dick.’ It made him laugh when she told him that, but now he took it as a challenge. He wanted to show her just how good it could be to take part in physical interactions with a man. It wasn’t long before he slipped his tongue into her mouth to deepen the kiss. He was trying to take it slow with her so she felt comfortable but he was just enjoying finally kissing her that he was quickly losing control of his gentlemanly ways.

After a while, he broke off and placed his forehead against hers. They both kept their eyes shut as they caught their breaths. He could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke, “I don’t think I can go back to America after that. I might have to become a groupie and stalk your tour.”

He opened his eyes and stared into her shinning ones, “There’s no need to be a groupie love, just join the boys and I on our bus if you want to come with us.”

Jen groaned dramatically, “That’s so tempting, but I think I should go pay attention to my brother and cheer him on through playoffs. I don’t want him feeling neglected.” He didn’t know what it was, but he thought he heard a hard edge to her voice. He let the thought go out of his mind though; she had finally come clean about all the stress she was undergoing. He knew that preparations for finals and now organizing things at home would be grating on the nerves and that’s all he attributed the tone to.

******

Liam guided his car to a stop in the parking spot in front of a jewelry store. He led Jen into the store with a hand on the small of her back. They both tried to ignore the vigorous flashing from the paps as they stepped inside the building and removed their sunglasses. A middle aged sales associate immediately stepped up to them, “Miss Toews, Mr. Payne what a pleasure to see you. Can I assist you in anyway?”

“No thank you, we are just going to take a look around. We’ll ask for assistance if we need it,” Liam told the man politely. He nodded in response and walked back behind the counter though he still kept a close eye on the two, ready to pounce if need be.

The pair went to the other side of the store and began to look at the engagement rings held in the various glass encasements fashioned into the blue carpeted floor. There were seats scattered around by the ring section so couples could find their wedding rings together. She resisted the urge to touch the glass so no poor soul had to clean it after they left. All the jewelry in the store was shiny and completely beautiful. Jen was completely into the whole thing. She always wanted others to be happy and to know that she was making Liam's girlfriend become very happy was one of the best feelings in the world besides being in Zayn's arms. She caught the thought and tried to shake it off. She knew Zayn was in their relationship for the long haul, but she was still going to America. She wanted to have some sort of a guard up in case Zayn grew tired of the distance.“I think you almost gave Zayn a heart attack when you asked for my help to pick out the ring for Dani.”

Liam laughed, “Well I’ve been keeping it to myself so Danielle doesn’t get suspicious. I wanted to totally surprise her and I was hoping Loki would throw her off my trail.”

Jen nodded with a smile, “Mission accomplished and she has no idea. Eleanor is keeping her busy at the spa as we speak and is standing by for the picture of the ring so she can approve.”

“Okay, thank you for helping me through all this,” he said gratefully as he looked closer at a ring that caught his attention. He pointed at it and Jen looked closer at it as well. She shook her head and moved further down the display. She had gone ring shopping with her brother David the year before and they had visited quite a lot of stores before they both decided on a ring for his future wife. She seemed to become an expert overnight on engagement rings.

She thought of what she knew of Danielle. She was a beautiful and elegant. She was graceful and lithe due to many years spent dancing. She was soft spoken and one of the kindest celebrity girlfriends that she had ever known. She didn’t want Liam for his money or his status; she had true and genuinely strong feelings for Liam. She loved Liam without a doubt and even a blind person could feel how much she cared for him. Sure, she had her own life and her own job, but she seemed to always think of Liam just as much of herself. They were a unit long before Liam decided to propose. Jen decided on a colorful stone to show off Danielle’s beauty in a simplistic band to show how focused the love between the couple was.

While she was thinking of what the perfect ring for Danielle would be, Liam called her name to get her attention. He had big grin on his face and he looked like he was soaring on the air in the building he was so happy. She saw the white gold band with a gap right before the diamonds in the center of the ring. From there the band, took to each side of the diamonds to hold them in place and in the middle of the diamonds was a slightly larger pink sapphire stone. She smiled as she looked down at the ring. It was so beautiful that she literally let out an excited squeal. She immediately hugged him tightly as tears leaked out her eyes.

Liam chuckled as he wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. “Why are you crying? I’m the one emotionally involved.”

She looked away from him embarrassed as she lightly punched him in the arm, “I’m sorry, I’m just so happy for you! I’m a girl; we get emotional about these things. Leave me alone,” she said sheepishly.

He smirked, “Should I tell Zayn to bring tissues if he ever proposes to you?” He waved the salesman over and told him which ring he wanted and what size he needed. The man went into the back room to retrieve the ring.

She punched him in the arm playfully, “No, did you send a picture to El?”

“She loves it.”

Jen and Liam walked into Jen’s flat so Liam could hide the ring for him until his date with Danielle the next night. They both stopped to see a very uncomfortable Zayn with the rest of the boys and Eleanor. They all looked at the two once they entered and abruptly stopped in the doorstep. “What the hell is going on?” Danielle demanded storming up and getting in Jen’s face. She pushed Jen roughly and Liam caught her. “You think you can just come into our lives and mess with the boys’ hearts! It’s not right and I won’t stand by and let you do it!”

“Dani--” Jen tried to interrupt with her eyes wide and a very awkward stance taking over her body language. She had no idea where this was coming from. She looked at Zayn who looked just as helpless as she did. She really didn’t know how to assure Danielle that her relationship was perfectly safe without blowing Liam’s cover. She couldn’t believe that this was really happening. She didn’t talk to Liam all that much, except the last couple weeks trying to plan the perfect way to sneak away from everyone to get the ring. Besides Zayn, she was closest to Niall due to his easy going ways. Clearly Danielle wasn’t easily fooled and caught on to their covert mission from the very beginning, just not what the mission was about.

“Don’t try to justify yourself to me you little slut! I bet you were just waiting for us to feel sorry for you with your fake panic attack so you can go behind our backs and betray us! Someone should teach you a lesson you little whore!”

Jen felt tears in her eyes at the harsh words coming out of the very angry woman’s mouth. She knew none of it was true and she shouldn’t take it to heart, Danielle didn’t know that much about her. She didn’t know that someone had already taken it upon himself to ‘teach her a lesson’ and since he didn’t accomplish it last time, he was coming after her to finish the lesson. She didn’t know that the very lesson Jen received was why she wouldn’t ever cheat with someone let alone be sure she wanted to have sex. Jen let out a sharp gasp when her face was forced to the side and she felt a sharp sting to her cheek. She looked back at Danielle with wide eyes. Liam immediately blocked Danielle’s path to Jen, hoping to put the violence to an end.

“Dani! What the hell?” Liam yelled.

“I don’t even want to start on you right now Liam!”

“I’m not cheating on you!”

“Why the hell would I believe you when the both of you sneak off together!”

“I’M NOT CHEATING ON YOU! I SNUCK OFF WITH JEN TO GET YOU A RING!” he yelled and instantly shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Well I had this whole romantic date planned but now it’s ruined. Jen can I have the ring?”

Jen pulled the velvet box out of her back pocket and handed it to Liam. He took it and knelt on the ground, “Danielle Peazer I love you so much that I would never even think of cheating on you in my wildest dreams. You’re all I think of every moment of the day and I can’t wait to get home from tour to see you. I won’t be happy until I spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” he asked as he opened the box and showed it to her.

Tears leaked out of Danielle’s big brown eyes as she was rendered speechless. She nodded and as soon as Liam was standing, she wrapped her arms around him tightly and showered his whole face in kisses with ‘sorrys’ in between.

Jen smiled at the group behind Liam and Danielle who all had joyous grins on their faces while the boys cheered. She took their distraction to let herself out of her apartment. She went outside in the cool London air and sat on the nearest bench. Pulling her knees to her chest, she wrapped her arms around her legs and put her chin on top of her knees. She enjoyed the breeze that flowed through her hair and cooled her face. She merely closed her eyes and enjoyed the silence.

She was happy for Liam and Danielle, but she felt that Danielle’s outburst hadn’t been completely unfounded. No one really knew her. They didn’t know what type of person she was and didn’t know if they could trust her to be with Zayn. Hell, she spent most of her time holed up with Zayn. The question was if the girlfriends didn’t trust her, did the boys have faith in her or were they just feeling sorry for her like Danielle had implied. What’s to stop them from thinking that she was going to go behind his back when she stayed in America while he was on tour? His friends didn’t have enough confidence in her and that made her lack confidence in herself. It would really be to her advantage to get out of the relationship before she got in too deep. She had a crazy man after her and being with Zayn was complicated enough without the worry of the paps pinpointing her location to Doran. Maybe it was for the best to just cut their losses now. She sighed, she didn’t want to lose
Zayn, but right now it was looking like the only feasible option.

She heard the door to her building open but she didn’t look up. She felt someone sit beside her though they did not speak. Jen hoped that it wasn’t Zayn; she didn’t want to deal with him yet. She just wanted some time alone to think. She had enough for the night and just wanted everyone out of her apartment, but she was too polite to ruin the moment. “I’m sorry Jen. I was stupid to think that you would do that to me and more importantly to Zayn. I’m sorry I thought so badly of you, you didn’t deserve that. I just love Liam so much that I couldn’t bear to lose him.”

“Well you’re engaged and everything is working out for you,” Jen told her with a bit of a bitter tone.

“It is,” she agreed, “Which is why I want you to come out with us and celebrate. Liam told me how important picking out the ring for me was to you and how happy you were for us. Zayn’s lucky to have you and I’m sorry that I didn’t see that when I slapped you,” she said sincerely.

Jen lifted her head and looked the other woman in the eye, “Look I appreciate you apologizing, but if you don’t mind I’d rather let you guys celebrate without me.”

“But--”

“Congrats Danielle, now kindly leave me the fuck alone. You’ve done enough today,” and with that Jen got off the bench and went to the elevator. She rode up to her apartment floor and walked in. “Dani’s waiting for you guys. Go out and have some fun. I’m going to Skype my brothers and study for finals.”

Liam was the first to leave after giving her a tight hug and a thank you. The rest followed suit until

Zayn was the last in the hug line. “I’m going to stay with--”

“No you’re going out with your friends and I’ll be fine here. It’s a big day for your family, Zayn, and you should celebrate with them.”

“You should be there too. We want you there with us, I want you there,” he said softly while cupping her cheek in his hand.

She pulled away from his touch, “I need to be alone right now. Please just go with your friends.”

“Babe she didn’t mean it,” he told her desperately trying to get her to believe him.

“Get out Zayn.”

“Jen.”

“Leave me alone!” she yelled at him. She had had enough for one night and needed some time to think. She couldn’t do that with the whole One Direction clan against her. She needed time to collect herself and she realized she had to be mean to get it. Zayn wasn’t going to listen to reason, so she had to make him listen by yelling.

With a sigh and a shake of his head he left her apartment without another word shutting the door with a resounding slam.