My Only Direction: Chapter 11
“Rose, make sure they don’t look pasty in comparison to my sunny complexion.” Harry told Rose airily, admiring her handiwork in the mirror as Rose moved with a rueful smile over to a disgruntled Louis. “Good job.”
Rose allowed herself a small smile as Harry fought his own smile, as they met eyes in the mirror. Harry was notorious for his constant need for perfection when it came to his hair and make-up team and Rose had already been forewarned that getting a compliment out of Harry Edward Styles was as easy as getting blood out of a stone.
Well, apparently rocks could now bleed, Rose thought happily to herself, as she dusted powder on Louis’ scrunched up nose. It was her first day and the actual word “good” had been used in Harry’s compliment. Renee, one of the other make-up artists, had been on the team for more than a year and the maximum Harry had ever given her was “it’s alright”, upon prodding. That was considered the highest compliment he’d ever given.
Until now, Rose thought slightly smugly.
Within ten more minutes, Rose was done and went to join Soph backstage, where she was texting, her legs tucked under her on the sofa.
“Off-duty?” Soph asked, barely glancing up.
“Mhmm.” Rose nodded. The rest of the team had told her that, for her first night, she could watch the show. Rose was pretty sure that nobody enjoyed clean-up but then again, maybe Liam taking Rose out of the room by the hand had something to do with it, the boys rallying beside her.
“Want to see something funny?” Soph sighed as she heaved herself from the low and comfortable black leather sofa, offering out her hand to Rose.
Rose took it and watched her, interested.
Soph walked them over to the outskirts of the stage, from where they could see the audience, an excited buzz echoing through the stadium.
“You got changed.” Rose noted, looking at Soph’s new attire; a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, some beige boots with furry insides and a mustard-coloured, extra large and baggy T-shirt, braving the face of a large grey fox.
“Yeah, after work.” Soph nodded, scouring the crowd, before finding what she was looking for. Rose watched Soph closely. There was something... Different about her tonight. “There.” Soph said triumphantly, nodding to a blonde figure in one of the balconies, watching the stage with a keen, impatient expression.
Rose recognized her instantly.
“But-” Rose gasped, turning to Soph’s grim face as she glowered at the blonde. “Isn’t she – I mean-”
“Zayn’s ho of an ex-girlfriend?” Soph offered. Rose nodded mutely. “Yep, that’s the one.”
“But why?” Rose finally managed to say, feeling confused. “I... Just... She... Why?”
“She says she wants to talk to Zayn after the show.” Soph said darkly. “Something about clearing up any misinterpretations between the two of them.” Soph said the words with such a foul taste in her mouth, she almost spat them in disgust.
“What, you mean like her having her tongue down the throat of another guy?” Rose gaped. “I don’t even know, man, how can you misinterpret something like that?”
Soph just raised one eyebrow, still glaring holes into Dianna’s head, clearly unimpressed.
Rose went to turn away, before stopping and her mouth opening slightly at Soph’s face. She was chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully, her eyes narrowed as she watched Dianna sit down, smoothing down her skirt. Her lips were a slightly sparkly, light pink and her eyelashes looked longer.
“Nice nails.” Rose managed to say at the unmatching, bright pink nails Soph was sporting. “And are you wearing makeup?”
Soph shrugged.
“Zayn chose the colour earlier.” Soph said absently, tapping her nails on the doorway before turning back to the sofa, Rose watching her, suddenly alert.
“Excuse me?” Rose said after a moment, shaking her head and following Soph back to the sofa.
“Oh.” Soph said, blushing slightly as she realized what she’d just said. “Um, we hung out today.”
“You did?” Rose said slowly.
“But we’re keeping it on the down low.” Soph said pointedly. “Please, Rose, all of the boys already think there’s something strange going on with me and Zayn, I don’t want to add fuel to the fire.”
“And by sneaking around with him, that’s better?” Rose teased, flopping down beside her. “So... What happened today? How the Hell did you end up hanging out? Explain!” Rose demanded.
“Well...” Soph said, a smile spreading across her features. “He came to the Vogue building with my lunch.” Soph glanced at Rose meaningfully. “Pizza. With all my favourite toppings.”
“How did he know?” Rose gasped.
“I asked him that when we went to Haagen Dazs for dessert.” Soph grinned. “He said that just because he hadn’t spoken to me for five months, didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed a few things.”
“He’s so into you.” Rose murmured, shaking her head happily. “So into you.”
“Haha, no, he’s just sweet, that’s all.” Soph laughed, laughing even harder at Rose’s stricken expression. Soph had called Zayn sweet. Jesus take the wheel. “Oh, come on, there must be some redeeming quality in him if Harry is best friends with him, too, right?” Soph thought for a moment. “Odd I never thought it like that before, really.”
“So...” Rose said slowly, too many feelings swimming around in her head. TOO MANY FEELINGS. “Then what happened? Did people notice you in the pizza place?”
“Oh, no, we ate it in a back alley at the top of Regent Street.” Soph said matter-of-factly. “After we bumped into that creep from yesterday-”
“You bumped into him?!” Rose yelped, jumping up and staring down at her best friend. “What? When? What happened?”
“Zayn gave him some pizza, it was all very civil.” Soph replied, the corners of her mouth twitching. “Except for the bit when he threw the pizza on the guy’s shirt, but other than that, it was fine.”
“No!” Rose gasped loudly, slapping her hands over her mouth.
“Yes!” Soph laughed excitedly, standing up. “Oh my God, you should have seen it, the guy was trying to get me to ditch Zayn and have lunch with him-”
“Asshole.” Rose muttered darkly.
“- and he kept going on about how hungry he was and being all weird and sexual and innuendo-ey and then Zayn was like, HAVE SOME PIZZA ON ME and BOOM he had pizza all over his shirt and, Rose,” Soph allowed herself to do a jerky, weird victory dance, pumping her fists. “IT WAS SO AWESOME!” Soph let out in a strangled cry of joy.
“Oh my GOD, right on his shirt?” Rose whispered, holding Soph’s hand tightly. Soph nodded, grinning. “Then what?”
“Right, yeah, okay, so then he was like Soph, let’s go, but I didn’t get it but then I did and so he kind of... I don’t know, escorted me away from that asshole because he was all in my face and we crossed the road and then he couldn’t believe I still wanted dessert and then he took me anyway and then we went shopping-”
“You went shopping?” Rose repeated, her brain unable to keep up with the rapid Soph and Zayn love going on.
“Mhmm, and then this lady offered to do my nails and Zayn got all interested because I’d made him buy so many new clothes-”
“Wait, you were shopping for HIM?” Rose yelled, a hand on her heart. She was about to have a coronary. There was going to be scratching teeth and everything.
“Yeah, I mean seriously, there are only so many varsity jackets a boy can have.” Soph told her, wrinkling her nose, in the exact same way she would have told Zayn, Rose knew, something which automatically made her smile. “We just got him some normal clothes. You know, jeans, a couple of V-necks, Converses, because God knows his wardrobe needs them.” Soph shook her head. “There was an awkward moment when we passed the Marvel underwear and we both wanted to check, but we passed it.”
“Oh, my God, I would have so loved it if you’d bought something.” Rose giggled.
“Wait, what?” Soph said confusedly. “No, he got the Iron Man boxer briefs.”
Rose couldn’t help but let out the high-pitched hoot of laughter. This was just all too much. It was ALL TOO MUCH.
Rose could only listen, her ears ringing slightly with joy, as Soph continued to tell her a word-by-word play of what had happened. They’d shopped, they’d hung out for a while in Starbucks. There were even a load of blurry pictures of Zayn and Soph both acting like utter fools, which Soph had apparently been sorting through when Rose had walked in.
But, from what Rose could gather, the most important thing was that they’d talked.
Zayn was freaking out big-time about Dianna coming to the show tonight, something Rose could at least somewhat understand. The last time he’d seen her, she’d had her tongue down another man’s throat, in a restaurant full of busy people. From what Soph and Rose knew, he’d ignored her messages, which were probably trying to cover up her tracks. She’d known that Zayn had seen her when Soph had told her God knew what.
Soph and Rose were deep in thought, their heads full of theories about what Dianna could want, when Zayn walked in.
“You alright, ladies?” Zayn said politely, Rose grinning as she saw his eyes linger on Soph’s face slightly. Soph had told her how they’d already both decided to ease into their friendship in front of the others. Not only was their random bonding something they didn’t really understand, but also, Soph wanted to tell Harry about that creep her own way, instead of upsetting him.
So Zayn had no idea that Rose knew. Which, for some reason, made Rose feel epic.
“What’re you wearing?” Rose suddenly blurted out, as Soph’s eyes widened, covering her mouth with her hand as she tried to stifle a laugh.
“What?” Zayn asked innocently, looking down at himself. He was wearing a pair of bog-standard blue jeans, some tattered trainers of his and a deep green T-shirt with Mr T’s face on it in cartoon, the caption reading “Quit Your Jibba Jabba Fool”. Zayn’s eyes flickered towards Soph as the corners of his mouth twitched. “I bought it today.” Zayn looked at Soph, fighting the urge to laugh loudly. “What do you think, Soph?”
“I think it’s lovely.” Soph told him, unable to stop the smile on her face from showing.
“Normal clothes?” Rose muttered under her breath at Soph, as Soph and Zayn grinned at each other. “Really? Those are normal clothes?”
Soph just grinned at her best friend.
The rest of the boys filtered in then, as Zayn put on his varsity jacket of the evening, a green affair which he buttoned to the very top, hiding his T-shirt from the crowd.
“What is up with your T-shirt?” Harry asked slowly, stopping as he chewed his gum, seeing Zayn button himself up.
“What’s wrong with it?” Zayn asked defensively.
“Nothing.” Louis muttered, the boys peering at Zayn. “It’s brilliant.”
Soph grinned slyly at Rose, who just shook her head at her best friend, grinning to herself as Zayn and Soph smiled at each other from across the room, before Rose’s eyes caught Liam’s smouldering ones and her heart stopped.
The show was brilliant, as usual.
Soph glanced at Zayn continuously throughout the show, a concentrated expression on her face, as she glanced between Zayn and Dianna. Dianna was cheering him on happily in the crowd, ignoring the fact that Zayn was desperate not to make eye contact to her.
It was just as the boys were wrapping up I Should Have Kissed You (to many screams of delight), when Rose nudged Soph, just about to bear tearing her eyes away from Liam.
“Soph, who’s that next to Dianna?” Rose muttered, as the music stopped, signalling the boys to come traipsing in.
Soph felt herself go sick to her stomach as she recognized the blonde tramp from the restaurant, with the blonde tramp she’d been kissing.
“Rose, can I borrow you for a second?” Liam asked innocently, taking Rose gently by the wrist before she could respond.
Zayn ran back in, the last one in and before Soph could stop herself, she’d placed a hand on his arm, still peering into the crowd with disbelief.
Zayn glanced up at Soph sharply at the contact, despite the thick layering his T-shirt and jacket provided him with.
Soph stopped for a moment, her eyes widening as she glanced at her hand, clutching Zayn’s bicep, to Zayn’s face. Quickly, she dropped her hand.
“Zayn.” She said quickly, looking back into the crowd. “Zayn, look who she’s with.”
Zayn and Soph started muttering between the two of them, Zayn surprisingly calm as he informed her he’d seen Dianna and her new partner from the stage.
They were so engrossed in their conversation, that they didn’t notice Harry glance over at them and double-take, his happy expression slipping away as he saw them both whispering together, Zayn’s head slightly inclined and bent down so he could hear Soph properly.
Meanwhile, Liam had led Rose to the corridor.
“So, um, what’s up?” Rose asked, her heartbeat stuttering irregularly in her chest.
“No, my hair is just getting in my face, help me out?” Liam smiled nicely, disappointment making Rose’s heart drop.
“Uh, yeah, sure.” Rose muttered, heading into the empty dressing room and going straight for the hairspray. Screw this bullshit. Lucky Soph got all the fun, Rose thought wryly.
That was until she felt Liam’s warm body behind her.
Within seconds, he’d whipped her around, his body pressed fiercely tight against hers.
There was a small moment, where Liam looked down at Rose, with the softest expression.
But then it was gone as he pressed his lips fiercely against hers, smashing their mouths together and before Rose knew what she was doing, she had her fingers tangled in his hair, his hands gripping her stomach tightly under her thin black T-shirt, her legs winding around his waist as he set her on the worktop, consequences and Ryan be damned.
The boys returned onstage within a few moments and Rose came back into the room, her cheeks flushed.
“What happened to you?” Soph asked distractedly, watching Zayn. He was too calm, she thought. For somebody who had felt so confused and lost earlier, he was way too calm.
Rose just shook her head, smiling to herself. It was too soon.
Liam was an amazing kisser, let’s just put it to that. And boy, did he know how to work a girl up quickly.
A few more songs passed, before Tell Me A Lie.
“Can’t ever get it right,” Liam began to sing, smirking slightly as Rose blushed, both of them knowing how wrong that was. “No matter how hard I try and I try...”
Soph bit the nail of her thumb carefully as Zayn came onstage, a presence about him that hadn’t been there before.
“Well, I put up a good fight, but your words cut like knives... And I’m tired.” Soph frowned as she felt pity, watching Zayn close his eyes briefly and smile to himself as his words hit home. “As you break my heart again this time...”
The music began to build slowly and Soph watched as the conviction grew in Zayn’s eyes, as he sang with the boys;
“Tell me I’m a screwed up mess, that I never listen, listen. Tell me you don’t want my kiss, that you made your distance, distance, tell me everything but don’t you say he’s what your missing baby, he’s the reason that you’re leaving me tonight, spare me what you’re thinking...” Soph bit on the flesh of her thumb, a proud smile spreading across her face as Zayn looked Dianna dead in the eye, her face shocked, as he sang; “Tell me a lie.”
Soph and Rose couldn’t help but almost burst with pride as Liam and Harry sang their verses, the chorus sang with such conviction from all of the boys, knowing who was watching them and what she was doing to Zayn, that the crowd went wild.
Zayn held his high note perfectly towards the end, almost entirely at ease and as he sang his solo version of the chorus, he rang with a confidence that let Soph know he’d be okay. Because even though it didn’t make a difference to her whether Zayn got through this or not, it did make a difference to everybody else. And more than that, it made a difference to Dianna.
And God knew that bitch needed a telling.
Sometime later, once Rose and Soph had stopped screaming at the victory that was the silent Zayn/Dianna eye battle (Zayn had won, before Dianna had walked out, holding the hand of the aforementioned trampy drug dealer), the show took a pause.
Since their first tour, the boys had upheld the tradition of making every concert a different, unique experience for the fans.
And that included DJ Malik and DJ Tommo.
“I’d like to dedicate this special song to a new friend of mine.” Zayn told the audience, feeling the back of his new T-shirt stick to his back under the heat of the stage lights. “We didn’t know we were going to be friends, but she’s really helped me out today and so this is for her.”
The crowd screamed in such a high-pitch, Zayn temporarily went deaf. They’d noticed the use of the word “her”, then.
A beat-less version of Milkshake began to play, before the music picked up, in the form of Usher’s “Yeah”.
Soph laughed, thinking only of Mo’s strange dance moves, Rose biting her lip as Liam stood at the side, smirking at her from the stage.
As usual, the show ended spectacularly, with – of course – no other than What Makes You Beautiful, as per tradition. The show marked the first of the boys’ comeback tour. There were a few more in London, before they started travelling up North and after that, from Ireland onwards. Soph felt slightly sad, as the boys ran into the small antechamber backstage, screaming and shouting from their adrenaline rush.
Soph wouldn’t be going on tour with the boys, like Rose was. Even though Soph was technically covering the entirety of the boys’ comeback, thanks to their publicist’s exclusive deal with the Vogue House in Hanover Square, she wasn’t travelling. The other Vogue correspondents in each different country would do their own cover and, as of today, Soph was going to be overlooking everything 1D related.
Yeah. Lauren had dropped that bombshell on her today, when she’d returned from her seriously prolonged extra lunch break with Zayn. Lauren had been waiting in her office for Soph. Soph had been expecting at least some type of verbal warning, but instead, Lauren had told her she wanted Soph to overlook the 1D team and the Vogue team had arranged.
Soph had, obviously, been utterly lost for words.
Lauren had gone on to explain that Soph clearly had a good connection to the boys and whilst she’d love it for Soph to be her fly on the wall, she knew that would be compromising Soph’s principles as clearly a member of the 1D family.
Lauren had told her that, as Soph probably knew them better than most, she would therefore be helping them regain their image, as the boyband who had left at the very top.
“And,” Lauren had added. “I’m also doing this because I want an invite to your and Zayn’s wedding.”
Soph had forced herself to laugh at that, despite how weird she found it.
She hadn’t told the boys yet. Soph had explained to Lauren that she wasn’t able to travel very much out of London, due to family commitments. Lauren had explained to her that whilst that would usually be a factor, Soph’s close relationship to the boys (either Lauren was assuming a lot from Zayn, or she knew more than she was meant to be letting on, Soph had thought) outweighed that. Anyway, with Vogue London being the header, it didn’t matter very much, as long as Soph started using a company BlackBerry, which she kept on at all times.
The American Vogue House had wanted the 1D story. As the boys had moved out to LA for a year or so before they’d taken their break, they thought they had more resources to cover the story. That and with 1D being signed to Columbia, one of the biggest record companies out there exempt Hollywood Records, the Disney company, America had been desperate to get the story.
But apparently, after consulting the boys, they’d all decided they wanted everything to come from where it had started – home, in England.
In fact, Soph had found out afterwards that her first interview and meeting with the boys was actually the trial session, to see if they’d made the right choice.
And even though Lauren didn’t say it, Soph got the feeling Lauren had brought that to mind when she’d made her decision.
“Great show.” Rose told Harry confidently, with a smile. Rose realized Harry was sort of her boss now. Weird.
“I had a feeling you’d say that.” Harry said wryly, fighting a smirk. He leant down, his breath brushing against the nape of Rose’s neck and she almost shuddered from the heat. “Next time you start having a tonsil tennis tournament with Liam, you may want to close the door properly.”
“Oh my God.” Rose muttered, her face instantly flushing a deep red. “Oh my God, Harry, I-”
“Don’t worry about it.” Harry laughed, leaning against the wall with Rose and folding his arms casually over his chest. “Haven’t you got a boyfriend, though?”
It was like a slap in the face.
And the worst part was, was that Rose knew Harry probably hadn’t meant it to be.
“Sorry.” Harry said quickly, straightening up slightly, apparently noticing the distraught look on Rose’s face. Oh God. She’d been so wrapped up in her little world, in this universe where One Direction were the entire centre of her universe, she’d forgotten that she had a boyfriend. And that she’d just cheated on him. “I didn’t mean it like that. I should have just kept my mouth shut.”
“No, no, its fine, I needed to hear it.” Rose mumbled, covering her face with her hands as the familiar sting of tears began to grow behind her eyes. “Oh my God, how could I forget something like that?”
Harry stood there quietly for a moment, the room full of staff and family members. Rose and Harry were at the side and, even though he knew Liam would be looking for her, Harry wanted to take Rose away for a moment. If she’d just realized what she’d done, the last person she’d want to see was Liam.
“What are you going to do?” Harry asked, standing in front of her, sounding genuinely concerned.
“Oh God, I don’t know.” Rose said, stopping the tears about to run down her face by placing a finger under her eye, her voice thick with tears. She looked up at Harry tearfully. “What would you do?”
Harry thought for a moment.
“Honestly?” Harry asked. Rose nodded. “I wouldn’t tell your boyfriend.”
Rose gasped.
“It depends.” Harry shrugged. “If this thing with Liam is for real, then tell your boyfriend now and get it over and done with. But if this is just you getting caught up in this massive craziness, then it’s not worth losing somebody you love over.” Harry tried to give Rose an encouraging smile. “Nobody would blame you if you wanted to stay with your boyfriend, you know.” Harry shrugged. “It’s easy to get caught up in all of this.”
“But... How...” Rose shook her head, fighting the urge to burst into a fit of tears. “How can I even make a choice like that? Everything is moving so fast.”
“Maybe you can’t make it yet.” Harry said seriously, kicking the floor absent-mindedly, watching as he scuffed his shoes. “Maybe you never should have had to in the first place.”
Rose glanced up at that, but Harry kept staring at the floor.
“I have to go and talk to Soph, are you going to be alright?” Harry asked seriously. Rose nodded, Harry’s words bouncing around in her head. “See you later.” Harry said with a small smile, before heading away.
“Rose!” Louis shouted, running over as Harry disappeared into the crowded room. “What’re you doing over there? Come on!” Louis dragged her into the crowd as Rose covered her upset face with a big smile, Harry’s words making her feel sick.
“You got a minute?”
“Yeah, sure.” Soph smiled, following Harry out of the room and into the corridor. “What’s up?”
“Soph, what’s going on with you and Zayn?”
“Nothing.” Soph said immediately, cringing at how false it sounded.
“I know what happened at Shazia’s.” Harry interrupted. “And I know you were going to tell me and if I see that prick, I’ll happily clobber him, but right now, I want to know what’s going on with you and Zayn.”
“Harry-” Soph began, not sure how to explain something she didn’t understand herself, but Harry interrupted her.
“If there’s nothing wrong, go and argue with him.” Harry told her, crossing his arms resolutely. “Prove it.”
Just as Harry expected, Soph’s temper flared.
“Fine!” She snapped, before storming back into the backstage room, Zayn unluckily going to walk out at the same moment. “Malik, do you honestly have no sense of direction?”
For the briefest of moments, Zayn’s face flickered with confusion, but, upon seeing Harry, Zayn instantly knew what was going on.
“It’s not my fault you find yourself incapable of walking in a straight line.” Zayn retorted, crossing his arms defensively, Soph’s fists balled at her sides.
“Oh, you know what?” Soph growled, stepping forward towards Zayn threateningly, Zayn squaring up, too, both of them now furious and neither of them knowing why.
“I KNEW it!” Harry yelled, pumping his fist in the air. Soph and Zayn snapped out of it and turned to him curiously.
“What?” Soph demanded. “We’re arguing, aren’t we?”
“No, you’re not.” Harry grinned, slinging an arm around each of their shoulders. “I saw that look. I saw it.”
“What the fuck are you on about?” Zayn asked irritably, already in a filthy mood thanks to Dianna.
“Don’t worry.” Harry told them, grinning cockily now. “I won’t tell.”
And with that, Harry left.
Soph and Zayn stood there, seriously confused for a moment, before turning to each other.
“What?” Soph demanded, seeing Zayn stare at her.
“What?” Zayn shouted, just as angrily back, before they both stormed off in opposite directions. Soph bumped into Harry’s shoulder as she entered the small antechamber again, Harry smiling victoriously.
Because what was going on between Zayn and Soph was clearly not nothing.
