#mod9

“I don’t feel comfortable with this.” Soph muttered desperately, watching four suspiciously innocent faces and an only semi-amused looking Rose in the doorway. “Rose, maybe you should just come, Shazia can go to Hell, and she’s become a bitch ever since she got married anyway, so...”

“Don’t worry, Soph, we’re entirely capable of looking after Rose.” Louis told Soph with a sigh, albeit slightly condescending. Soph watched their faces again; Niall, Louis, Liam and a mischevious looking Harry; a recipe for disaster. In a sick sort of way, Soph wished that Zayn was there; despite Soph and Zayn’s own differences, she at least knew he’d watch over Rose while she was gone. “Go on, go to your little party.”

“I’m really not sure...” Soph said reluctantly, her eyes flickering between Liam and Rose. Liam and Rose had been acting extremely friendly since yesterday afternoon when Liam had gone to find her; but not in a romantic way, more in the same way Soph and Harry – okay, not Soph and Harry, their friendship was extraordinarily unique. More like Soph and Niall, or Louis, or even Liam but – okay, that wasn’t the point. The point was that Liam and Rose being friendly was just plain suspicious and even though Rose had already started texting Rose yesterday’s shenanigans, Soph didn’t trust it.

It or Harry, take your pick.

“Lovely, we’ll be fine, you go and have fun at your friend’s party.” Niall told her softly, nudging her towards the door.

“Well, where’s Zayn?” Soph couldn’t help but ask, fighting the urge to cringe as soon as she said it. “He may be a moody prat, but at least I know he won’t attempt to rape Rose.” Soph amended, proud of her quick recovery.

“Soph!” Rose exclaimed, blushing slightly, but Soph just waved her hand at her brusquely.

“He’s out with his boys, but I promise you, Rose will be fine!” Niall told her firmly, leading her out of the door by the elbow. “Now go and meet your friend.”

“Do I have to?” Soph whined, frowning and even stamping her foot on the ground in protest.

“Yes.” Niall told her. “We’re not going to leave you friendless when we leave for tour. And it can’t be that bad, you were friends once before, right?”

“Yeah, before she thought losing her virginity to an IT geek straight off of the banana boat made her the Queen of Sheba.” Soph muttered under her breath, making her way over to her car. Soph shook Niall off. “Alright, alright, I’m going!” She said irritatedly, heading to where Layla was waiting across the road in her car. “Look after her, boys!”

The last thing Soph heard before getting into the car was Harry’s mischievous giggle.

Which wasn’t at all promising.

Twenty minutes later and Soph and Layla were outside the small restaurant, arguing.

“No.”

“Soph, c’mon, get out of the car.” Layla said impatiently, drumming her nails on the hood of the car. “Soph!”

Soph shook her head resolutely.

“You know just as much as I do that she’s an overbearing cow!” Soph snapped. “You get to disappear halfway through, you won’t be her chosen victim for the evening!”

“Sophie, you can handle her.” Layla told her slowly, using her old friend’s old nickname,, as Soph glared at her stubbornly through her half-open window. “For God’s sake, Soph, she’s just another youngester with an attitude problem!”

“Exactly.” Soph agreed. “So remind me why we’re friends with her?”

“We’re not, she’s just too thick to understand sarcasm.” Layla said flatly, looking mildly irritated at best. Layla seemed to loss control for a moment, because she slapped her hand loudly on the car roof. “Soph, get out of my car!”

“No!” Soph protested, just as angrily. “I refuse to be called old and virginal, by a girl who is two years younger than me and who will probably have babies at the same time I decide to accept, no matter how much I try and pretend it’s a bad dream, that I am a girl!”

Layla groaned loudly.

“Then ignore her and imagine hitting her over the bat with a head every time she does!” Layla told Soph fussily. “Soph, come on, please, let’s just go inside and get this over with.”

“Technically, the longer I stay in here, the less suffering I impose on you, so you should be thankful.” Soph said smartly, looking up at her best friend innocently. Layla had always been the short-tempered one between the two of them, which, being friends with Soph, was quite the feat. Layla was a pretty girl; dark black hair, green eyes, the tanned olive skin shared by them both. Soph had always been glad Layla was the pretty one out of the two of them; Soph had never really known how to handle male attention when she was younger and even now. Soph was always the one to befriend the boys and then blend with them, as opposed to smile at them so they’d buy her a Coke from the shops when they went out.

“Soph, shut up, stop being a smartass and get OUT of my car!” Layla suddenly screeched, slapping her car, whilst Soph sat patiently inside, watching her calmly. “Out, out, OUT!”

Soph watched, disinterestedly, as Layla punched at the car with all of her might.

“Get out of my fucking car, you whore!” Layla was screaming as she punched at the car, Soph smiling and waving the keys at her from inside the car. “Get - fucking - out!”

*

“Right, you can choose the movie.” Niall smiled at Rose helpfully, walking into the lounge with a stack of suspiciously pink-looking DVDs. “Louis is making the popcorn and Liam’s grabbing the blankets.”

“Sounds great!” Rose beamed happily. A night in, with the boys - as just friends. That was exactly what she needed. Rose and Soph had both long ago given up on the idea of girlfriends, exempt one another - and no matter how much people didn’t understand that, ultimately, they hadn’t ever needed anybody else. Friends forever.

But, seeming as Soph was busy - as she put it - “metaphorically having a root canal without any kind of anaesthetic” -, the boys of One Direction would just have to do.

“What about Harry?” Rose added as an afterthought, not that it made much of a difference, especially with the saga she already had including Liam and Ryan, one that could easily put Twilight to shame.

Harry and Rose didn’t really talk much; Harry was always sure to give her a cheeky grin or wink as he walked by her, whenever he did, or high-five her in the hallway, but other than that, they barely spoke. Which was odd, considering between the two of them, they were Soph’s closest friends and - not that she’d admit it to them - her power-base.

Rose knew Soph had probably spoken to Harry since Rose’s initial inquiry of Harry’s first impression of her, she wasn’t stupid. But sometimes she wished Soph wouldn’t be so protective. Rose could handle some flirting with Harry!

Rose smiled to herself inwardly. The inner-fangirl was getting greedy.

As if she didn’t have enough to deal with. And yes, by that she meant boys.

Wow. She’d spent the majority of her life as pretty much a nun, as far as substantial relationships were concerned, but now she was Love City Central.

What a crap name to call herself.

“Oh, he’s going out.” Niall shrugged. “One of his booty-calls.” Niall told her knowingly.

“Ah.” Rose nodded, just as Harry shuffled into the room, slinging a grey blazer on top of his white polo-shirt. Rose couldn’t help but look in slight admiration.

“Am I looking sexy?” Harry asked them seriously, waggling his eyebrows. Rose shook her head at him slightly. In one way, he was exactly as Soph had always told her he was, but on the other hand, he was something entirely new for Rose to have ever encountered.

“I could have you right now, but I don’t think Rose is into gay porn.” Niall told him seriously, making Rose snicker in the corner. Harry grinned. “We’re having chick-flick night...” Niall said teasingly, baiting Harry. “Sure you won’t stay?”

“Sorry.” Harry said, not sounding sorry at all. “I have bigger fish to fry. And do other things to.” Harry paused for dramatic effect, before thrusting his hips and leaving the room. Rose and Niall burst into a fit of giggles, only hearing Harry’s voice from the door - “Don’t stay up, ladies!”

“Who’s not staying up?” Liam asked, shouting something over his shoulder at Harry before the sound of the door slamming, appearing with a load of blankets in his arms.

“Clearly you, your penis isn’t big enough.” Niall retorted, snorting.

In Rose’s defence, she hadn’t realized what had Niall said - and therefore didn’t correctly edit her response - until after she’d spoken.

“Oh, no, he’s doing okay.” Rose said teasingly, before freezing, as Niall and Liam stared at her, Louis entering the room and gaping at Rose in shock.

There was an awkward silence as Rose flushed bright red.

“Rose!” Louis finally gasped, staring at his friend in shock, feeling scandalized. Not Rose. Not his poor, sweet, naive little Rose. “Rose, how do you know such a thing?”

Liam - who had understood entirely what had just happened, but was still smirking happily anyway - met Rose’s eyes with his own. They held their gaze for a moment, before Rose looked away, fighting a smile.

“Because she’s been thinking about it.” Liam said, his happiness taking victory of his lame attempts to remain cool. “She wants me.”

“Oh my God.” Rose laughed, covering her face in her hands. “I have a boyfriend, thank you!”

“I won’t tell him if you won’t.” Liam sang, bouncing onto the couch beside her. Liam had never really approved of that line for any gender before, but right now, it was relevant.

Rose and Liam glanced at each other again, Rose fighting another smile... But they didn’t look away this time, neither of them and even though their eyes said a different, much more intense story, the smirks on their lips didn’t leave their mouths.

“Ahem!” Niall coughed loudly, forcibly pulling Liam away from Rose and setting himself between them. “Now lookie here, both of you, I told Soph I’d keep Rose out of trouble.” Niall pointed at Liam. “And I certainly define you as trouble.”

“What about our secret bromance?” Liam teased, grinning and slinging an arm around Niall’s shoulder. “Where’s the Niam love now?! The fans are counting on us to stay together, Niall, do it for the fans!”

“That’s exactly why you’re trouble, you’re going to get the beating of your life if you cheat on me with a woman, and not in the way you like, either.” Niall said seriously, turning to Rose. “No offence, lovely, if he had to cheat on me with a woman, I wouldn’t mind it being you.”

“Gee, thanks!” Rose laughed, watching Louis shake his head at them all from where he hadn’t moved, in the corner of the room. “Louis, I feel left out, how about some you and me action?” Rose waggled her eyebrows suggestively, enjoying herself too much to care about what she was saying. Usually she was so shy in person! With Soph, it was natural for her to be herself when she’d landed in London, but even with the boys, she was being so forward.

And she loved it.

Louis thrust the popcorn bowl into Liam’s hands and let out the battle-cry - “Rose, COME TO ME!” - before launching himself on top of her and smothering her face in frantic kisses, Rose laughing and squirming beneath him.

Liam was laughing too, and so was Niall. Well. Liam was laughing until he realized how much Louis was enjoying himself.

*

In the end, Layla had stuck her hand through the car window and wrestled off Soph slapping away at it, stolen the keys and forcibly pulled her out of the car.

“Fifi, Lay!” Shazia screamed when she saw them, running over and giving them air kisses. Layla politely did the same, whereas Soph worked as hard as she possibly could to not gauge Shazia’s eyes out, forcing a smile onto her face. “Babes, I’m so glad you’re both here!”

Soph and Layla forced smiles as Shazia turned away to scream instructions at someone.

“You should have let me stay in the car.” Soph muttered under her breath, her grim, forced smile still on her face.

“You should have pushed her in front of public transport when you had the chance.” Layla muttered back.

Soph gaped at her.

“You just stole my line.” Soph murmured in horror. “You just stole my - bitch, no!”

“Sorry, guys, you know how it is when you’re married, you have to get all the singles orderly!” Shazia laughed upon her return and Layla automatically wrapped her hand around Soph’s wrist beside her, knowing Soph couldn’t physically contain herself on her own. “Oh, no, wait, I’m sorry, neither of you are married!”

“Neither of us are going to get stretch marks by the time we’re twenty, either.” Soph muttered under her breath, knowing how much Shazia was freaking out about soon no longer being a teenager. Not that being a teenage wife bothered her in the slightest, when Soph thought that was one of the lowest places woman could fall.

“What?” Shazia asked, narrowing her eyebrows at Soph suspiciously.

Any other girl would have faltered. But not Soph. Tumblr had taught her well.

“What?” Soph repeated innocently, acting as if nothing had happened. Layla beside her barely batted an eyelid, knowing Soph too well to honestly believe for a second she’d misheard her.

Shazia opened her mouth to say more, but stopped, saw something at the side and squealed instead.

“Don’t hug me.” Was Soph’s immediate response, raising her hands up warningly, ready to block any fast approaches. She didn’t want Shazia’s “wedding lergies”. “I mean it.”

But Shazia wasn’t listening; she was fussing over to the entrance at the side and, from where Soph and Layla were standing, making disgusting slurpy noises that usually meant public displays of affection with the guy who had previously been Layla and Soph’s high school nerd. You know the one, with the bad acne.

And not even in a cute, endearing way like that Asian dude from that soap Soph’s Mum and Lay were always watching.

“Oh God, Mo’s brought a load of his lot.” Layla muttered under her breath, turning slightly for a better view. Upon Mohammed and Shazia’s marriage, Shazia had tried desperately to revamp her new husband’s bad image - hence the new nickname “Mo”. The only reason everybody else used it was because it was mocking and Soph and Layla were no exception. It was not that they looked down at Mo - they’d all gotten on fairly well in school - but it was just fun to laugh at the evident pain Shazia’s attempts gave him.

“Oh, YAY-” Soph began to say excitedly, before seeing the stricken look on Layla’s face. Soph grimaced, her eyes widening in terror. “No, surely it can’t be that bad?!”

Layla just stared ahead for a few moments, her mouth opening and closing silently like a goldfish’s. Finally, Layla just shook her head wordlessly and, placing her hands on Soph’s shoulders, steered her best friend around to see for herself.

Soph barely glanced over her shoulder, tossing her hair back as she did, before turning back to Layla, uninterested.

But somewhere in there, between glancing at all of Mo’s giggling cousins and whatnot and turning back to Layla, with a clearly disinterested expression on her face, Soph froze.

Soph froze and her expression changed into a mixture of horror, confusion and panic.

Slowly, Soph turned and looked again, properly this time, her lips parting slightly at the horror of it all.

It was a sick, twisted irony that Zayn was wearing the same expression.

*

“I don’t get how, as a girl with functioning hormones, you can not want to watch Ghost.” Niall was saying, shaking his head at Rose in confusion. “It’s one of the most romantic movies of all time!”

“Apart from Titanic.” Louis interrupted through a mouthful of popcorn.

“Right.” Niall agreed, nodding. Liam just watched with an amused expression on his face, half-lying across the sofa, his socked feet nudging Rose’s thigh slightly. “Rose, are you sure you don’t want to watch a girly movie?”

“Are you sure you do?” Rose teased, trying to ignore their question.

“Horror movies it is, then!” Liam announced happily, pushing himself over the sofa... And crashing into the floor as Rose evilly shot out her leg, causing Liam to stumble to the floor.

“Ha, ha, very funny.” Liam muttered, rolling his eyes with a smile, as Rose cackled uncontrollably alongside Louis and Niall. “Very nice.”

To be honest, though, Liam was in too good of a mood to truly care.

Because Rose didn’t want to watch romantic movies.

That may seem small and insignificant, but to Liam, that meant everything. Things with Ryan weren’t going well and although Liam felt bad to see Rose hurt, he couldn’t help but feel victorious over that leeching Australian sucker.

Rose wanted to watch horror movies because romantic movies were currently irritating her. And Liam, after a lengthy discussion with a fairly baffled Zayn at Liam’s enthusiasm, had finally come to the conclusion that at least once, Rose had felt that... Thing between them.

At LEAST once.

And what more of a perfect way to make Rose feel more conflicted about how much she really loved Ryan, by jumping into Liam’s comfortable, warm, safe arms everytime Paranormal Activity made her jump?

And it’d be even better if she couldn’t sleep.

Because Liam could think of a few things they could do instead.

And even though usually thoughts like that never occurred to Liam,he couldn’t help but be in a damn good mood. The fact Rose had even sought to find comfort with him after Ryan meant he was two weeks ahead of his plan as it was, it was time to bite the bullet.

Because he really liked Rose and really wanted to make her his.

And not in a possessive, derogatory way, either.

“Oh God.” Rose muttered, as Liam pulled out Paranormal Activity 5. “Boys, rally around, this movie scares the shit out of me.”

Liam grinned to himself as he slotted in the DVD.

*

“No.” Soph mouthed, as Zayn stared at her, his eyes just as wide and disbelieving as hers. “No.” She whispered this time, before raising her voice to say; “NO!”

“Oh my God.” Layla muttered, swivelling Soph back around by the shoulders and breathing deeply. “Okay. Okay, we’re not going to freak out that One Direct- oh my God, oh my God, ha! - Direction are here.” Layla broke into a grin, before calming herself. “No, Layla, no.”

“One Direction isn’t here.” Soph told her friend dumbly, still trying to glance over her shoulder. This wasn’t possible. No. NO.

Layla pulled Soph’s face to meet hers, not letting Soph check.

“Um, did you not see what I just saw?” Layla said in a high-pitched voice.

“I saw Zayn, not the rest of them.” Soph told her, before widening her eyes and shutting up. She’d almost said it out loud. Nobody knew how close Soph was to the boys, especially Layla and now definitely wasn’t the time to tell her. “What’s so special about Zayn M-”

“Soph, what are you doing here?”

“Oh my God.” Layla squeaked, as Soph froze, her back stiffening as she felt somebody stand behind her. It was hard to describe exactly; she wasn’t being touched, but Soph could feel it, the presence.

His presence.

Slowly, painstakingly slowly as she tried to form a plan in her mind, Soph turned to see Zayn looking at her in surprise, his eyebrows raising even higher on his head as he took in Soph’s appearance.

And Soph couldn’t help but do the same.

“You look...” Zayn stared, speechless.

“Wow, Malik, I...” Soph replied, equally stunned, as they both looked each other up and down, before their wide eyes met.

Holy crap, they were even wearing the same colour.

As Shazia was a freaky, controlling retard and Mo stood no chance against her, she had hired out the entire restaurant for her “small” party of seventy-five or so and had also demanded that nobody turned up wearing Western clothes of any kind. This had particularly bothered Soph because even though she didn’t mind wearing Asian clothes, she much preferred jeans and a pair of Converses to a flowy, feminine... Thing.

But if Soph had to name one other person in the world, who she thought found wearing Asian clothes just as irksome as she did, she would have instantly said Zayn’s name. It wasn’t so much because she knew him that well or because they’d talked about it, but more because... Well, he just gave off that vibe. He wore his varsity jackets and Air Max trainers the way Soph lived in Levis and band T-shirts.

And she really did LIVE in her Levis and band T-shirts.

But, even though it killed Soph to even think about thinking about it, she had to admit that Zayn looked good.

He was in Asian clothes - which, Soph figured, was probably more disturbing to her than him actually looking... Well, good -, looking smart and comfortable. He was wearing a deep burgundy, much like Soph, only with black instead of Soph’s gold embroidery.

He didn’t look like a stuck-up, heartbroken and whingy bastard.

He looked like a confident young man.

IT WAS ALL SO WRONG.

Zayn, on the hand, was still slightly baffled at a- how Soph was there and b- when she’d transformed into a girl. With girly clothes. Which showed a... Girly body.

Maybe playing his Xbox for the past four days had messed with his eyesight or something.

“Are you having an identity crisis or something?” Soph finally asked Zayn curiously, slightly fixated on keeping her eyes from wandering to where the fabric clung tightly to Zayn’s shoulders. “Or were you just dressing blindly this morning?” Soph shook her head slightly. “Wait, what are you even doing here?”

Zayn blinked at her for a few moments.

“Mo’s best friend is my cousin.” Zayn said slowly. “I came with hi- I don’t need to explain myself, why are you here?”

“Shazia’s an old nuisance.” Soph settled on replying, watching Zayn with suspicious eyes.

“Friend.” Layla managed to rasp through her hyperventilating, more out of habit than anything else.

“Nuisance.” Soph corrected, barely glancing at her friend. “I... Niall said you were out with your boys, your boys aren’t-” At a loss for words, Soph waved her hand vaguely at the crowd of boys who were still by the door, snickering as Shazia bossily instructed Mo.

“Niall?” Layla choked.

But Zayn and Soph were too busy, as they just looked at each other, with equal expressions of horror and disgust.

“You look like a girl.” Zayn blurted out suddenly, feeling stupid as soon as he’d said it. “Like... I don’t know, a girl.”

“And you look Asian.” Soph replied instantly, placing her hands low on her hips. Soph looked Zayn up and down. He looked so... Different. He was clean-shaven, with his small black studs in his ears and he looked so tall and confident and... Manly. “Out of the two, I think you’re the one with the bigger surprise, to be honest.”

There was also a four-letter word beginning with “s” that Soph could use to describe how Zayn looked, but as it wasn’t a swearword, Soph instantly dismissed the vulgar thought from her clearly delirium-suffering mind.

Zayn looked at where Soph’s hands were, her burgundy nails matching the material of her dress-shirt, swung low on the hips Zayn had never noticed before. Not that it was his fault. After all, Soph had been wearing hoodies, Harry’s old sweatpants and beanies for all of the time Zayn had known her. Zayn could remember exactly when they’d first met; her oversized shirt, her skinny jeans and her boots, altogether shouting “give a shit” at them all when they’d first met.

Zayn mentally stopped for a moment. He was paying attention to clothes on girls now? On him, fair enough, but on girls? And not even a girl he was hitting on.

Hitting on a girl. Rebounding.

Well, with Soph here now, clearly THAT wasn’t going to happen.

“Since when did you have distinguishable hips?” Zayn burst angrily, not understanding how Soph could suddenly turn into a girl in the course of less than a day. “Or even a figure?!”

Soph’s own temperament instantly flared up at the indignant tone in Zayn’s voice.

“Since when was it any of your goddamn business?!” Soph snapped back, stepping towards him.

“Since you started stalking me, clearly!”

“Oh, d’you know what, you-”

“STOP!” Layla suddenly shrieked, as everybody else in the room turned to her in surprise and saw Zayn and Soph glowering at each other, only a few inches apart. Layla turned to Soph, her nerves frazzled to dust. This was too much. It was enough for Soph to take forty minutes to get out of the car, and Shazia piss her off within less than five seconds of them arriving, but the arrival of Zayn Malik in the room had Layla reeling. “You two know each other?!”

“No.” Soph said immediately, at the same time Zayn replied with a definitive -

“Yes.”

They both looked at each other, confused, before indignation took over again.

“Shouldn’t you be going and watching blue movies on your laptop because Dianna’s too busy selling herself for crystal meth?” Soph threw harshly at Zayn, expecting his barriers to come down, as always, and for him to walk away, tight-lipped.

But for some reason, Zayn was really, really freaked out that Soph had just appeared out of nowhere like that and wasn’t dealing with it very well.

“Why are you here?” Zayn managed to say in a strangled cry, squeezing his knuckles tightly as he waved them in the air jerkily, looking slightly like a madman.

“Why are you breathing?!” Soph shouted back, genuinely insulted by his existence. “WHY?”

It was at that moment that Shazia - who had been not only rendered with jelly legs from being so starstruck at seeing Zayn Malik’s face,but also the disappointing contrast between Zayn’s face and Mo’s - bustled over, hating Soph. It was Shazia’s first anniversary party and she was going to insult her guest of honour!

Of course, Shazia had no knowledge of Zayn and Soph’s messed up relationship - if it could be called that -, so could only see her main guest, the one man who, had there been any justice in the world, she would have met before and married instead of Mo (poor, sweet Mo), the person that was about to make her party legendary, being verbally attacked and abused by that old spinster Soph.

It was of no consequence to Shazia that Soph was only two years older than her and hadn’t gotten married, because she’d been studying at university instead.

“Soph!” Shazia hissed under her breath, but of course, everybody could hear it for two reasons; firstly, because Shazia just had one of those loud voices anyway and secondly, because everybody was watching in interest as little Soph lost it. Soph was fairly reserved in situations like these: she was friendly, she smiled, she was nice and she didn’t say much not because she was shy, as people seemed to think, but because her parents had strongly instilled the belief of “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything” at events just like these.

Shazia stormed over, already apologizing to Zayn.

“I’m so sorry, you must be so tired of fans just gushing over you-” Shazia GUSHED, wrapping her arm around Soph’s wrist.

“Unhand me, you pox-ridden peasant!” Soph snapped, mentally berating herself for her insult a moment later. This is what she got for nurturing and encouraging her love of Shakespeare and Doctor Who, instead of squishing it like a... Bug or something. Ha. Bug. Doctor.

Soph was getting off hand.

Nobody apart from Zayn had heard Soph’s comment, because they were too busy watching Zayn’s blinking face as Shazia rapidly fired about seventy words a second at him, Soph glowering at them both.

“... I’ll make sure she leaves you alone.” Shazia told Zayn sweetly, before giving Soph a death glare that, if Soph had been any less of a young woman, she may have received at least some sort of mental anguish from. “Come on!” Shazia’s eyes blazed and Soph narrowed her eyes at the young girl, again wondering why she’d never hit her before.

“Oh, no.” Zayn said quickly, blocking Shazia’s way. Shazia’s eyes glazed over slightly. The flecks of green in his eyes were sparkling under the light, the chocolate brown still shining beside them. “No way, she’s the only person I know here, she’s not going anywhere.”

“What?!” Soph and Shazia spluttered simultaneously, as Layla let out a little squeak beside them all, watching the horror - or glory, depending on how you looked at it - unfold before her.

“Soph, in case you hadn’t noticed, these people are going to eat me alive as soon as you turn away.” Zayn muttered under his breath, everybody watching curiously as he stepped closer to Soph, so only she could hear him. “Please don’t leave me.”

Soph stared blankly at him.

“Your fans, your problem.” Soph concluded, shrugging.

“Soph!” Zayn whined. “Do me a favour, please?”

Soph stared at Zayn for a moment, before wrenching her wrist from Shazia’s grasp, her hands falling dangerously low on her hips again that Zayn almost groaned at the sight. Soph being a girl was so wrong and he knew she was barely even trying, if at all.

“Do I look the type of person that does favours to you?” Soph asked Zayn blandly, looking at him like he was stupid. “I’m disappointed, I thought you’d know me better.” She said sarcastically.

Zayn briefly closed his eyes, before opening his mouth to speak, but stopped, seeing Shazia trying to lean in and catch their every word.

“Can I talk to you over here?” Zayn said, his voice strained, jerking his head to the left slightly.

“No.” Soph snorted.

Zayn fought a yell. Soph was so frustrating sometimes, why couldn’t she do this one thing for him? She was bothered about his feelings, or pretended to be, before, so why was she being so... Difficult now?!

Zayn just stared at Soph, pleadingly almost.

And Soph, just because antagonizing Shazia by talking to Zayn was the lesser of two evils (but only barely), groaned, rolled her eyes and moved slightly to the side.

“What?” Soph hissed under her breath,  irritably. “What is it?”

“Soph, for God’s sake, can you please just help me out here?” Zayn pleaded, surprising himself. “Have you seen these people?” Zayn glanced around at the watchful room, snatches of whispers from their audience slivering towards Soph and Zayn. “They have hunger in their eyes!”

Soph crossed her arms and watched Zayn with utter incredulity.

“In all seriousness, have you ever been admitted to a mental assessment for paranoia?” Soph asked, watching him in sheer annoyance. “Be completely honest and, please, genuinely think carefully about it.”

“I’d rather spend the evening torturing myself and your newfound, creepy femininity-” Zayn gestured vaguely at Soph.

“Oh, get over it!” Soph groaned loudly.

“- than with any of the creepy, stalker girls here tonight.” Zayn finished, hoping Soph would understand. She’d do it for Harry. She’d do it for any of the other guys. Rose would do it for Zayn. Why was Soph being such a cow?!

Soph considered punching Zayn for a moment. Not just in her head, either, like with Shazia, but genuinely beating the shit out of him, just for a laugh.

“So, the barrel is already so low, that I, the lowest of the heap, am an improvement?” Soph said slowly. “Gee, Malik, you really know how to persuade a girl.”

Zayn fought the urge to yell at something.

He had given her no choice.

“I’ve already spoken privately to you in front of everyone, for a prolonged period of time, when we’ve already gotten our stories wrong on whether we know each other or not.” Zayn told Soph lowly. “It looks suspicious anyway. You either make the best of it and make out we’re friends or our families know each other or something, or everyone thinks we’ve got something going on, because they’re Asian and they do that and I don’t deny anything.”

Soph stared at Zayn in shock.

She didn’t know what had freaked her out more; the fact Zayn was so aware of their surroundings and blackmailing her with it, or the fact he’d used the term “because they’re Asian”, one Soph so frequently used.

They sounded so alike.

The picture Harry had showed her flickered through her mind for a moment, as Zayn looked determinedly down at her,towering above her, even in the pathetic dark red heels Layla had made her wear.

“You evil genius.” Soph finally said slowly, as Zayn breathed a small sigh of relief. “If you weren’t being such a bastard about it, I’d applaud you.”

“So, that means you’re hanging out with me, then.” Zayn grinned slightly cockily, unable to help himself. It wasn’t really to do with hanging out with Soph - or the new, feminine looking Soph that freaked Zayn out - but more the victory. He followed her as she turned and began to walk towards Shazia, who was muttering something to a poor, confused Layla.

Soph stopped and glared at him over her shoulder, the different, natural shades of brown in her hair catching the light and shining, that shade looking familiar to Zayn, not realizing it was the same colour brown as in his eyes.

“Don’t piss me off, Malik.” Soph told Zayn sharply. “And don’t get used to having one up on me, either.”

“Me?” Zayn muttered under his breath, unable to help but smirk to himself for some reason, following Soph as they approached Shazia and Layla. “Never.”

*

“LOUIS, STOP IT!” Rose screamed, as Louis jumped out at her from the dark again, popcorn flying everywhere. Rose grabbed Liam tightly, burying her head in his chest, as she fought the urge to run, screaming, from the house. “LOUIS, I FUCKING HATE YOU! I hope the creepy monster with the chicken legs gets you in your sleep!”

“Chicken!” Louis shrieked, pulling out a bloody rubber chicken from God knows where and dangling it in Rose’s face, making her scream again and clutch onto Liam was tightly as she could, whilst Niall rolled over on the floor, laughing.

“Alright guys, enough.” Liam laughed, his chest vibrating underneath Rose’s cheek.

“Promise?” Rose asked quietly.

“Promise.” Liam told her.

Rose opened her eyes reluctantly and saw Liam smiling happily down at her and Rose couldn’t help but smile too.

That was until Louis jumped up behind Liam wearing a Scream mask and Rose legged it up the stairs as quickly as she could, screaming and her eyes filling up with tears.

Why, WHY did she always choose the scary movies?

“Rose!” Rose heard Liam shout, running up the stairs behind her, holding back a laugh. “Rose, he’s being a prat, ignore him!”

Rose was so busy checking over her shoulder for a creepy Louis, that she didn’t look where she was going and ended up barrelling into someone... Or something.

Rose screamed as loudly as she could, facing the curly-haired monster in terror.

Wait, curly-haired?

Harry had snuck in about two hours or so ago, before sending his two lovely lady companions on their merry way about twenty minutes back. He hadn’t seen any point in disturbing the boys, or Rose, or Zayn if he’d come back yet.

He was just on his way to the bathroom for a piss and a shower, when Rose barrelled into him, screaming at the top of her voice.

In all fairness to Harry, he barely reacted. He was on too much of a high from his zen, to, in all honesty, give a shit about anybody else other than those lovely and very flexible girls he’d had in his room just a few moments ago.

The happy feeling had been so good, he still wasn’t back from it yet, let’s just put it that way.

Rose screamed for a good more two minutes as Harry looked peculiarly down at her, before she stopped, slapped a hand over her mouth and ran into the brightly-lit bathroom, slamming the door closed behind her.

Harry stared at the door for a few moments. Hadn’t he been heading in there? How had Rose gotten there first? And where did she learn to run so fast?

Liam came up the stairs a few moments later, double-taking at the sight of Harry, before sighing at the door.

“Louis scared her.” Liam explained, despite the fact Harry hadn’t asked. “We were watching scary movies.” A small, proud smile crept onto Liam’s features. “She didn’t want to watch romantic movies.” He said proudly.

Harry just stood there, not quite sure how his evening had been filled with happy screams to unhappy screams in less than twenty minutes. Less than two seconds, actually, if you counted the vivid, pleasing memories Harry had been replaying in his head before he had been so rudely barrelled into.

“Rose?” Liam called out tentatively, knocking on the door gently. “Rose, I’m sorry about Louis, we didn’t mean to frighten you like that, I didn’t know he was going to do that. Are you okay?”

There was a sort of muffled, crying noise emanating from the bathroom and the door didn’t move.

Harry blocked out Liam’s pleading as he stood there, slightly confused as to what was going on. He was still on his sleepy high.

A few moments passed as Liam tried to talk to Rose through the door, Louis and Niall gathered on the stairs shouting out meaningful apologies and Harry standing there, not really understanding what was going on.

“Here.” Harry muttered, stepping forward and batting Liam away. “Let me try.”

Liam watched Harry with a dubious expression, but moved aside.

“Rose?” Harry called out loudly, squinting slightly. He hadn’t washed his hands after... Certain activities, so he couldn’t rub them, which was irritating. Harry let out a small yawn. “Hey, Rose, can I come in for a moment?” No reply. “The boys aren’t with me.” Nothing. “Rose, I really need to pee!” Harry whined suddenly, Liam punching him on the shoulder. “Get off, Liam! Rose, I need the loo! I’ll be really quick, I promise!”

Liam, Niall and Louis started objecting, Harry sticking his fingers in his ears and shouting “lalala” as they did; but they all went silent, as they heard the lock of the bathroom door slide back.

Well, everyone except Harry, who still had his fingers in his ears and had to be nudged by Liam before he got it.

Liam and Harry glanced at each other, before tentatively, Harry turned the bathroom handle.

And it worked.

“Well done, Hazza.” Liam murmured, stepping forward.

“Um.” Harry objected, standing in front of him. “No. I wasn’t joking.”

“But-” Liam began to protest, but Harry slid into the bathroom and slammed the door shut as the other boys began to shout.

Rose was huddling her knees to her chest on the bathroom floor.

Harry coughed awkwardly.

“D’you mind?” Harry asked, motioning to the toilet.

“I thought you were joking.” Rose sniffled.

“Oh, no.” Harry said cheerfully, pulling down his trousers and heading for the toilet. Rose gasped and instantly slapped a hand over her eyes, despite a small, sick instinct telling her not to. Perversion. “Oh, don’t worry, everybody else has seen it.” Harry told Rose comfortably.

“He’s talking about his dick.” Liam muttered on the other side of the door to Niall and Louis, his ear pressed against the door.

“Soph hasn’t.” Rose pointed out, peeking at Harry through her fingers, being sure to block anything waist-down from her view with her hand.

“No, she did, she just didn’t talk to me for a week.” Harry said conversationally, going about his business. “But, I mean, it can’t have been that bad, nobody else has ever complained before.” Harry grinned at Rose. “Definitely not tonight, either.” Harry waggled his eyes suggestively and Rose smiled slightly, a small, embarrassed, almost shy smile, but one all the same.

Harry finished up, zipping his trousers and flushing the toilet. Rose let her hand down to see Harry standing there, offering her his hand, to help her from the floor.

“You haven’t washed your hands.” Rose pointed out.

Harry mouthed an “oh”, before wiping his hand on his trousers and offering it again.

A small laugh burst from between Rose’s lips.

“That’s disgusting.” Rose laughed.

Harry grinned at her, washing his hands - with soap and thoroughly, Rose noted - at the sink.

“Made you feel better, though. See you later.” Harry told her with a nice smile, opening the door. Liam, Niall and Louis stumbled onto the floor and Harry didn’t bat an eyelid. “Paedophiles.” Harry spat with fake contempt, before pushing his way through them, like there was nothing wrong with that scene at all.

Zayn watched as Soph took a small nibble of food, a few seats across from him.

Soph, feeling somebody staring at her, glanced up to find Zayn’s watchful face.

“What?” Soph asked, swallowing her food first.

“You normally eat more than that, are you feeling okay?” Zayn asked genuinely. He’d seen her put away more food than Niall. And that was official, they’d had a competition and everything. Their table was empty, as people were socialising, but, as far as Soph was concerned, as long as Zayn didn’t speak, she could deal with that.

Soph checked Shazia wasn’t in earshot.

“Have you tasted this stuff?” Soph murmured quietly. “Tip from last time? Don’t try the lamb.”

Zayn stopped chewing and looked down at his fork suspiciously.

“Spit it out.” Soph told him. “I’m being completely serious, unless you want bodily fluids coming out of places that should otherwise be fluid-free, spit it out and don’t swallow it.” Soph recognized that small tilt of the lips from Harry and rolled her eyes. “You’re just as bad as he is.” Soph muttered, knowing Zayn was thinking of the innuendo, as he discreetly spat his food into his napkin.

“We can pick you something up on the way back, if you like.” Zayn offered, as Soph stopped playing with her salad with a nauseated look on her face. “To make up for me blackmailing you.”

Soph just looked at him. There was so many things wrong with the way this evening was turning out.

“Are you on crack?” Soph asked seriously, peering at Zayn. “I’m not being rude or sarcastic, I am genuinely asking if you’re high.”

Zayn laughed and set his napkin down on the table, pushing his plate away slightly, the universal sign for being finished. Soph raised her eyebrows. That was table manners. How the Hell did Zayn have table manners? It was Zayn.

Zayn nodded at one of the waiters as he took his plate, Soph thanking the same one who took hers. Soph waited patiently. Hell, if she was being forced to do this, she may as well get some sort of... Something out of it.

Zayn waited until the waiters had moved on that he replied.

“I may as well thank you or repay you or something for helping me out.” Zayn told her. “That’s all.”

“I didn’t have a choice.” Soph murmured, narrowing her eyes at him from across the small, round table.

Zayn stood up and moved to sit beside her. Soph stared at him in horror.

“Yeah, you did.” Zayn murmured, with an annoyingly smug, childish expression, as his face neared Soph’s as he went to sat down.

“Prick.” Soph muttered under her breath as Zayn grinned at her. Soph glanced around the room as the music in the background continued to play, before wandering back to Zayn’s face... Which was staring, horrified, at something behind her. “What?” Soph asked, following Zayn’s stunned face to where Mo was dragging a kicking and screaming - literally - Shazia onto the dancefloor. “Oh.” Soph laughed, turning back to Zayn. “Mo’s dancing isn’t that bad once you get over the initial horror, pain and shock it inflicts on you, it becomes almost sadly entertaining after a few minutes.”

Zayn turned to her.

“Have you heard the song playing?” Zayn asked. Soph furrowed her eyebrows and listened.

Milkshake by Keris was playing.

“Oh my God.” Zayn muttered, his eyes widening.

Soph turned and, upon seeing that monstrosity, clapped a hand over her mouth.

Mo was... It wasn’t dancing, necessarily. It was more... Waving his arms around and... Kicking air...?

He was so engrossed, that he bumped into somebody without realizing, that person almost barreling into Soph.

“Come on.” Zayn muttered, his eyes fixed on Mo in horror, as he stood up. Soph obliged, standing on the sidelines with Zayn and a few others. Shazia looked mortified. Well, Soph thought evilly, karma is one Hell of a bitch, you goodly-rotten apple. Urgh. Soph needed to work on her insults, seriously.

The chorus of the song began to play and Zayn looked down and tried to stifle a laugh. Soph glared at him.

“What?” Zayn asked innocently, all traces of a smile disappearing. “Soph, what?”

Soph just looked at him.

“You know what.” She muttered, looking away and cringing at Mo’s dancing. All of his friends were encouraging him, as were Shazia’s, though more out of revenge.

“But Soph...” Zayn said quietly and reluctantly, Soph turned to face him. “His milkshake brings all the girls to the yard.”

He said it so seriously, that, had Zayn not cracked and shown the beginnings of a smile a moment later, Soph could have genuinely believed he meant it.

She tried to hold it in. She tried to ignore it.

But God it was funny.

“No.” Soph murmured, turning away and refusing to laugh.

Zayn watched Mo for a moment, concentrating on the way he was dancing. Zayn tried a slow imitation, focusing.

“No!” Soph said louder this time, grinning, but covering her mouth. “No, no, I will not fraternize with the enemy!”

“You want to laugh.” Zayn sang, grinning as Soph glanced at him, covering her mouth to not show her smile. “You want to laugh, you want to laugh, you want to lau-”

“Shut up!” Soph suddenly burst, laughing and smacking Zayn’s arm repeatedly. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

Zayn laughed as Soph proceeded to hit him, Soph still fighting her smile, as Zayn continued to sing the lyrics to Milkshake under his breath, every now and then mimicking Mo’s dance moves.

Their laughter subsided and they watched on as Shazia angrily pulled Mo away, looking pissed off.

A few people began to mill on the dancefloor, one boy finally plucking up the courage to ask Layla to dance. So far, she’d alternated between silently glaring at Soph, watching Zayn with a dreamy expression and fighting off Shazia’s overly-eager friends and male cousins.

Zayn and Soph both watched on, surprised at the forwardness. Then again, that was what happened when you put virginal and hormonal young adults of the opposite sex in the same room, without chaperone's, together. Nobody would cross the line, but they’d have a bit too much fun.

“Do you want to dance?” Zayn suddenly asked, glancing at Soph, his arms folded impressively across his chest.

“Do you want me to hit you?” Soph replied instantly, barely glancing at him, as Zayn chuckled under his breath at Soph’s quickness.

“How about I strike a deal with you?” Zayn offered, knowing Soph wouldn’t be able to resist. How he knew that, he wasn’t sure, but he did.

“No.” Soph replied straight away, before sighing and turning to him, looking bored as Layla tried to send Soph pleading looks to save her. Zayn stifled a laugh. “What?”

“If I tell you something I haven’t told anybody else before, and you believe it, you have to be nice to me.” Zayn said slowly, smiling slightly.

“And in what way is that beneficial or interesting to me at all?” Soph asked boredly. “Anyway, you’re a compulsive liar, you have that air about you.”

“If you believe me, then.” Zayn countered. “Go on, try.”

Soph stared at him. He was soooo on crack.

“Fine.” Soph sighed offhandedly, deciding that without Mo and Shazia’s dramas, she had nothing better to do. “Surprise me.” Soph said dryly.

“I’m sorry for how I treated you. Before, I mean.” Zayn told her seriously, glancing up from the floor to look at Soph properly and succeeding in surprising her. Soph’s eyes widened slightly at the revelation, her weirdly girly-looking lips parting in surprise for the second time that night. “The truth is...” Zayn let out a breath. “When I came back from Pakistan with my family, I’d spent so much time away, I’d thought things would change. And they had, but not in a bad way. And then you came in and it was so easy for you to fit right in and I couldn’t pretend it was anything to do with me being away, it just...” Zayn hesitated whilst Soph listened dumbly, rendered speechless. “You made me realize I was just being insecure and I didn’t like that. So I blamed you.” Zayn let out a small, self-conscious laugh. “My little sister would say something like that, twisting her way out of it.”

“Your sister. The clever one.” Soph stated, surprising Zayn and herself. She’d read it somewhere. The sister that was like the one from Drake & Josh. She looked up at him. “You shouldn’t talk about her like that, you know. One day, she’s going to realize it’s not a compliment and she’s not going to like you for it.”

Zayn raised an eyebrow.

“Is that coming from experience?” He asked sarcastically, though his tone still mild.

Soph glanced at Zayn and looked away. Zayn raised his eyebrows.

“I’ll bear that in mind.” Zayn said awkwardly after a moment. “Can I carry on?”

Soph shrugged, refusing to look at him.

“Hang on.” She said, just as Zayn opened his mouth to speak. Zayn waited patiently. “You were in Pakistan? For your holidays?” Soph remembered the Bradford accent she’d heard in the car, with her father and his secretary. Soph shook it off as Zayn nodded. No. It was too much of a coincidence.

“And you made me realize that I was feeling sorry for myself about Dianna in the same way.” Soph snuck a look at Zayn from under her eyelashes, not fully believing what she was hearing. This was too surreal. “So, I should be thanking you, not blackmailing you, or being a prat.” Zayn rocked back and forth on his heels slightly. “So... I’m sorry. And thank you.”

Zayn watched Soph as she deliberately kept a poker-face, both of them silent for a few moments. Layla was shouting at that boy who had been harassing her. An Asian song was beginning to play.

“Apology accepted.” Soph finally said slowly. “And... You’re welcome, I guess.” Soph said awkwardly, glancing at Zayn with a weird expression on her face. This was all too weird for her.

Zayn nodded.

“So... How about that dance, then?” Zayn offered with a smile as Soph rolled her eyes - and they were back to normal. “We can go back to hating each other afterwards, I swear.”

Soph hesitated at that and if she was honest with herself, felt slightly disappointed. It wasn’t that she’d expected any less, or wanted any less either, but... Well, for a few moments there, it was like her and Zayn had been getting along.

“Tell you what.” Soph sighed, turning to him. “If you can translate the lyrics to this song for me and prove you’re not as coconut as you accused me of being, I’ll let you dance around me.” Soph smiled wryly at him. “How about that?”

“Deal.” Zayn grinned. “Just say when.”

Soph waited for a few moments, walking around the dancefloor with him.

Zayn listened for a moment. Soph was confident he was going to fail. He may be able to pull off the tight and gentlemanly burgundy dress coat and billowing black trousers, but he couldn’t handle the language in the same night, too. It was hitting above his weight.

Soph walked in front of him, both of them going slowly, watching him from over her shoulder.

Zayn listened as the lines were repeated as part of the song. Soph prayed he didn’t make his mistake TOO laughable, she actually quite liked this song.

“Again and again, your body contours, your walk, your smile.” Zayn began to say as Soph stopped, staring at him, amazed. Zayn fought a smile as he looked straight into Soph’s dark brown eyes, enjoying the stunned expression on her face. “Intoxicate me with your beautiful eyes, oh poisonous beloved, come to me.” Zayn looked innocently at her, as Soph watched, unable to comprehend Zayn’s sudden burst of clearly newfound brain power. “That enough?”

Soph could only nod mutely. Since when could Zayn - how had he - just - HOW?!

“Come on then, I believe I’m allowed to dance around you?” Zayn grinned, walking with Soph to the floor, in the middle of a now fairly big throng of people.

Neither of their bodies noticed how Zayn’s hand had been wrapped around Soph’s wrist, until he let go. And they both didn’t notice, even then. They just noticed a sudden absence. Like a missing limb.

Soph and Zayn stood awkwardly, watching everybody else dance excitedly.

“Go.” Soph managed to say, after clearing her throat for a second. “Dance around to your heart’s content.”

Zayn just watched her for a moment, feeling awkward. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. As Louis would put it, people were screwing lightbulbs and patting the dogs everywhere, especially the guys.

So Zayn did the only thing he could do.

He started doing the robot.

At first, Soph was sure she wasn’t seeing right. Hell, maybe all of it, even ever getting her dream job, her first job, at Conde Nast, was all just the happening of a delirious dream in the Pakistan heat. It was then that Soph began to get the slightest inkling of the enormity of her situation; One Direction, her job, Rose, even this conversation with Zayn.

Soph blinked for a moment.

This was all just too weird.

And because of that, and because there was nothing else Soph could do, Soph laughed.

Loudly.

Zayn grinned, slowly doing the robot, in the middle of a sea of dancing people.

“Okay.” Soph nodded, subtly bringing up her arms and beginning to do the robot with her. Zayn let out a hoot of approval. “Okay, just this once.”

“Haha, yes!” Zayn grinned, standing there, doing the robot, with Soph.