Lacey

I cursed as I tripped up the stairs in my favourite black heels. Sighing I bent down and pulled them off before limping up the rest of the stairs and knocking on Skye and Harry’s front door. I smiled softly as Liam opened the door.

“Hey,” he said softly as I limped in. “What happened?”

“Eh, I just tripped up the stairs, I’ll be fine.” I said waving his concern away. He nodded in acceptance.

“Skye’s in her dance room.” Liam let me know. I nodded and threw my shoes to the side before limping up the stairs. I met Zayn at the top.

“What happened?” Zayn asked curiously. I sighed.

“I tripped on the stairs.” I grumbled. Zayn smirked at me and opened his mouth. “Don’t.” I warned him before limping past to Skye’s dance room at the back of the hallway. I couldn’t hear any music so I opened the door and glanced in. I noticed Harry sitting against the wall on the opposite side of the room as he watched Skye complete a few complicated looking tumbles.

Skye stopped once she noticed me. She jumped up with a small smile on her face. I was taken back; this was not the broken girl I had seen two days ago. The one who was screaming at everyone?

“You came,” she said walking over. “I would hug you but I’m all sweaty.”

“That’s okay. How are you?” I asked sincerely. She shrugged at me.

“Fine,” I nodded in understanding.

“I’ll let you two talk.” Harry said pressing a kiss to Skye’s cheek before leaving the room. I didn’t miss the worried glances he threw her way though.

“So I called you over to say that I’m really sorry about the other day. I didn’t mean what I said and I didn’t mean to out you in front of everyone like that. I’m sure yours and Zayn’s relationship is a lot more complicated then I made it out to be and also none of my business.” She told me with a smile. I stared at her shocked for a moment.

“It’s okay. I understand, you were in a lot of pain.” I said softly. Her smile dropped slightly before she quickly plastered it on again.

“Yeah, but hey things will eventually get better.” She shrugged. I looked at her for a moment before nodding, unsure.

“Did you want to stay for dinner? Harry’s mums cooking us a big feast apparently.” She said happily. I nodded at her. “Awesome, well you can hang out with everyone. I’m going to practice for a bit more before I come down.”

My eyes widened as she practically shoved me out of the room and shut the door in my face. Minutes later, loud music started to blare from the room. Surprised I turned around and began to limp away from the door. I started to walk better as the pain in my ankle decreased. I walked downstairs to see everyone down there but Harry. I paused in the archway for a moment as everyone looked at me.

“What on earth is going on?” I asked perplexed. “Is it just me or did she recover real quick?”

“She’s been like that since yesterday afternoon. Just started to get really happy and then has pretty much been dancing ever since. I think she ended up falling asleep in there and Harry had to carry her back to their room.” Liam told me.

“How is Harry?” I asked softly.

“If he’s not with her, then he’s in his room. He doesn’t really talk much; he’s just kind of there for her all the time. It can’t be good for him.” Louis explained. I nodded and moved forward to sit down on the couch next to Tate.

“I think Skye needs to see someone.” I advised softly.

“Like a psychiatrist?” Liam asked, nodding to show his agreement.

“I know I’m only in college still but I know that how Skye’s acting now isn’t good for her. We all handle grief differently but she needs to talk about it. She can’t just try to move on from it. It will only make it worse later on.” I said softly.

“Can you recommend someone?” Harry’s voice came from the archway to the living room. I glanced back to see him. I could see the bags under his eyes; he looked slightly skinnier even though I had only seen him two days ago. All in all he just looked exhausted.

“Sure, I can get the number for you.” I told him. He nodded in thanks.

“Skye won’t go willingly Harry.” Tate said from next to me.

“I have to try. She’s not Skye right now, I don’t know who she is. The Skye I knew was the one screaming at us two days ago. The one who would constantly fight me and anything she didn’t like. But this Skye, she’s just letting everything pass. She’s not fighting and it’s scaring me.”

“She’s trying to move on.” Zayn’s voice piped up. I glanced over at him.

“She’s doing it unhealthily. She needs to talk about it.” I told him. He shook his head at me.

“You said it yourself, people deal with grief differently. Some people don’t like talking.”

“Well what she’s doing now certainly isn’t going to help.”

“How about we just wait until Harry talks to Skye about it before we go further.” Liam quickly intervened between Zayn and I. I nodded at him as Zayn merely sat back in his chair, refusing to meet my eye.

Anne eventually called us into the dining room to eat. Harry went up to get Skye but soon returned without her and instead grabbed two plates of food and took it back up.

“They’re not eating with us?” I enquired.

“She always says she will, but never does.” Dani said softly from her seat next to me. I nodded in acceptance as we all started to eat the meal Anne cooked for us. I helped everyone clean up after dinner.

“Have you been staying here since...” I trailed off not knowing how to finish the sentence.

“Yeah. None of us really want to leave them.” Tate said softly. I nodded.

“I was going to come back. But I didn’t really want to intrude.” I said honestly. Tate shot me a shocked look.

“You wouldn’t intrude! You and Skye are really close Lace, you definitely wouldn’t be intruding!” Tate said quickly.

“And it’s not like the rest of us hate you or anything.” Eleanor piped up from the other side of Tate. I smiled at her.

“And well you and Zayn are, well you know.” Tate mumbled not meeting me eyes. I could feel my face flush red.

“Me and Zayn aren’t well you know...” I trailed off, awkwardly putting the last plate back in the cupboard.

“Oh of course.” Tate mumbled. The three of us stood there awkwardly for a moment before I giggled softly. The others soon joined in.

“That was so awkward,” I commented between the giggles before we calmed down and headed into the living room. I stopped when I saw Zayn standing outside by the front door.

“You know Zayn didn’t tell us about your thing. We saw you sneaking out one morning.” Danielle informed me. I looked at her confused. “Just saying, don’t be angry at him, because he didn’t say a word.”

I watched as she walked away before I headed outside. The moment the front door shut behind me Zayn spun around. I breathed in the smoke that surrounded him and coughed a little.

“Sorry,” Zayn said quickly stubbing out his cigarette.

“It’s okay.” I said getting over my coughing fit pretty quickly. Zayn turned to stare at me for a moment as I stared back before I walked over and sat on the chair swing behind Zayn. I felt Zayn watching me as I pulled my legs up and curled my arms tightly around them. Eventually Zayn sat down next to me, rocking the swing slightly.

“Do you really think it would help Skye to talk to someone?” Zayn asked me softly. I glanced towards him surprised as he continued to stare ahead. It also surprised me the sincerity in his voice. He really cared about Skye.

“I do.” I said sincerely. He sighed and looked over towards me. “You really care about her don’t you?”

“We’re all a family. She’s my sister.” He said softly staring right into my eyes. “She’s been there for me a lot and she makes Harry happy, she makes us all happy and to see her broken. It breaks us.”

I glanced away from the intensity of his gaze as I stared across the road towards the other houses in the neighbourhood bathed by the streetlights.

“I didn’t tell them about us.” Zayn stated. I nodded.

“Danielle told me.” I said. I saw Zayn’s mouth open again but I cut him off. “Can we just sit here please and not talk. Not talk about anything. About how broken Skye is or what the hell we’re doing. Can we just sit here and just do nothing?”

I glanced towards Zayn as he searched my face for something. Seeming to find it, he finally nodded and leant back in the swing and gently rocked us back and forth. I sighed and relaxed back into the chair. After a while Zayn’s hand came up and gently touched mine that was sitting next to me. I glanced down at our fingers touching before smiling softly and looking back across the street.

It should have scared me how well he comforted me. How he was able to stay silent without questioning why. It should have scared me that by his fingers just touching mine I instantly calmed down. But it didn’t, I couldn’t be scared of Zayn Malik.

Notes

Hmm what is wrong with Skye?? :(