Charly

“He’s a dead man”, Charly said out loud as she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She had rubbed and brushed her body several times, especially her face, but her skin still showed a light version of all the colors Zayn had sprayed on her, mixed with red from scrubbing her skin like a maniac. “He’s so dead”, she said again. She looked ridiculous.
When her skin hurt from all the scrubbing, she gave up, got dressed again and stepped out. “Oops”, Zayn said, when he saw her still covered with paint. “I give you oops…you said they come off”, Charly snapped at him. “To my defense, I said ‘I guess’”, Zayn put his hands up in defense. “Oh love, what happened to you?”, Lou said as she came into the dressing room. “Zayn happened to me”, Charly pouted. “You said, it was okay and the pictures are really amazing”, Zayn said. “I know, I know, but…look at that”, Charly said and pointed up and down her body. “What pictures?”, Lou asked. Zayn took out his phone and showed her the pictures of his 3D painting. “It was Charly’s idea actually, it’s called a 3D painting”, he explained and Lou scrolled through the pictures. Charly took a look at it again and swallowed. She really needed to work out. She was so caught up in her, what she thought, chubby appearance, that she couldn’t even fully appreciate Zayns amazing painting.
Right at that moment, Mark came in. “Hey Mark, do you have a minute?”, she asked and walked over to him. “What happened to you, love?”, he asked surprised at Charly’s appearance. “Zayn, but that’s a different topic”, she waved off. She would probably hear this all day.
“I was wondering if you’re working out with one of the guys tonight after the show and if I could join you?”, she asked. “Sure, I’m taking Harry to the gym tonight. If you’re still up, you can come. It’ll probably be around midnight”, Mark said. “Midnight?”, Charly asked with big eyes. “Of course. The show ends around 9:30 to 10 pm, what you think when this would take place?”, Mark chuckled. “Alright, alright”, Charly gave in. “Just let me know when you guys get going”, she said and walked back to the others.
“My god, what happened to you?”, Lisa asked surprised as she also walked into the room. “Zayn”, said everybody present in unison. “I have an all-body-peeling, it might help you”, Lou said. Charly sat down on the couch next to Niall. She pulled up her shirt over her stomach and looked at the mess that was her skin right now. You could easily see where her hand has been on her stomach. “I look ridiculous”, Charly said and Niall looked over to her and his eyes immediately went down to her bare skin. “You look beautiful”, Niall mumbled. “What?”, Charly asked because she didn’t understand him. “Nothing”, he shook his head and turned away because he felt his cheeks blushing.
“Come on, let’s take care of your body”, Lou appeared in front of Charly and held her hand out. Charly grabbed it and Lou pulled her off the couch. “Lisa, can you come help me? This is a work for two”, Lou asked her friend for help. “I can help”, Harry volunteered. “Nice try, Styles. Go look for someone else to scrub”, Lisa turned him down. It was always the same with those boys.
The three girls drove back to the hotel and went up to Lou’s room. In the bathroom, Charly stripped down to her underwear and Lou and Lisa started on her legs, tightly rubbing the peeling gel on her skin. “Shit, that hurts”, Charly whined. Her skin was all red and glowing. “Zayn is so dead”, she mumbled to herself. “Knock it off, Charly. He said it was your idea so you blew your chance to get revenge”, Lou said and started scrubbing Charly’s tummy. “I’m actually scared for my boobs”, Charly said and looked at her breasts. “Yes…that will be a tough one”, Lisa said and looked up from scrubbing Charly’s right leg. “Maybe I’ll just keep it like that. It has to come off someday”, Charly said and wanted to back out of the bathroom, but the two girls grabbed her at her knees and stopped her from storming out.
“Stop that, we’re finishing it and you will not let paint on you again”, Lou pulled out the mother in her and Charly actually felt a bit intimidated. She remained silent, except for a few more weeps when they got to the sensitive skin parts. “Now get in the bathtub, we will cover you with cold water. It will ease the pain”, Lou said and helped Charly into the bathtub. She lay down and Lou turned on the water. “Shit, that’s cold”, Charly hissed and wanted to get out, but Lou pushed her back down.
A few minutes later, Charly was still in the bathtub, Lou and Lisa sitting on the floor. “You look like a lobster”, Lisa said and badly held back a laugh. Lou turned her head towards Charly and scanned her. A second later, the three women were laughing out loud. Lisa’s phone started ringing and she fumbled it out of her back pocket. “Hey, sweetie, how are you?”, she asked and her voice got high. Charly raised an eyebrow. “Then tell him, he should not be such a fucking tease and give it back. Do you want me to talk to him?”, she asked and turned a bit away from the other two. “Okay, but if it doesn’t get better then call me again. Alright…okay…love you too, sweetie”, she said and hung up. “Was that your boyfriend?”, Charly asked. She thought Lisa was single, she had never mentioned a boyfriend or someone she was seeing. “No, my brother”, she answered. “You have a brother?”, Charly asked surprised. “3”, Lou added. “Three brothers?”, Charly’s eyes got big. How come she never talked about them?
“Why do I not know that?”, Charly asked. “It’s a bit of a sad story”, Lou said. “It’s not, it’s…just not the perfect family story”, Lisa said and looked down, her smile had disappeared. They all went silent. Charly didn’t know what to say, but she hated those awkward silences. “I bought some bikini’s today. I thought we would go to the pool today, but that’s off”, she finally said and looked at her body. Her jaw was shaking because of the cold water. Her skin didn’t know if it should be red because of the peeling or the cold water.
“Really? Which ones?”, Lou asked, Lisa still remaining silent. “The white one, Zayn painted over and a bathing suit with midriff cutouts, in royal blue”, Charly told them. “Oh, baby’s first bikini”, Lisa said and the smile looked a bit forced, but when it’s about fashion, she couldn’t stay out of the discussion. “You need to show it to us. Maybe you can wear it tomorrow in Madrid”, she said. “You think, I’ll be able to lay out in the sun tomorrow already?”, Charly asked Lou. “We’ll have to see how your skin reacts to the peeling, but I don’t see a problem”, she answered. Lisa’s phone rang again and she sighed. “I’ll take that outside”, she said and got up.
“Okay, you gotta tell me what’s going on there, I’m dying to know”, Charly said to Lou as soon as the door of the bathroom was closed. “Alright, but don’t tell her you know”, Lou said and turned to Charly and lowered her voice. “Lisa has three brothers, all younger than her. Her mother died while giving birth to her third brother. She was 13 back then”, Lou told her. “Oh my god! That’s horrible”, Charly said and put her hand in front of her mouth. “Absolutely horrific, if you ask me”, Lou said. “And from that moment on, she felt like she had to be the mother and practically raised the boys with her father, completely ignoring the fact that she was still a child or, better said, a teenager herself. I guess, that’s why she goes on so many parties while on tour. She kinda wants to re-live that part of her life she had missed out on”, Lou continued. “And how old are her brothers?”, Charly asked, still processing the information she had just received. “Ian is 18, Kevin is 15 and Henry is 13”, Lou recalled. “Wow”, Charly let out. “That’s why she’s so overprotective of the boys, they’re like her brothers to her. Especially Harry, since he’s the youngest. Just like Henry at home”, Lou said.
Charly was shaking in the bathtub, not completely due to the fact that she was still sitting in cold water. “I think you can come out now”, Lou said and got up. She helped her out and handed her a towel. Charly gladly put it around her and tried to get warm again. She started to rub her skin dry with the towel, but immediately stopped because it still hurt. So instead, she just dabbed her skin dry and got dressed again.
When she came out of the bathroom, she stopped as she looked at Lisa. She didn’t really know what to say. “I know Lou told you, so just let it out”, Lisa said as she saw Charly’s glum facial expression. So Charly just went over and hugged Lisa. “I’m so sorry, Liz”, she mumbled at her ear and pressed her tightly against her chest. “Thanks, sweetie”, Lisa said and patted Charly’s back. “You’re the only one who’s allowed to call me that since…you know”, Charly said and thought back at the skype date she had had with Ethan just a few days ago, although it felt like ages. With all that had happened between Liam and her. “I know”, Lisa said and smiled again.

They had to go back to the venue since the lads still had some appointments before the show tonight. “How’s your skin?”, Zayn asked when she came back. “Red and angry, but it’s gonna be fine, I guess”, she shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sorry about the paint. I don’t usually paint people”, he tried to explain. “Don’t worry, Zayn. Like you said before, you said ‘I guess’ and I still let you do it. So it’s also my fault. Also…”, she looked at her arms stretched out. “It’s barely showing anymore”, Charly said and hoped it was true. “Anyway, again, I’m sorry”, Zayn said and pulled her into a hug.
“Let’s get you to your interviews”, Charly said as they ended the hug. “I don’t want to”, Zayn pouted. “I know”, Charly said and started to push at his back to get him moving towards the car waiting for the boys. “Do I have time for one more fag?”, Zayn asked. “Absolutely not”, she replied. She hated it when she saw any of the boys smoking. “Oh come on”, Zayn whined. “Stop it”, Charly said and kept pushing him. “Can I call Perrie?”, he asked. “Would you’re little boyfriend heart break if you don’t?”, she asked. “Into a million pieces”, he replied with a puppy-like look on his face. “Then I have to beg you to call her”, Charly said and patted his back.
The band had tons of interviews today and the whole team went with them. Lisa for the clothes, Lou for the hair and Paul and Charly as the “head of the family” along with the security guards.

Notes

It's been quite a while since my last update.

I hope you had a great weekend!

Please comment =)