I picture Ellie as Selena Gomez

(Harry)

I scanned the contract my lawyer wrote out as Cheryl went to answer the door.

I heard her gasp and then a man's voice.
"We need to talk"

Zayn

"O-okay", Cheryl's scared tone made me want to go in there, but he didn't sound angry, so I stood close to eavesdrop.

"What amount of compensation would it take for you to terminate", Zayn said, his voice steady, holding no emotion. He was in complete business mode.

"T-To...", Cheryl stuttered.

"Fifty thousand", Zayn spoke.

I leaned forward, straining to hear, but Cheryl didn't make a sound.

"One hundred thousand", he said, like it was nothing.

I could hear Cheryl shakily breathe in deeply and I'd had enough.
I rounded the corner, walked into the room and Zayn's and my eyes locked.

"Cheryl. Zayn likes bourbon", I said, not taking my eyes off him.

"What the fuck", he looked from me to Cheryl as, a moment later, she walked toward him with a glass full of dark liquid, holding it out to him, slightly trembling.

After he took it, I put my hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her away from him and toward a chair next to me.

"You two are...in on all this....this scheme or...this....", Zayn said.

"No. No scheme", I said, watching his eyebrows furrow deeper, bewildered.
"Just a coincidence".

He stood, baffled, but I didn't care to explain.
I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and pulled up the pictures that I took of Zayn and Cheryl when they were all over each other last night.

I turned my phone around to show Zayn the pictures, swiping through them, as he viewed each one.
He watched them, his mind racing.

I got to the last one, Zayn on top of Cheryl on the couch.

Cheryl made a muffled sound and I turned to look at her.

She harshly wiped at her cheeks, trying to stop the tears that kept streaking down them.

God
What am I doing

Suddenly, everything changed.

I don't know if it was seeing the emotional turmoil she was in or an abrupt conception of how fucked up things had gotten.

All I knew was that I wanted all of it to stop.

I looked from Cheryl to Zayn, desperation filling both of them.

All of it became ridiculous.

Threats.
Blackmail.
Intimidation.
Power.
Revenge.
Control.

I sat down and Zayn copied my action, lowering himself into a chair.

"Lila's going to be eighteen in a few months", I said.
Zayn nodded once.

"She was a child when you took her in. Of course she's going to look to you....and she's getting older".

I talked like I was understanding everything for the first time.
I stared to my side, in a trance, zoning out, speaking my thoughts.

"I can see you trying to control everything....just to keep her", I bared my own emotion out loud, my feelings.

"Harry, I told you before and I'm telling you again, there's so much that you don't know", Zayn looked me in the eye while he slowly shook his head from side to side.

"I don't need to know your history to see your future", I looked from my side into his eyes.

"Whether Lila sees the photos of you and Cheryl or not....whether I'm in prison or free as a bird, whether you marry....in the end, ultimately, you can't control the one thing that determines it all".

I looked at him.
"Her heart".

I stood up.
"Do what you want with the photographs".

He eyed me warily, studying me as I walked to the front door.

"And, Zayn. Cheryl's not pregnant. Never was", I said and opened the door.

"Let's leave her alone", I held the door and waited for him.

Zayn stood, looking lost and dumbfounded, his body stiff with caution.

He regarded Cheryl by lowering his eyes, an act that appeared apologetic and shameful.

She sat still, her tears had dried up. Cheryl looked at me, a diminutive smile traced across her mouth.

"You should call Liam", I said to her, her smile widened.
She nodded and I closed the door.

"What're you going to do with those pictures?", Zayn asked, defensively.

"Nothing", I sighed.
"You're not going to show Kalila?", he asked as I watched him analyzing my body language.

"Don't ever come back here", I looked over at Cheryl's front door, glanced at Zayn, then walked to my car.

Thirty minutes later, I knocked on a different door. A few seconds later, it opened.

Before one word could pass through Lila's lips, I pressed mine against them.

(Ellie)

Dani and I looked at each other and grinned as we watched Niall, Liam and Louis see Gwen standing there with her new haircut and dress.

She stood, nervously holding her left elbow with her right hand, completely unaware that she was making major cleavage.

"G...Gwen?", Niall looked confused.
"What did you-"

"Doesn't Gwen look amazing, Niall?", Dani said to him, her eyes telling him to compliment her.

"Yeah, yes, of course! She just...you just...you look so much older, Gwen", he stammered, making his way over to her.
"You look beautiful, Love", he hugged her and pulled out a chair for her.

Liam and Louis complimented her too, both of them tripping over their words, making Gwen blush.

"It's about time everyone sees her as the woman she is instead of the girl she used to be", Dani said, situating herself into her chair and taking a menu that Liam held out for her.

"Okay, people. Thank you very much, can we order some drinks now?", she smiled, appreciating the compliments, but wanting the focus off of her.

A waiter approached the table and Gwen spoke first and fast.
"May I have a Seabreeze with two limes, please?

After our second round of drinks while waiting for our food, Gwen stood up from her chair.

"I need to go to the Ladies'", she said, excusing herself.

"Wow", Louis said.
"Gwen's so polite and lady-like and then there's Dani whose like "I gotta piss" and just walks off".

He laughed and Dani shrugged, not caring a bit.
I rolled my eyes and stood up.
"I need to go too", I said, suddenly feeling the wine I've been drinking.

We made our way to the bathroom and I couldn't help but smile as I noticed the many glances that Gwen was getting.

The bathroom was gigantic with a beautiful sitting area in front of where the stalls were.
Complimentary mints and candies were everywhere, as well as anything a woman might need in an emergency.

We heard a young woman speak from one of the stalls and after what she said, Gwen and I stayed silent to spy.

It was clear from their slurring that they'd been drinking, which made it all the more entertaining.

Girl 1: "And you're not worried you're pregnant?"
Girl 2: "How the hell am I gonna be pregnant when he's only wanted anal for the past two months"

Our eyes went wide as we looked at each other, covering our mouths to mute our giggles.

Girl 2: "Just wait, Brin. You marry him, he goes straight for your ass"
Girl 1: "Bullshit"
Girl 2: "Oh, no? Ask Leah. Or Lauren. Or Tricia or Jillian.
Mark? Ass.
Clayton? Ass.
James? Ass.
Don? ASS."
Girl 1: "Honestly, it sounds like you all just married a bunch of fags to me"

We were full on laughing now, Gwen gripped my arm while I held myself steady against the couch next to me.

We heard them flush their toilets and hurried to the door, pretending to be just coming into the bathroom.

Gwen and I were both shocked as two drop dead gorgeous women politely smiled as we passed each other.

The second the door shut behind them, we roared with laughter.
"Ooooh, my Lord", Gwen laughed out, both of us going into stalls.

"I wonder how common that is, you know?? Is anal the thing now?", I said, feeling the relief as I peed.

We laughed and I unlocked the stall door, finishing before Gwen. I went to the sinks to wash my hands.
Gwen was still in her stall, giggling and I could hear her going through her purse.

"I'd love to have the ability to be invisible whenever I wanted. Think of everything you'd hear, you know?", I said, applying some lip gloss.

"Right?", Gwen's voice sounded strained.
"You okay?", I asked her.

"Yeah, I just....I'm looking for a tampon", she answered.

"Uhhh, sucks", I said, turning around and facing the stall she was in, then walked over to a bowl of chocolate mints and glanced to the side, seeing Gwen through the crack of the stall.

My face went pale and my heart began to beat fast while my ears began to ring.

She flushed her toilet and seconds later was at the sinks to wash up.

"What?", Gwen said, thoughtfully smirking at me like I was a weirdo.

"Y-yeah...yeah, I...I think....I think I need to slow down....with the wine. I just felt a little dizzy there for a second", I lied, forcing a bored smile onto my face.

"Oh. Yeah, I should probably slow down too", she sighed, checking her makeup in the mirror.

We got back to the table and I took a big gulp of my glass of wine. Everyone was too caught up in conversation to notice the faint tremble of my hands.

I looked through my purse and finally found a pen, then wrote on the back of a wadded up receipt.

I slyly passed the paper to Dani underneath the table.
She looked at me, confused and I slightly shook my head, telling her to be cool.

She subtly stretched and shifted in her seat, sneaking a peak at the note. She looked over at me after reading my words.