✔ A Sky Full of Stars [Zarry AU]

Chapter Ten

"I felt like an animal, and animals don't know sin, do they?"
― Jess C. Scott, Wicked Lovely.

Sophie Barnes is a good woman. She's 29, she's pretty and she's intelligent. She works with Euphony and Strings Records. Kevin, the guy who would tell Harry how the management works introduced Sophie to him as his manager. She says she's naturally a blonde and currently her hair is pastel pink. Harry was told to meet her at a restaurant, he was told by Kevin to dress up formally but he didn't. Maybe it's because he doesn't have formal clothes nor the money to buy any formal clothes or maybe it's just because he didn't really felt like pleasing anybody.

She was a nice woman after all. She talks with a lot of enthusiasm, tells him that she's happy to work with a newbie rather than any spoiled pop star and Harry simply smiles. She twirls his hair a lot while talking, probably letting everybody know that she looked better than half of the people there and she is pretty proud of herself.

"Eyes on any person yet?" She asks him with a grin, showing off her perfect white teeth as Harry shook his head lightly with a wink. "Your bromance with Zayn is so hot on the topic right now, people have started shipping it. You know? Shipping?" She asks him as he doesn't say anything for a minute. Well then, he does remember being on the bike with Zayn and holding him in a way friends probably don't. Zayn's straight, he's good with the bromance thing brewing up.

"Shipping," Harry starts slowly, almost as if he was tasting that word. "Interesting. What does it mean? I have heard it, I'm sure it doesn't literally mean shipping." He finishes with a small laugh and does a small victory dance in his mind when Sophie cracks up too.

"No, it doesn't mean 'that' shipping. So, there are these two friends. They are very close and touchy with each other, it's all normal for them. But, when those two friends, are popular and they goof around in public, people start making assumptions. Hey, do you know Niall and Liam?" She suddenly pops out a question as Harry nods slightly. "I know Niall, we've talked. I have met Liam too, we didn't have a proper greeting back then. He lives with Niall, doesn't he?" He asks as she nods.

"So, they both stick a lot to Zayn so his fans know them too. So, Niall and Liam are like, very close. Niall tells me that Liam's like his older brother and that's what Liam probably thinks too. So they hang out a lot, give each other friendly slaps and stuff and you know? Touch a lot and be together half of the time. Since Niall is a well known songwriter and Liam is a music producer, Zayn's fans started shipping them. They call these two 'Niam', I think. Like, combined names. This caused kind of a rift between them when... You know? People took it too far. I guess everything is alright with them now." She zones out for a moment as Harry was simply staring at her.

"This is obviously not creepy, is it?" She asks as Harry laughed a little and shook his head while finishing his smoothie. He liked that Sophie ate her heart out unlike the other girls whom he would go out, even as friends, would starve themselves with all those health conscious stuff.

"So, people have started shipping you two. I kind of dug through your profile yesterday, not a stalker I promise." She tells him as he simply smiles and nods. "Not much yet people they have started building up their theories. Very interesting if you ask me. You two did look lovely together." She zones out again for about five seconds before raising her hand up and chuckling.

"Holy- I'm so sorry. I must sound so creepy, didn't I? I mean, I was so happy that I'll be working with someone new to the stardom, somebody who still eats at any restaurant and likes small picnics and stuff, I'm just, I don't know. Zayn doesn't like me anyways." She tells him with a small frown as Harry furrows his eyebrows. "What? Why doesn't Zayn like you?"

"Well, not really. It's just, he doesn't really talk to me. I'm pretty sure somebody else must have told him to keep 'Sophie the one you don't like' for Harry." She starts as she pauses to drink some water and calls the waiter for the bill. "Then, it's probably not because I have this pink hair which he stares at because it looks pretty alien to him. It's because I probably ruined a very intimate moment he was sharing with his girlfriend."

"What?" Harry asks with a small smile as she chuckles and nods. "Very embarrassing. I was so happy that Zayn's label had took me, I used to visit his mansion close by everyday. It's open to the people who work at Euphony and Strings. So, I was there and surprisingly today nobody was present. I had been going through his policy and I thought his room was vacant because there was dead silence in the house. You know, there should be some moaning. Right? How would I even know?" Harry laughs at that.

"So, I open the door and then I see Crystal on the bed, halfway through ripping off Zayn's shirt and her own clothes almost off. I was so embarrassed that I stood there like an idiot for a minute and just stared at them. They were staring back, so no problem there. Then Zayn gets all angry and starts yelling at me until Crystal tells him to stop and calm down. I just excuse myself and run out of the mansion, it was just plain horrible. I've never talked to him face to face after that. Didn't lose my job, I'm lucky."

"You're a great person." Harry finally tells her after a good silence as she insists to pay the bill and he was broke anyways so he agreed. "It would be amazing working with you."

"I'm glad you say that, Harry." She tells him as she gathers her bag and flunks it around her shoulder. "You going to the studio tomorrow?"

"Yes," Harry says with a smile. "I think I'll do a demo of the piece I've been working on with Herman."

"Sounds like a plan. Mind if I pay you a little visit there? Maybe we can go for coffee after that." She was so excited about it, Harry could see it radiating from her face. "No Starbucks though, a nice café would do."

Harry laughs at that. "Yes, I'm sure we can find good cafés around. I'll see you." He replies as they exit the restaurant. She smiles and gives him a small wave before parting her ways and getting into a taxi. Harry was walking and walking, thinking about everything as the corner of his mouth twitched and he knew things would be different tomorrow.