tomboy - j.b.

twenty five

shayla

down on the beach, justin managed to stay unseen. he had a thin cardigan on to cover his tattoos. "are you gonna swim with that on?" i laugh.

"no, come on."

he takes his cardigan off, me running out to the water. "why'd you keep the wife-beater on?" i ask.

"if you wanna see me half naked-"

"shut up." i put my index finger over his lips, and he starts laughing.

"i'm kidding. but my sleeves aren't the most noticeable thing because a lot of people have sleeves, it's the tattoos on my chest." he explains, floating in the waves. we didn't go out very far considering i can't swim. "come on, i'll hold you."

"no." i shake my head.

"how have you never learned to swim?" he asks, finding it amusing.

"my parents never taught me. they never took me places when i was younger. my first time going to a pool was when i was fourteen."

he pouts, then grabs my hands. "fuck." he sighs, putting his sunglasses back over his eyes. he puts mine over my eyes too. "the paparazzi found us."

"soon the fans will, you just wanna go back to the hotel?" i ask, and he shakes his head.

"you're trying to get out of the water. when we're somewhere private, i'm teaching you how to swim."

"im good, no thanks." i smile, then tried to run away from him. he just swam over to me, then started laughing. "shut up. don't you have to go to an interview?"

"shit, what time is it?"

"i don't know, we're in the water and my phone is up there." i say, finally getting closer to shore. when i got up there, i saw the paparazzi moving in closer, so i grabbed justin's cardigan and wrapped it around my body.

justin had just got up to me when i grabbed my phone. "it's four, you might as well leave now."

"you're coming with me."

+

justin

i looked up at shayla, the song i've just finished writing most of the songs being about her.

i closed my notebook i had and gave it to scooter. "you okay?"

"yeah, i just started writing a new song." i say, walking away. soon, my cue to go on stage came up, shayla kissing my cheek for good luck since it's been a while since ive been on tv.

smiling, i walk out on the stage, waving at the fans that were screaming my name. when i sat down, the interview started, asking me questions ive already heard.

sighing, i answer all of them the same way i answered them before, then a new question came up. "can you tell us about your new upcoming album–" i smiled at that, then realized that wasn't the end of the question. "–and why it's releasing the same day as one direction's album?"

"i've been planning this album for a while and the release date has been the same, i had my release date before them. but i really don't care about their album, i care about mine and my beliebers."

hearing the crowd aw made me smile, then i saw shayla and scooter pretending to cry hysterically from the crowd. rolling my eyes, i look back at the interviewer, and he just nods. "pretty reasonable. i heard harry talking about the same thing, he's just glad they get to drop the album for their fans."

"yeah well, im great friends with niall and zayn but zayn isn't in the band anymore. anyways, niall and i talked, we weren't going to let this release date ruin up our friendship and stuff."

++

"they should've just fucking did an interview with one direction, what the fuck." i exclaim once it was over, hoping the producer heard me.

"calm down." shay grabs my hands. "it was childish of them, but they're trying to get a reaction out of you. they're trying to start a feud, and it's not happening, so i need you to stay calm until your album is ready to drop."

sighing, i sit down. "i just wrote like three new songs, i need to record them. plus, travis scott is coming to record one song with me. halsey and nas already recorded with me."

"well get travis and nas down here, and record. you're going to be ready for this album, and you're going to dominate these charts. i don't care how big the one direction fandom is, this your comeback, 2016 is your year."

in that moment, i just wanted to grab her face and kiss her. i maintained myself, so instead i hugged her tightly. "i love you, shay. you're always there for me, i-"

"don't start crying, i'll start crying." she laughs, sniffling a little bit. "now let's go."

----

all of you commenting "don't bring 1d into this" are being muted lmfao and the people commenting "Z016" very funny im cackling oh my god im out of breath im literally dead !!1!1