Four

Clouds

"Zayn! Open the door mate!" Louis shouted.

Zayn hadn't shown up at the studio and his phone was off. They were worried sick and were just about to bust the door open somehow when Zayn opened it.
"What's up?"

"Good, you're alive." Liam said and let out a relieved sigh.

"Of course I am." Zayn snorted.

"You missed rehearsals mate. What's going on?" Louis said with a worried frown.

"Oh, was that today? I forgot." Zayn said with a shoulder shrug and stepped away from the door to let them inside.

They took a seat in the living room and Zayn lit a cigarette.
"How are you?" Liam asked.

"Honestly, not good. I think Perrie is about to break up with me and call off the wedding. No wonder, I'm not exactly fun to be around and we hardly see each other anyway." Zayn answered and inhaled the smoke.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Have you tried to talk to her?" Louis said compassionately.

"And say what? I suck at talking about feelings and I'm a freaking mess. She's better off without me." Zayn muttered.

"Don't say that. She's lucky to have you. You're a great guy Zayn. You can make it work. You're getting married for fucks sake!" Liam tried to encourage.

"I always find it easier to express myself in song lyrics. Write a song." Louis suggested.

"Yeah, we need more songs for the album, get things off your chest." Liam smiled.

"My songs aren't 1D songs. They're too Rnb." Zayn snorted.

"We'll help you." Louis offered.

Zayn gave him a long look before he reached underneath the coffee table and grabbed a notebook and a pen. He put the cigarette out and lit a new one. He thought about what he wanted to say before he put the pen against the paper and started to write. Liam and Louis stayed quiet. Louis lit a cigarette as well.

Twenty minutes later Zayn handed them the notebook. Liam read out loud.

I know you said
That you don't like it complicated
That we should try keep it simple
But love is never ever simple
No

Someday
You're gonna see the things that I see
You're gonna want air that I breathe
You're gonna wish you never left me

"Heavy shit." Louis said.

"It's shit?" Zayn smirked.

"Of course not! It's great! Deep." Louis hurried to say.

"Thanks. Give it a 1D chorus then." Zayn smiled.

Louis took the pen and chewed on it. He could do this. He just had to see it from Zayn's point of view. Ten minutes later he read his words out loud.

Here we go again
Another go round for all of my friends
Another non stop will it ever end
Here we go again
Another go round for all of my friends
Another non stop will it ever end

"Yeah! Here, give me the pen. It needs a twist." Liam said and waved his hand. Louis gave him the notebook and pen and Liam wrote something down.

If we're never coming back down
Yeah we're looking down on the clouds

"Here, finish it." Liam said to Zayn and handed him the notebook. Zayn took another cigarette and wrote the rest of it.

I know you said
That you don't like it complicated
That you are tired of all the changes
But love is always always changing
Woah

Someday
You're gonna see the things that I see
You're gonna want the air that I breathe
You're gonna wish you never left me

Here we go again
Another go round for all of my friends
Another non stop will it ever end
Here we go again
Another go round for all of my friends
Another non stop will it ever end

If we're never coming back down
Yeah we're looking down on the clouds

And we go
And we go
And we go
And we don't stop

But we don't
No we don't
No we don't
Never go up

And we go
And we go
And we go
And we don't stop

But we don't
No we don't
No we don't
Never go up

Here we go again
Another go round for all of my friends
Another non stop will it ever end
Here we go again
Another go round for all of my friends
Another non stop will it ever end (Here we go again)

Here we go again
Another go round for all of my friends (Here we go again)
Another non stop will it ever end
Here we go again (Here we go again)
Another go round for all of my friends
Another non stop will it ever end (Here we go again)

"Clouds?" He asked after he read all of it out loud.

"Yep. Did it make you feel any better? Now you know the chord of your problem, try and uncomplicate things." Louis said.

"Easier said than done. We're always on tour." Zayn sighed.

"Well, we're home now. Fix it." Liam said.

"I'm gonna try." Zayn answered.

"Good. We'll see you tomorrow in the studio. We only have a few songs left and then the album is done." Liam said.

"Which means another tour." Zayn sighed.

"Yeah." Liam answered, not really knowing what to say.

They gave Zayn a hug and left his apartment.
"I'm worried about him." Liam said when they were by themselves.

"Yeah, me too. He'll be okay. We have time off now. He just needs to rest and get his strength back. We'll keep him under a close watch." Louis answered.

Louis went home. Harry was lying on the couch, watching a movie. Louis climbed on top of him and hugged him.
"Is he okay?" Harry asked softly.

"Sort of. He and Perrie are having trouble. I'm grateful we're in the same band. Imagine if only one of us would tour the way we do while the other one did something else."

"That would be horrible." Harry gasped.

"No matter what happens in the future, promise me that we'll never spend more than two weeks apart." Louis said and looked up at his boyfriend.

"I don't want to spend time apart at all." Harry protested.

"Me neither but we don't know how our lives will be in the future. Two weeks. Okay?" Louis asked.

"Two weeks." Harry promised before he kissed him.