Long Live (Sequel to Payton Swift)

Chapter 14

// February 6, 2015 //

- Payton -

It was eleven at night when Zayn and I landed in Sydney, Australia for the start of the On The Road Again tour and the paparazzi were going crazy, eager to capture the first official pictures of us as a "couple". When the pictures of me leaving Zayn's hotel in the early hours of the morning surfaced on the internet, his management forced us into a relationship because, as they so sweetly put it, Zayn having a one night stand with "some girl Niall used to date" would ruin the band's image... so Zayn dating me, Niall's ex-girlfriend, upholds One Direction's image? It confused the two of us, but we still signed the contract as they wanted us to. Who knew I'd be paid to be Zayn's girlfriend, because if I did I would've been more relaxed in high school. 

Zayn puts his arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him, attempting to create more of a barrier between me and the paparazzi since we only had two bodyguards. It's like Modest! Management wants us to get attacked. 

"I just got a text saying to play it up more," he tells me, and I sigh. Laughing, Zayn kisses my cheek. "Just play along, Payton. We don't have to do this for too long," he whispers and I nod my head. After a couple more steps, we make it to the car. The bodyguards out our luggage in the trunk of the car and Zayn kisses me before opening the door of the luxury car and helping me inside. Once he and the bodyguards are in the car, one of them was the driver, the car was speeding off away from the airport.

"Twenty seconds and there are three paparazzi vans following us," I tell Zayn and he rolls his eyes.

"Fucking ridiculous," he states, before going on his phone and checking his texts from his management and his band members while I go on mine and answer a text from Lou Teasdale before going on Twitter and scrolling through my timeline like I usually do. Until I see what is most likely to be my new favourite tweet.

@niazvocals: dating niall vs dating zayn pic.twitter.com/t45s0cwo

I pressed on the pictures. The first one was a picture of my style when I was with Niall, where I used to dress in more cutesy clothing whereas the second picture was of me with Zayn at the airport, dressed much more fashionably. Smiling to myself, I quickly pressed retweet. I went back to scrolling and came upon an "article" from one of those celebrity gossip websites.

"There's already an article," I tell Zayn, giggling a little.

"You're kidding me! What does it say?" questions Zayn, looking up at me while resting his chin on the palm of his hand that wasn't holding his phone.

"Payton Swift shows off her shoulders as she arrives in Australia with new boyfriend, One Direction's Zayn Malik," I read off the title and start laughing. "What is this? It's been like 10 minutes," I say and Zayn chuckles.

"You do look good though, better than Acacia. I saw pictures of her and Niall arriving this afternoon," he tells me and I smile. 

"It helps when your management tells me what to wear so we can match. I love the effort they put in, especially giving me a job to help out Lou, that won't be awkward when Niall's hair needs to be done," I say, rolling my eyes at the end of my sentence. Zayn gives me a sympathetic look, placing his hand on top of mine.

"If it helps," he starts and I give him a look. "You get to do my hair too," he smiles and I laugh a little. 

"Thanks Zayn."

Zayn smiles widely. "Anything for you."

***

The next day, I was at the stadium to help Lou get everything set up for tonight's show. It was about twelve, but I was starting to feel the effects of jet lag. I was yawning like mad and almost falling asleep every minute or so.