Liam Payne posts sweet message to girlfriend Cheryl from America

Liam Payne is struggling to be away from girlfriend Cheryl as he works on solo music in Los Angeles.

The One Direction star signed a deal with Capitol Records earlier this year (16) to go it alone, and has been in the studio laying down tracks for his first solo offering.

But being Stateside as his lady love remains in the U.K. is proving tough for the 23-year-old, who took to Instagram on Tuesday night (20Sep16) to remind the former Girls Aloud star how much he misses her.

Alongside a snap of the pair with mud masks smeared over their faces, Liam wrote: "I miss you!...the things you make me do... home soon!"

He later shared a selfie which showed him pouting for the camera, alongside a steely-faced emoji.

Cheryl, 33, made no public reply to Liam's messages on her social media accounts.

The couple started dating in December (15), following the singer's split from husband Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini. Rumours have been swirling in recent weeks that the pop couple might be expecting their first child together, after Cheryl was seen looking fuller-faced in a new L'Oreal advert and Liam changed his Instagram profile description to read that he's the "happiest man in the world". He later changed this description to just read "Happy".

Cheryl certainly appears to be happier than ever following two failed marriages to soccer star Ashley Cole and Jean-Bernard. She said in an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper recently that she has developed a thick skin over the years.

"I was sensitive at the beginning and I didn’t understand how somebody who knew nothing about me could write such terrible things," she said.

"Never met me. Never spoken to me. But had such a vicious opinion of me, and it would blow my mind. I was 19, they’d call me fat. That was horrible. And all the lies. But now, I live my life. And they can live their life writing about me."