Directing the Heart

Chapter 4

Louis continues to stare at me in shock. My eyes narrow even more. What? Is it so difficult to believe that I can grow up too? That I'm not that helpless little girl anymore.

"Louis Tomlinson, I haven't seen you in a while." I spat, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

Louis blinks once, then twice, and finally finds his voice. "How have you been Phoebe? Even if we're two years apart, after secondary school, you just seemed to disappear. No one knew what happened to you."

I roll my eyes. Instead of answering any of his questions, I turn my full attention to Harry, who still looked lost and confused. Turning his attention from me, to Louis, and then back to me. Harry looks down at the food I had paid for and he had knocked over.

"Hey, I'm sorry about that." Harry looks at me, guilt evident in his glistening green eyes. "Here, I'll buy you some more."

Before I can protest, Harry is already talking to the person at the counter. Either he's just guessing which food I ordered, or he heard me while he was standing behind me in line, Yeah, probably the second one. After Harry's done ordering and getting the food, he turns to me.

"Here you go." He says happily, a smile lighting up his face.

I can't help the stupid blush that makes it's way onto my cheeks. I gently take the food from Harry, mumbling a 'thank you' and walk away, wanting to get as much distance as I could from Louis. Once I make it to the table, Taylor raises a single eyebrow.

I sit and begin to eat, ignoring the stares I'm getting from both Taylor and Caleb. However, after a few minutes of eating, I notice neither has touched their food, only staring at me, waiting for me to answer their unspoken questions. I sigh.

"What?" I ask, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms in front of my chest.

"Why did THE Harry Styles buy you food?" Taylor asks in amazement, as if it were the best thing to ever happen.

"Well, if you hadn't noticed, he kind of made me drop the food I bought, so he offered to replace it. So now eat your food that THE Harry Styles bought for you." I say, mocking her at the end.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're a fan." A husky voice chuckles behind me.

I turn around and find Harry standing behind me, a smirk playing on his face. I scoff and roll my eyes. If only he knew.

"I am most definitely not a fan." I huff.

From behind, I can hear Taylor practically hyperventilating by his mere presence. Caleb is sitting quietly, probably studying Harry, seeing if he needs to 'hurt' him for hurting his little sister. Which is stupid, since Louis is the bully here, and I'm 18 years old, I don't need him to be overprotective anymore.

"You're not a fan?" Harry asks, obviously not believing me.

"Of course not, I don't really listen to your kind of music. The only reason I was at your concert was because this lovely girl right here," I say, pointing to Taylor, "wanted me to go."

"Oh." Harry says, obviously not knowing how to answer.

So, to save all of us from further awkwardness, I turn to Caleb and Taylor.

"Harry, this is my best friend Taylor." I say, pointing to the, now, clam brunette. "And my older brother Caleb." I point to the dirty blonde sitting before me. "And I'm almost certain both of you know who his is, but I'm still going to introduce him. Taylor, Caleb, this is Harry Styles."

Taylor seems calm as she says a small 'hello' to Harry. But I can tell, all she wants to do is scream and jump around. Of course I can tell, we're best friends. Caleb, on the other hand just seems bored. He gives Harry a small shake of the hand, then goes to eating his food.

"Would you like me to introduce my mates?" Harry asks, a smile clear on his face.

"N-" But before I can finish Harry is already dragging me away from my table, and to a table which is now holding four young men.

"Hey lads, this is Phoebe. Phoebe, that's Zayn," Harry says, pointing to a guy with a black quiff. "Niall," He points to a small blonde, whose blue eyes can probably be seen from a mile away. "Liam," A brunette with dark brown eyes smiles my way. "And, I guess you already know Louis."

Oh, you have no idea.

I give Zayn, Liam, and Niall a small smile. However, as soon as I turn to Louis, the smile is instantly whipped off my face. I look around an notice that Taylor, Caleb, me, and the boys sitting in front of me are the only people left. I guess everyone else left.

"Well, it was nice meeting you all, but I'm just going to go eat." I say, turning around, getting ready to walk away.

When a hand grabs my wrist, pulling me back to the table.

"Wait, can I ask you something?" Niall asks innocently. I notice his accent is definitely not British.

"Sure." I say hesitantly.

"You live in New York, right?" Niall gives me a smile, which I cannot help but return.

"Yeah, I do." Not knowing where this was going.

"But you have a British accent. Where did you live before you came to New York?" A with that said, my smile is once again whipped off.

Somehow being around these guys for only a few moments, already my guard was going down. Smiling around them when I was supposed to hate them. Once I realized what happened, my guard goes up once again.

"What is this, 20 Questions? You said you wanted to ask me something, and you did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go finish my food." I say harshly, turning sharply on my heels and walk away, sitting down where Taylor and Caleb were.

For the remainder of our time in Nando's, the boys of One Direction left us alone. But I could tell they were talking about us...or at least me. I could feel their stares on my back. So once we were leaving, I made a bee line for Caleb's car, wanting to get away from them. Wanting to get away from Louis. Wanting to get away from my past.