meet you there // l.h (on hold)

V: death of the night

With a face free of tears and a controlled breathing, I walked out of the stall and eventually out of the bathroom. I quickly made my way through the super market, collecting the items I needed for my cooking and making sure they were under my twenty dollar budget, which they were.

I paid and jogged back towards the house, not wanting to be stopped again, but thinking about it, it was a funny story to tell the boys.

Ashton opened up the door immediately after I knocked on it. A smile plastered on his face, he pulled me in with a swift move and pushed me towards the kitchen. The boys were laying on the ground, moaning dramatically as they hold on to their stomachs, pretending they were dying of hunger.

"Food, is here. But you need to give me at least two hours, since I'm doing this alone," I said placing the grocery bags on the counter.

They all jumped to their feet and spoke in unison. "I can help."

I nodded, smiling. "Fine."

I instructed them in everything they did to help me. Chopping the mushrooms and the chili, the tomatoes and the basil, and how to cook or not cook all of the ingredients. Well, mostly that was my job. Their job was the cut the bread in slices and heat those slices in the oven.

With their help, that sometimes did not help me, it took us about an hour to have everything ready for dinner. I also made some sangria wine, I didn't bother to buy the alcoholic beverage needed to make it because I noticed the cabinet the boys had. The sangria wine was only for them, I was going to drink the orange juice I had bought.

"It looks good," Luke said, taking a look at the final product laying on the table. He leaned in and hovered about it for a second. "And it smells good."

"Obviously," I acknowledged. "I cooked it."

"We helped," Michael piped it.

"Sure," I said, my voice full of sarcasm. "Now, let's sit down and it. I have a funny story to tell you guys."

The first five minutes were spent in utter silence, since were all too focused on eating because we were starving, but once our stomach noises calmed down, I began telling them the story. I didn't mention the part where I had an anxiety attack in a bathroom stall, I just mentioned that I hid inside a bathroom stall. The boys were laughing, but I felt it was more out of obligation, and I thought that maybe my story wasn't so funny after all.

"I guess, I have to find out who this doppelganger is," I said. "Maybe, I can get her to attend my 8 a.m. classes."

"So, do you know who Luke Hemmings is?" Ashton asked.

"No," I said confused. "The name rings something, but I'm not quite sure. I guess Juliet mentioned it sometimes, but I play deaf when she starts fangirling."

"What is your friend's favorite band?" Calum asked cautiously.

"Five hours of summer, I think," I said scratching my head.

Luke corrected me. "Seconds."

I pointed at him. "Right, you told me at the cab. God, I don't even know how I manage to keep my scholarship."

I stuffed some more mushrooms into my mouth, and chewed as I watched the four boys exchange quick glances, but I gave no importance and I kept eating as the boys talked about school anecdotes. Except Luke. He was quiet. Luke was always quiet, watching and analyzing every single detail, but he was doing that. He was just staring at me. I smiled, but with puffy cheeks because of the food, and I knew I looked like a chipmunk. Luke laughed.