after you left |ai|

29

"They don't hate you." He said softly before letting out a sigh and looking at me. "Most of them don't. The ones that do are a bit lame and I don't like them very much either."

"I know" I replied but I couldn't look at him. I was afraid he would see right through me and see how it affected me. He started his car and started driving while I looked outside. My stupid little comment changed both of our moods and I needed a minute to try and forget about them but after driving for 7 minutes, he parked himself at the side of the road, no restaurant in sight.

"Are you alright?" He asked and he reached over to touch my arm and I almost pulled away. I'm sure he saw the small movement I made and when I dared to look at him, I could see I had hurt him by trying to pull away. "Do you want me to bring you back home? We could just watch a movie or something instead."

"No, I want to go out with you and do this. It's just a bit of an adjustment." I replied with a sigh, "I lied before when I said I was just ignoring it. I can't just ignore it, that's not who I am and to be honest, it hurts a lot to see what some people have to say about me."

"I know Elle. But every time I tried to bring the subject up or to see if you were okay, you shut me out." He replied and I nodded slowly before looking back at my hands. "But even if I wish it wasn't, this is my life. I have millions of followers and fans that send hate and I can't change that. But what I can do, is decide not to be selfish. So it's up to you if you want to do this or not. Because dating me, includes dating a fanbase that has its opinions and isn't always the nicest." He said softly before he placed the palm of his hand against my cheek gently, I looked back at him and a small smile appeared on his face. "If you want to know what the fans are really like, Calum is throwing a party on Sunday. You should come too and maybe talk to the girls. I can't tell you what it's like because all I know is what I see, but they all went through it too."

"So you aren't afraid of me meeting your friends?" I asked and he looked at me confused. "You always ask me to babysit instead of inviting me along when you go to parties. Not that I mind about babysitting Olivia but I thought you were ashamed of me. Because I'm not like them."

"Please don't ever think that again. The fact that you're not like them or anyone else I know, is what I like the most about you." He replied and a smile came on my face. "So what are we going to do? Do you want me to drive you back home or are we still going for dinner?"

"Let's go for dinner." I replied softly before reaching over to kiss his cheek. He smiled and started the car again. We were soon back on the road to the restaurant with smiles on our faces instead of frowns.

"I hope you know I'd do anything to try and prevent you getting hurt. I would stand up for you and if you don't want to be in the spotlight, I'd keep you all to myself and not share you with the fans. I don't ever want you to change who you are to go out with me." He reassured me and the smile on my face only grew, every insecurity I had last night slowly seemed to fade. He wasn't expecting me to change, he wasn't ashamed of me and he was willing to stand up for me.

I just have to learn how to ignore the comments and the hate.

"Do you think that would be possible?" I asked after a minute of silence while I looked at him, he was so focused on the road but he still had a small smile on his face.

"What?" He asked as he looked at me shortly before looking back at the road.

"To stay in my world where people on the street don't know my name. To stay out of the spotlight." I explained further and he shrugged slightly.