Jammed (Louis Tomlinson au)

Prologue

She had told him to be there by four o'clock on Thursday or she was leaving. She could only assume he got the letter, there was not other communication otherwise. It hadn't always been like that though, and Jancer missed the days when it wasn't.

It was nearing four o'clock. Jancer Ryan had "read" the newspaper six times now and felt that she could recite it to the waiter the next time he came over to ask if she was ready for the check. Surely he was getting impatient as she was as well. But, she would not leave her post until four.

The sun was slowly beginning to set when the hour came. The crowds of the morning began to return; soon enough the night crowds would come out and then quickly die away. Jancer wouldn't be back to see it all again tomorrow.

She shed a single tear because she knew what his not coming meant. Jancer Ryan was not an emotional person, she never let herself be. But this was different, especially because it involved him. She was angry too: wasting her time waiting for him when no one could even send her a simple letter or notice. She didn't want any details, she would never ask for that; she just would've liked to have known before coming all this way just to shed a tear.

This time when the waiter came over, Jancer Ryan did ask for the check. She left him a nice tip as well; if she didn't know what to do with herself how was she supposed to know what to do with her money? For once, Miss Ryan was without a plan of action, or even a sense of hope to fall back on.

It hurt her that he had done this to her, intentional or not. She felt as if he had been doing it since the day they had met, and questioned why in fact she even bothered to break a rule for him. Things were more complicated than they had been even before; Jancer Ryan had finally found herself resorting to hope that he would miraculously appear across from her in the square, just like they had agreed. But three minutes past four, she was quite finished with what she believed was nonesense.

Jancer had lost friends before; maybe only a few were considered friends but in the past year more people than ever had disappeared from her life. She hadn't blamed herself, all except for one case. In the end, she was fine. She had tought herself to deal with it and move on, but it had become increasingly harder to do that. Loosing him had been her worst nightmare since meeting him, but she wouldn't blame herself. It was simply the situation at hand, not her. She had at least managed to convince herself of that, and that was enough as she stood up from her chair and made her way to exit the square.

But still, Jancer Ryan found it extremely hard to leave the square. In just months, yes she had lost more people than ever before. But, she had also figured out who she was and what her purprose was; she had never imagined it would have come out of such a situation but it did. She figured it wasn't the situation though, she figured it was him and now without him she feared what she would do.

She'd never been so lost in a world where she always had a plan.

Miss Ryan enjoyed her control over the world, she always had. It left her with nothing to be afraid of, and it had shaped her as a person entirely. But, she'd lost control in just a few lies in just a few months. And out of that, she got the last rule to her list: sometimes you're wrong. As she walked away from the heart of the square, her eyes watering and her fingers shaking, she couldn't believe that she had been wrong, not just now, but since she had met him. It left her with no control or protection, and without him she had finally realized that.

She could barely even see straight; she had never been so distraught. Perhaps that was due to how much of the coffee she had sipped on all day, but she was becomming an emotional wreck, which she absolutely hated. How could he do this to her? Even worse, how could she let him? She needed to get out of the square, out of the country, and out of the fucking white dress she absolutely hated and he quite liked.

Jancer Ryan found herself making her way through the think crowd. She suddenly felt cluastrophobic, which had never happened to her before in her life. At the first sight of a street, she turned out and caught her breath behind the wall of the building. She'd never panicked liked this before, but then again she used to have power over that. She didn't even feel like herself anymore, and it had been all of four months since that began.

Without anyone around her, she felt as if she could relax again. Closing her eyes, she mapped out a plan. It wasn't her best, but on limited time and compromised emotions, it was the best she could do. She couldn't go home, but she couldn't stay here. For the first time, the reason for that was not because she was involved with a threat.

She heard footsteps in the distance and her focus quickly faltered. They were closer than the rest still coming from the square: these were coming closer to her. She couldn't pick out the exact type of shoes without looking at them, but they sounded like a man's footsteps in the least.

The pace of the footsteps was quickening and they were getting closer to her. She didn't know if she wanted to look, but she also didn't want to leave herself in a vulnerable position. Slowly, and without facing the direction of the stranger, she stood up from her position against the brick wall and began walking. There was an opening about thirty yards away in that direction, and if the situation turned into a chase she could make it out.

Of course there was the possibility that it could've been him, she had considered that the second she heard footsteps. But what amazed her was that this man hadn't said a single fucking word. It couldn't be him, she thought, he hasn't said anything stupid yet.

Suddenly the footsteps broke into a run and Jancer panicked. She was too close to the opening; people would see her and she liked to be unnoticed in her job. She could attempt to run, but going back into the square right now seemed to be a bad idea with the crowd. Although it wasn't her first choice, she turned to face her chaser and was quickly grabbed by the arm and torn away from the brick wall she had stayed so close to this whole time.

She hadn't gotten a good look at the man, which was her first mistake. With his right hand holding onto her arm tightly, he took his other hand and placed it over her mouth to stop her from saying anything. She knew better than to scream. The man only smirked as he stood close to her, gripping her tightly and pushing her back into the crowded square.

"Don't hold your breath, Miss Ryan."

A/N: Alright, here's the first look at Jammed! I'm so, so, so excited to write this story! I've kind of been waiting a year to start it. :) So, today is a good day. Hopefully you guys like it right now and are just a little bit excited. I'm going to try and update once a week, but I can't guarantee anything because I'm getting ready for college and stuff this year so my life outside of wattpad is getting really complicated. But, because I'm so in love with my ideas for this story, I'll do my best to stay on track with my update schedule. In return for that, I'd love to get some votes from you guys on the chapters; comments would be greatly appreciated as well.

Thanks for deciding to read this story, to both new and old readers of mine! This is different than anything I have ever written. Yes, it's still a Louis Tomlinson story, but it's an alternate universe type and just in general its completely different. Speaking of which, if you're confused about the prologue, don't worry about it. It'll probably just get more confusing when you transition to chapter one. I'll try and give all of my book junkies a clue though: Ethan Frome, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, and Their Eyes Were Watching God. Remember that this story is supposed to be a mystery though, so you can certainly be confused! Hope that helps a little!

- Katie