When the stars align

Chapter nineteen

Louis' POV:

"It was like... She was somewhere else, like she was seeing something I couldn't."
Niall watches us anxiously as he repeats in a whisper what had happened before the concert.

"Then she just backed up into the wall, shaking for ages afterwards."
I glance over to where her, Harry and Liam are chatting, she seems very content.

"PTSD," Zayn says and I look at him.
"Huh?" Niall asks.
"Post traumatic stress disorder," he explains, " it can often cause flashbacks."

"So she was having a flashback?" Niall asks, he looks panicked.
"What of? Was it of her stepdad? Do you think he was hurting her? Did she feel the pain again when she was remembering it? Oh god I hope he wasn't hurting her! Who am I kidding? Of course he was hurting her! Oh man I hate that guy! Do you think I should have made her talk? I wanted to but I thought I shouldn't but I really really wish she would!"

"Niall!" I whisper shout and he stops. We both stare at him and he lowers his gaze, blushing slightly.
"I just really hate that she's in pain," he whispers.
"I know Niall," I say patting his shoulder, "we all do."

"She seems fine now though," Zayn says, stealing a glance in her direction.
"We'll keep an eye out," I say. On our day off, we'll watch her."

Niall's face lights up at this, "I forgot we're going to a theme park!" He says excitedly as Zayn rolls his eyes, "now we get to show Skyler the true meaning of life!"
I grin and high five him. Walking over to the rest of the guys.

Liam smiles at us. "Just set up a Twitter account for Skyler," he says and she shows us her phone.
"Awesome," I say, "now we can be your first followers."

We all follow her and she follows us back.
"When do we get to introduce you to the fans?" Harry casually asks.
She looks taken aback, "introduce me?"
"Yeah of course," I say, "you're family now."

"Why would the fans want to know me?" She looks surprised.
"Who wouldn't want to know you?" Zayn says grinning, "they'll love you, and besides, they have to get to know you, you're a part of our lives now."

She looks scared but also gratified.
"It's okay," Liam says quickly, "there's no rush, whenever you feel like it."
She nods.

"How about a movie night?" Harry suggests, "we get to wake up late tomorrow, right? our interview was pushed off till later."
Niall and I immediately battle for the most comfortable seat in the room, the massive armchair. I win and he settles down on the floor with a humph.

Liam sits on the couch with Skyler and Zayn and Harry sits on the floor next to Niall.
"What do you wanna watch?" Liam asks Skyler.

"Why me?"
"Well all of us have more than enough times to choose, and since you haven't had many opportunities to watch anything..." He says.
"But, I don't know any movies," Skyler argues.

"You've never watched a movie?" I ask, "not even before Je- I mean, when you were in the group home?" I look anxiously at her, scared that I've triggered something, but her face is calm.

"We did have a TV back then," she says, "but, there was only one and there was eight of us. Mostly boys, so I didn't really get much of a chance to watch something I was interested in. To be honest I never really was one of the kids who sat around watching TV."

We all look at her in interest, movie forgotten.
"Really?" Niall asks curiously, "what did you like to do then?"

She thinks for a moment and all of us watch her, she's finally volunteering information willingly and I can tell that all of the boys are equally excited.