Chapter 34 - Alyssa.
"We're gonna have to stay in a hotel," Katy exclaims, to all our horror. I stare at the scene in front of us, and all I want to do is get out of the city.
My parents will be furious when they check the news channel.
I see Jack and Niall exchange one of those boy-glances that guys do around girls, before sighing simultaneously.
"What else can we do?" Jack asks helplessly. I shrug hopelessly and look down at our linked hands, beginning to get tired. I just want to get out of here.
"Everyone back please! Everyone back! Move it!" A police officer with yellow and black tape is beginning to cordon off the area of the road around the station. Jack and I are ushered out of the way, and that's when we begin to follow Niall and Katy back the way we came, panic in the air around us.
"It'll be alright," I hear Jack mumble as he pulls me along at a pace quicker than I can manage. His hand squeezes mine in reassurance, and I quickly dart out of the way when three men come running past us.
It's a long walk. It feels like we're going to be stuck on the streets all night, and everywhere we go there are people looking panicked and shouting. In fact, the amount of people if anything starts to increase, not decrease, on every street we pass. We end up walking past the same restaurant about three times, until finally Niall takes us down a back alleyway and there seems to be a bit of quiet for a while.
"Niall, what the hell are we doing?"
Jack demands after a while. Unlike Katy and I, he hasn't let out any sign of tiredness or annoyance with Niall wandering until now. He gets ignored.
And a minute later it starts to pour down, big threads of rain splashing down from the navy grey sky. Niall suddenly lets out a noise of triumph, and we are led inside a small, darkened building.
When my eyes adjust to the darkness, the first thing I see is a girl about our age sitting at a desk opposite the door. The carpet is pretty threadbare and there isn't much decoration, but there is a roaring open fire in the corner of the room, with one armchair.
Thunder rumbles outside, as the girl doesn't seem to notice us. She's reading. Only when we walk up to the desk and Niall clears his throat does she look up, her eyebrows raised.
"No, I'm sorry," she mumbles in a low tone. "We don't check people in until eleven tomorrow morning."
"How convenient," Katy snaps, sarcastically. I sigh, putting my head in my hands.
"Don't you want business?" Niall asks, confusedly.
The girl's eyes flicker from each of our faces to the next, before landing back on Niall's. "Rules are rules. What are you doing here anyway?"
"We can't get home because a car exploded near the tube station and all the lines are down anyway," Katy says through gritted teeth. "We just need a place to sleep for the night. Don't be the innkeeper who didn't let Mary and Joseph in and got hated for the rest of history."
Jack looks amused, and I roll my eyes, but the girl narrows her eyes. "That's even more reason not to let you in," she replies, but somehow it feels like she is warming up. "Is one of you pregnant?"
Niall laughs. "No. And we're not gonna be messing around or anything, we're exhausted. So don't worry. Come on."
"Please?" I add, exhaustedly. Behind me, Jack gently strokes my back.
It takes a while of staring and giving the girl pleading smiles. But then she finally grabs a black book from under the desk and opens it slowly, beginning to write.
We give her our names, then she asks for twenty-eight pounds and we split the price between us.
"Room better be nice," Katy grumbles as we climb up the stairs to the next level. The landing is small and has about five rooms coming off it, and once Niall uses the key to open room four, we all pile into the small-ish room. Katy heads straight to the bathroom and shuts the door as Jack flicks on the lights.
I sigh and walk towards one of the beds, throwing my bag down and then collapsing. The sheets smell pretty clean, which is the most important thing in any hotel. The beds are sort of not small enough to be a single bed but not big enough to be a double bed. But anyway, two people will fit in each one.
"Where are we all gonna sleep, then?" Niall asks, and I realise he sounds pretty groggy as he closes the curtains of the large window, then goes to sit down on the chair near the small desk.
I feel Jack's weight on the end of my bed then, and I slip my coat off before tying my hair up and looking over at Niall.
"Jack and me can sleep here, you and Katy in that bed," I mumble, before lying back down again. I laugh softly as Jack takes off my shoes, lightly tickling my feet over my socks.
"I need to pee." Niall gets up and walks over to the bathroom, then knocks on the door. "Katy, hurry up."
After that, I drift off. The next time I wake up, the lights are still on and Katy and Niall's bed is still made, but when I look around neither of them are here. Jack sits beside me on the bed with his phone.
"Where are they?" I mumble, siting up and beginning to pull back the blanket so I can climb underneath. It's kind of disappointing that they don't have duvets but I'll survive.
Jack looks up and then rolls his eyes. "They're in the bathroom, I don't know what they're doing in there." He chuckles at me. "Did you fall asleep?"
I laugh, puzzled. "Must've. How long have we been here?"
"About twenty minutes, I'm just texting Dan to tell him where we are."
I find myself watching Jack as he texts, then puts his phone on the nightstand. He stands up and takes off his jacket, then pulls his wallet out of his back pocket and puts that on the nightstand too, along with his watch. Then he climbs into the bed beside me, and I move my head closer to his, reaching behind me to flick the lampshade off.
"Jack. Do you think anyone got badly hurt in that accident?" I whisper to him after a few seconds of watching his eyes watch mine.
Jack wraps one arm around my waist, tugging me closer to him. "I don't know. But we'll know tomorrow."
I close my eyes and sigh, just as Jack begins to stroke my hair gently. "It's not fair."
"I know, love."
You probably think that all the time, when you think of your mum, I think in my head, but I don't say it out loud. I open my eyes, placing my hand against his chest, and then kiss him gently.
"God, I'm so tired," I sigh at last, and Jack watches me with a laugh.
We watch eachother for a while, before Jack leans in to kiss me deeply, our noses touching, his fingers on the underside of my chin. I close my eyes and listen to his breathing when he pulls back, and I want nothing more than to be like this forever, to do this every day, to just sleep together in the most innocent way possible.
"Turn around," he whispers softly, and I turn over to let him wrap his arms around me tightly from behind, our bodies curled together neatly and closely, and he is the big spoon and I am the little one.
The door opens to the bathroom and there is movement, but I have my eyes closed. One by one I hear Katy and Niall lie down on the bed and I see the blanket moving in the darkness.
"Night, everyone," Katy whispers.
Niall sighs. "G'night."
I smile and kiss Jack's arm. "Good night!"
Jack squeezes my waist. "Night."
-
My father is standing on the drive as soon as we make it back home, his arms crossed and his brow creased. I cautiously pull Jack along over the dark slush-filled path towards him and say goodbye to Niall and Katy.
"Hi, dad."
"Where've you been?" He fumes, also regarding Jack who looks slightly queasy.
"I sent you a text!" I snap immediately. "I told you what happened, and you must've seen it on the news. It's no one's fault, so stop trying to blame it on somebody."
I immediately take in a deep breath and close my eyes after my minor explosion. Jack stays silent.
"Right, well - come inside." My father is still staring out Jack. "And you- You can come inside too."
"Oh no, I've got to get to work. Thank you, though," Jack replies, shaking his head. After hugging me briefly, he waves goodbye and my father and I watch him jog away to his house.
I thought that my dad was in a bad mood, but he really isn't. He may be strict but Christmas time really does make him appear happier.
I end up making cookies for the rest of the day with Phillip, who continuously eats the mixture and blurts out random facts to do with Christmas and history. My mother is in a good mood too, wrapping presents for all of her relatives and singing along to Christmas carols.
And I can't stop thinking about Jack's present. I guess the mix tape was a good idea but I just don't know. I'm no good at presents. In the evening I walk to the computer and begin to look for songs, before beginning to buy different ones. Once my mother gets wind of what I'm doing she turns up with her stereo and a load of blank tapes, then sits beside me while I choose songs and copy the tape using the stereo.
I end up with a pretty good tape.
There Ain't Nothin' About You by Brooks and Dunn
Femme Fatale by Nico and The Velvet Underground
Lunar One by Seventeen Evergreen
Charlie Brown by Coldplay
Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John
Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People
What Light by Wilko
24 Hours by Shack
Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine by The Killers
The next day I fly down to the shops, looking for anything last-minute that I can buy Jack as well. Everything is stupid, though - too cheesy, too boring, too normal. I'm beginning to give up as the first snowfall begins, when I spot a vinyl record player in the corner of the music shop I am in. As I slowly make my way over to it, I can already feel myself getting excited.
It's perfect.
---
Thanks so much for reading I love you :) please comment and vote if you liked it!