Liam's P.O.V
"C'mon lad! We need to do something! You need to get out of the house. Do something to keep you occupied until tomorrow," Louis whines. I roll my eyes and continue to listen to music and lay on my bed. He came over to me, grabbed my shoulders and shook my body, trying to get me up. After a couple seconds, he gave up and then called Zayn's name. They both lift me off the bed and started to carry me to the car.
"What the hell are you doing?!" I scream, trying to get them to put my down, but Harry and Niall had joined in the 'Carry the screaming Liam" game.
They put me in the passenger seat and then Louis gets in the driver's seat. I growl at them and they leave me alone finally. I turn up the music louder and just stare at the window, not really caring where we're going, or what we're doing. They're pissing me off though, that I can tell you!
Okay, taking me out makes me feel even worse, if that's possible, because she is probably in her room crying, meanwhile I'm out with the guys.
"If you want we can go pick up Raines?" Louis asks, clearly trying to make me feel better. It's a horrible attempt.. I look at him completely shocked.
"I never knew Louis Tomlinson was actually THAT stupid. Now that...that's just sad. Hell no. I do NOT want her to come. I cannot look her in the eyes right now. She wouldn't come anyway. I know it. So just let it go," I beg, looking down at my lap for a minute.
"Can I- Wait never mind. Don't need to do that. Or ask that. Okay, moving on," Louis stutters. I'm very curious as to what he was going to ask but I don't bother asking because I know better and I'm scared of the answer.
"Can you at least tell me where we're going?" I ask, looking at Louis for the first time.
"That I cannot tell you," Louis says matter-of-factly, as if he is giving orders.
"Why?" I look at him, confused.
"Because I don't know myself," Louis tells me, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. Niall bursts out laughing. Harry and Zayn were just smirking, trying to hold themselves back from laughing.
"Well Louis, I hate to spoil your fun but I'm pretty sure if we're planning on going somewhere, we actually need a place to go," Harry points out.
"He's right Lou," Niall says. Where had he come from? I just now think. He lives in Ireland.
"Niall I want to know how the hell you got here because you live in a different country," I say, turning around in my seat and look at him.
"I'm on vacation by myself and my parents flew me down here. What are you not glad to see me?" Niall looks sad. He pretends to cry in Harry's shoulder.
Okay, the only reason I was not finding this funny is because I am pissed at the guys. Otherwise I'd be laughing.
Of course we just happened to drive by Raines' penthouse. I look up at the top to see someone standing there, on the edge of the roof, looking like they are ready to jump.
"Is that Raines?" I scream. I see the girl's brown hair blowing in the wind. Even through the jacket and shorts I could see how small she is. She seems cold. It's about forty three degrees outside and she's wearing shorts. She's also looking down, as if deciding when to jump. All the guys follow my eyes up to the top.
"Oh my carrots it is!" Louis screams after me. He immediately jerks the steering wheel, turning the van into the parking lot of Raines' apartment building. Louis parks the car and we all run into the building, dashing down the hall to the elevator.
We decide to go as far up as we can in the elevator. Surprisingly, the elevator goes all the way to the roof where Raines is. That's good, we can't waste a minute. I hit the button with my fist several times, as if it will make the elevator go up faster, and wait anxiously to get to the top. It feels like eternity before we get there. I stand in the elevator tapping my hand against my legs, anxiously waiting for the "ding" to come so that I can run to her. Even though she probably wants nothing to do with me. Or any of the other guys.
As soon as the doors are wide enough, I run out the elevator with the guys at my side.
We find Raines at the edge of the building, still looking down.
"So you saw me?" She whispers without shifting her gaze or even moving. Her small frame stays completely still, except for her hair, which is blowing in the wind. She is clenching her fists together. I can see tear drops falling from her face and hitting the cliff of the building.
"Raines get down!" I yell, coming up behind her, just a couple feet away. I can't grab her because then she would put up a fight and there will be a big chance of her really falling off of the edge. I can't risk that.
"Why should I? I mean...my life...this life sucks, Liam." She gestures to the world around her. She turns and is facing us now. I can see the tears in her blue eyes. They don't have that glisten that they usually have, they look more like someone hung a dark cloud above them. "They've gone from just normal bullying to cyber bullying and I don't know if I can take it anymore. They've called me a bitch, a slut, a whore, a hoe, ugly, and stuff that's too painful for me to repeat. You saw what happened on Friday. That's normal. It gets worse. I was lucky that it was only one slap. Once I ended up in the hospital, telling my parents that I was blindsided by some random person. And they believed it. They were not by my side at all times. They never ask how school is, they don't even care where I go. I came up here I just walked straight out the door and they didn't even say bye. They probably wouldn't have even flinched if they knew I'm going to do. I don't know if I would be able to trust anyone again. Well maybe not fully, but I might be able too. I guess we'll never find out. I'm not going to be here to find out," She looks at me long enough for me to see a tear roll down her face and drop onto the concrete edge of the building.
Raines turns back around and takes one small step closer to the edge. Which means she is right on it, looking down at the street below, her feet hanging off of it a little bit. It's a long way down. The building is about forty stories high. There's no way she would survive. Or even make it down in one piece.
"Raines...why haven't you told anyone? It's serious to be feeling this way and to be going through these things." I ask and take a step closer to her, not wanting to risk anything, but needing her to know that someone cares.
"You really think someone cares about what goes on in my life? I thought you'd be smarter than that Liam. I mean, apparently you don't care. You lied to me, acted like you cared when the truth is, you don't," She cries, her voice sounded weak, as if it was about to crack. She turns around and looks at all of us
"All of you! You all pretended! You're all liars. You're all horrible people. What the hell did I ever do to you?" She yells to the rest of the guys. Except Niall. I saw a hint of confusion on her face when she saw him standing amongst the boys. It immediately vanished though.
"I do care Raines. Not all of it was a lie. I like you. A lot. And you don't deserve this, you don't deserve what other people have done to you, and you don't deserve what we've done to you," I say to her, taking another small step towards her.
"He's right," Someone says from behind me. I don't turn around to see who it is. Probably Harry and his smart mouth. I ignore it. I know whoever said it has good intentions though.
"Raines please come down, and we can fix all of this. You're going to have to trust me at least one more time. I know I've never given you a reason to trust me, especially after all of this, but I am begging you, please just trust me with this. I am here to help you, not to hurt you. We all are here for you. Please come down. If you jump, then I will too." My eyes start to fill with tears as I speak to her.
I walk closer to where she's standing and offer her my hand. She looks at it like she wants to take it but isn't sure if it's the right choice. I can't blame her hesitation.
She places her small hand right above mine, not touching but about an half an inch from touching. Before she could move her hand any closer, I grab it and pull her down from the ledge, into my arms. Her body is less than half of the size of mine, so it is easy to take her and pull her down from the edge. She buries her head in my shoulder and starts to cry. I run my fingers through her hair, rubbing her back with the other hand. Sobs rake over her body as she cries into me.
"It's going to be OK. I promise it's going to be OK," I whisper softly into her ear. The boys are standing beside us. I feel her body shiver against mine. No wonder she's cold. She is so small compared to anyone, and she's wearing shorts so that's probably why, too. I pick her up bridal style and carry her to the elevator. "Do you want to go see your parents?" She shakes her head, "I think you might need to. I'm going to talk to them either way."
"What floor? I forgot." Louis asks, standing in front of the buttons.
"Ten," Raines mutters quietly. She now has her arms curled into her chest, hugging herself tightly.
"Promise you'll never scare me like that again," I plead, placing my head next to hers. She just nods. I sigh and lean against the elevator wall, kissing her forehead. I don't deserve her trust, but I am beyond thankful for it right now. She would probably be dead if we hadn't found her when we did.
"Want me to carry her?" Zayn asks me. He's the strongest one out of us five.
"I got her. I'm just a little jumpy right now. She doesn't weigh much at all," I whisper to him, not wanting to disturb Raines.
"Considering she's nearly the size of a child, yeah I'm sure she doesn't weigh much," Zayn replies. I kiss her forehead again and rest my head on top of hers.
"Liam promise me something," she says, looking up at me. I move my head so I can look in her eyes.
"Anything," I tell her, kissing her nose. I know we aren't dating anymore, she's probably only letting me be this intimate with her because she's in such a bad place and so fragile and broken right now. She needs someone. And I can't believe I'm the only person she has. She's such an amazing person and definitely doesn't deserve a thing she's been through. Especially what the guys and I put her through.
"That you will never lie to me again," She says quietly, like a scared child.
"I swear on my life, I will never lie to you again," I promise to her, kissing her forehead again. She leans into my chest and closes her eyes, still crying a little.
"I need you to promise me something this time," I ask. She opens her eyes again and looks up at me. "Promise that next time that something, like people bullying you, being rude to you, or touching you, happens, just tell me." She nods and closes her eyes again.
When the elevator doors opens, I find apartment 103 B and knock on the door. I'm guessing that it's was Raines' mom standing at the door when the door is open and I see a short woman standing there, looking like she's in her mid-thirties. She takes one look at Raines and almost screams.
"Who are you and what happened to my daughter?" She asks, taking a step closer to us, her hand going to rest on Raines' knee, but I pull away before her hand actually touches Raines.
"Your daughter just about killed herself. She was ready to jump off the building, and if my friends and I hadn't drove by here, she'd be dead. So you just need to be thankful that we got her down, because we almost didn't," I tell her firmly. Her mom has tears in her eyes and I see a man come up behind her. Probably her father.
"Baby girl," Her mom whispers. Raines' mom began to stroke Raines' hair, "I'm so sorry."
"I think it'd be better if she came and stayed with me for a while," I told them both. Her mom looks taken aback at my forwardness.
"Who are you again?" Her dad asked me, looking at Raines, then at me, then back at Raines. He looks understandably confused about why I'm holding his crying daughter.
"My name's Liam, and apparently I care more about your daughter than you do. Raines, go get your things and we'll go back to my house," I tell Raines' mother. Raines gets on the ground, walk around her parents, and go somewhere into the apartment. Her parents just stare at me. I stared right back. I didn't blink, didn't move. I just looked at them, not knowing what to think.
I could never imagine talking to someone like the way I'm talking to her parents right now, but I am livid about how they've been ignoring her. How could her own parents not notice these things happening to their own daughter?
Just a minute later, Raines comes back. Louis offers to carry her bag, and I pick Raines up again, carrying her bridal style. And with that we walk out of the penthouse, we get in the car, ready to back to my house.
"Okay, so I say it'd better if we don't go to school tomorrow," Harry states, climbing in the passenger seat.
"Cheers!" Niall agrees, even though he doesn't go to school with us, and wouldn't be going in the first place considering he doesn't live here. Raines looks like she's asleep and I'm not about to wake her up.
"Niall shut up Raines is asleep!!" He slaps a hand over his mouth before I can.
I decide to sit in the three person back seat with Raines. I lay her head in my lap so she could continue to sleep.
"You okay Li?" Niall asks me.
"Yes I'm fine. I'm not to sure about Raines though," I admit. We both look at her. I brush the hair out of her face, smiling at the little angel lying in my lap.
"Well she's been through a lot, Li. You need to remember that. I say just let her sleep, and then we can handle the bullying later. Take it all one step at a time," Niall tells me, looking from Raines, back up to me.
"Yeah. I think I could use a nap too," I tell him truthfully, looking at him.
"I think we all could!" He tells me before turning back around. I stroked Raines hair as we drove back to my house.
"Guys, make sure you're quiet because I don't want to wake up Raines." I picked her up and carried her in the house once we got there. I laid her next to me on the couch. "Guys why don't you go home and we can all meet up at Nando's for dinner later."
"I'm up for it!" Niall shouts, this time I slap a hand over his mouth after he yells. I look down at Raines and see her stir in her sleep, but she doesn't wake up.
"Niall, you are up for anything that has something to do with Nando's," Louis calls from the drivers seat. Niall shrugs and I remove my hand from over his mouth.
---
"See ya later!" Niall calls, leaving with Harry.
"You sure you can take care of her?" Louis asks. I nod, then he leaves.
I'm not quite convinced myself that I can take care of her. I'm not sure what to do really. But I know that I'll figure something out. I'd rather her be here with me right now then with anybody else.
"OK, well I guess we'll see you later," Zayn says and then follows Louis out the door.
And then there were two. I get up and grab a blanket and cover Raines with it. I run my fingers across her cheek and tuck a piece of hair behind her head. She stirs in her sleep. I sit next to her for a second to make sure that she wasn't going to wake up. I want her to get some rest right now.
I get up to go get a drink when she grabs my hand. She's sitting up, her eyes wide, and she looks like she can barely breathe.
"Raines are you OK?" I ask, sitting next to her again. I take her hand in mine.
"No...they...they..." Raines stumbles over her words then bursts into tears. I pull her close to me and hold her tight.
"It was just a dream. Just a dream love," I whisper softly in her ear, rubbing my hand on her back, trying to get her to go to back sleep. It probably wasn't a dream, but she didn't need to hear that right now.
"Don't leave me," she whispers, eyes starting to close.
"Never," I whisper back. I pull her into my lap and cover her with the blanket.
Raines P.O.V
I don't know how I trust him again. But if I don't I wouldn't be with him right now, I'd be dead. And so would he. As he wrapped his arms around me I wrapped mine around his neck. I couldn't loose him. I just couldn't. Right now he was everything to me. He was the only thing I had left.
"You need to rest."
He began to sing to me. He had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. Now I didn't want to sleep, I wanted to listen to him sing. And I did.
"You should try out for X-Factor."
"I did. I made it to Simon's house. And then got kicked out. He told me to come back in two years. Which means I have to come back this year. The guys said they wanted to try out too. So that's the plan. We're going to try out this year."
"Well I'll miss you. But I will watch each night, vote for you, and be in the crowd making sure you can see me."
"No, I'll make sure I can see you, too. I'll see what the families do."
"OK, just make sure you don't get used to the female attention."
"I'm hoping I'll get enough from you." I laughed, causing him to smile. "But it's true."
"I know."
I didn't think about what I was doing until I actually did it; I leaned in and kissed him. Our lips moved in sync. I wrapped my arms tighter around his neck and he placed my head in his hands. It felt like the best thing in the world. Like nothing could be better. I'm glad I'm not dead. He saved me.