I sat up slowly from bed, unknowing what time it was. As I wiped my eyes, I walked out of the room, seeing piles of grocery bags sitting on the ground and on the kitchen counter.
I saw the refrigerator door open. "Zayn?"
He looked over at me from where he'd been standing stocking my cabinets with food. "You're up. How'd you sleep?"
Wait. Who's behind the fridge?
"Fine," I replied slowly. "What're you doing?"
"Oh," he paused, walking over so that he was looking at me while he spoke. "I thought I'd stop by the grocery store to get you some food. I'm sorry I left. I know I told you I'd be here."
I shook my head. "It's fine. I just..." I looked at the refrigerator again.
He finally caught on. "Oh. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I asked a friend to come shopping with me. Riley, this is Louis."
Another boy popped out from behind my refrigerator door and smiled. "Hey," he said, his bright smile practically blinding me. I recognized him pretty quickly as one of Zayn's band mates.
"Hi," I returned, not sure of what to say. "It's nice meeting you."
"It's nice meeting you, beautiful," he said.
Zayn's eyes met Louis' eyes for a moment. "Hey," he warned.
Louis laughed and looked back at me. "It seems you have a bodyguard."
I knew Zayn and I weren't a couple, but my cheeks still burned red. I kept my eyes from Zayn's and watched Louis instead as he filled the refrigerator with what felt like a year's worth of food.
"You didn't need to buy anything," I told Zayn, feeling guilty seeing how much he had bought.
Zayn hugged me from the side, "Of course I did. Relax."
I looked up at him and mouthed, "Does he know?"
"No," he mouthed back.
I didn't know if I felt relieved or not that Louis didn't know our secret. But it had to come out eventually. I wouldn't be thin for much longer, and Zayn was constantly in the spotlight.
The guys finished putting away all the food while I disposed of the plastic bags all over the room. I kept some that hadn't broken just in case I needed them, and the rest I threw away.
"I brought Louis because I thought he'd be good at picking out healthy choices for you, but he and I both caved I think," Zayn explained.
"You think? Everything in here is filled to the brim with food I've never even heard of," I told him.
Louis smiled at this as he sat on the couch in the living room. "Maybe we should get you a new sofa, too. This one's kind of lumpy."
I bit my lip, a bit embarrassed. "That was here when I moved in, actually."
Zayn looked over at me, a pitying look that I didn't quite like. "You defininitely need a new one. Tomorrow I'll take you out to buy one."
Louis smiled while I sat down in the kitchen. "No. You need to quit buying things," I warned them.
Zayn sat by Louis and gave me a stern look. "I will buy you the world and you will accept it. You said it was okay."
I returned an angry look at him. "I said you could help, not buy me things that are unnecessary."
"No. You said that I could take care of you. I don't want you getting hungry or sitting on an old, used, lumpy couch. God knows where that thing's been. Maybe while I'm at it, I'll buy you a new bed. Yours is most likely hard and uncomfortable," he said, a smile playing on his lips. I was getting angry and he was amused.
I narrowed my eyes into slits, becoming more and more angry by the second. "I didn't want you to stock my kitchen with the whole freaking country's food. I don't want you to buy me a new couch and I don't want you to buy me a new bed! It was nice that you came over this morning and that you were sweet and you care but you need to quit thinking that you know what's best for me!"
Zayn's eyebrows furrowed as he stood. "You're not seeing things from my perspective, Riley," he said, his voice a lot calmer than mine. "I see you here with no food, so I bought you some. A guy who's never even met you tells you that you have an uncomfortable sofa and we find it's old and used and I feel that you should have a new one. Why is that so hard to accept? It'll give me some peace of mind to know that you're going to be alright when I'm not around."
I scoffed. "It's hard to accept because I've never needed anybody's help! I don't need anybody's help! I was just fine before you showed up!"
"You were most certainly not fine," he said sternly. "You were living on forty dollars!" He finally cracked. "You had no food but a half empty box of crackers! Excuse me for wanting the best for you and my baby!"
"Whoa, wait," Louis butt in. "Baby? Did you say baby?"
I smacked a glass vase on the kitchen counter as I stood and cringed as it smashed on the ground . "Yes, he said baby!"
Both Zayn and Louis came over to me to make sure I was fine. I stepped away.
"Forget you! Leave!" I yelled, my nerves catching up to me and my voice quivered. I sobbed as I turned and walked toward my room. "I don't need you. Please just... leave."
I shut my bedroom door behind me and sat on the edge of my bed to cry. As I wiped away my tears, the door creaked open. My head snapped up and I prepared to yell.
"No. No. Calm down. It's just me," Louis said, shutting the door behind him and sitting right beside me.
Something about him being there made me relax. I found that I was always crying, and remembered Doctor Bryand when he asked about my mood swings.
"Hey, I know right now you're probably a bit hormonal... I want you to know it's not your fault. You just need to understand that Zayn just wants you to be okay. I mean, he's going to worry about you regardless of your sitting on an old lumpy couch or a new expensive one, but the latter would maybe ease the smallest of his worries," he explained.
"He's sometimes dumb and arrogant but he just wants the best for you and that little person growing inside of you. The boy's worried to death that something's going to happen to you," he said as he wrapped an arm around me.
I nodded and I hugged him to me. Louis had something about him that made me trust him. He felt like the brother I never had.
His hands ran up and down my back as I cried into his shoulder. "I'm so scared."
He hugged me tighter, his hand now in my hair. "Oh, I know, love. It's not practical. But everything's going to be fine. I promise. Just please let us help you."
"Within reason," I whispered.
"Yeah. Yeah, of course. But you do need a new sofa. And to be honest, your bed doesn't seem the most comfortable, either."
I laughed a little. "We'll talk about it."
I'd really love to hear some feedback. I've been loving writing this story. It'd be great to know what you think. <3 <3 <3 ~HayleyCT