A royal pain in the ass

Chapter 2 'Helping Jack'

Chapter 2 'Helping Jack'

I blink again, but still, the dark haired boy his face is hanging above mine. 

I sigh deeply. 'Zayn, go away.'

There's a moment of silence and a little confusion washes over Zayn's face, but it's quickly gone when he starts to smirk. 'What, not happy to see me?'

'Please just- just go.' I almost beg, full of emotion. I have played this scenario often in my head, decided what I'd say, but now I'm actually seeing them again, I'm mortified.  

'Why I was here first! Besides I think you have more experience with running off' He almost spits back. I feel all the colour draining from my face. Wow nice way to go Zayn. He clearly hasn't changed a bit. This makes me feel a little less guilty for leaving them.

'Zayn...' Niall softly moans, clearly annoyed. Zayn's eyes flicker from Niall to me again and he rolls his eyes before sitting down on his chair again. He sighs and takes another sip of his smoothie, just like nothing has happened. It feels like he just punched me in the stomach. Compete ignorance is always worse than mean comments.

Niall sighs loudly and rolls his eyes at Zayn before he walks over to me. I'm still lying on the ground and can't stand up because of my belly. Niall glances quickly at my grown belly and then stretches his arm towards me to pull me up. I gladly take it and stand up while I keep looking at the ground. Zayn was already bad enough, a confrontation with Niall will be heart-breaking.

I mumble a quick thanks, turn around and hastily try to walk away. But somehow my legs feel like jelly, probably because I'm so upset. I falter a little and I'm afraid that I'll fall again. Suddenly there are two warm hands on my arms, keeping me steady.

'Are you alright?' Niall murmurs as he steadies me. I'm still with my back towards him and don't dare to turn around. I nod heavily as I feel the tears coming up. I glance behind me quickly, seeing Niall's pale face and feel instantly guilty.

'S- Sorry, I'm sorry' I whisper before turning around and rushing out of the café, as my legs all of a sudden know again how to walk. I catch Rose's worried glance before walking out but ignore it as I just want to get out of this café.

As soon as I'm outside I breath in the fresh but warm air. I'm emotionally fucked up and I feel utterly lost. I have no clue what to do, where to go and what to feel. Sometimes it's so difficult to.. to just be human. I put my sunglasses back on and squeeze my eyes together, watching the red dots in the darkness of my eyes. The tears have disappeared and it's just the shock that's still lingering in my body.

I have to go though, I can't stand in front of the shop forever. I just want to be as far as possible from not only these 2 boys, but from the whole band. But clearly I can't hide forever. I've already gone to the other side of the world and even now they're able to find me. Why God, why?! I exclaim in my thoughts.

I open my eyes again and start walking down the path. After a while I realise my feet are taking me to one of the rare places that actually make me feel safe. Jack's restaurant. And not only because it's hidden so well, also because Jack feels like family, like home. Home. I quickly suppress the upcoming thought of my home in England. Bad memories.

I make a sharp turn to my left and before I know it I'm standing between thousands of beautiful flowers. Red, pink, purple and yellow flowers are everywhere. Every time I come here it takes my breath away. I have to set my mind on something else, because right now thinking of what just happened and the consequences are too upsetting. I make my way through the garden and white tables and chairs towards the white house at the end of the garden.

'Sofie! How lovely to see you, how are you feeling? How's the baby?' Jack exclaims as soon as he sees me walking towards the house. I force a smile, still not feeling well.

'I'm great Jack, thank you. The baby is fine. I actually just found out that it's going to be a girl!' I answer, enthusiasm coming back at the thought of my baby girl. I smile at the thought of her.

'Oh that sounds amazing Sofie! Congratulations! Now please come to the kitchen, I have something new!' He chirps as he walks back into the house. I follow him, smiling and put my sunglasses back into my bag. Jack loves to experiment with food and I'm always the victim for his new 'founds'. I always act like it's the worst, but in fact it's delicious and I enjoy giving him compliments about his recipes.

As soon as I enter the neat kitchen, Jack hands me a toast with a pink sludge on it. I examine it quickly before shoving it into my mouth. All different kind of tastes explode into my mouth and my tongue cringes of pleasure. As I swallow it, it gives a refreshing after taste. All in all: amazing as always.

'This tastes great! What is it?' I moan. Jack's eyes light up as he looks at me.

'Toast with a mixture of salmon, mayonnaise, cream, parsley, cucumber and some salt and pepper'

I pull up an eyebrow of amazement. How does he even think of it? Jack hurries back to the furnace and takes a sip of something that's boiling in a pan. I offer my help and Jack points me to the groceries, which have to be cut.

We work the rest of the afternoon, having fun, preparing food for the restaurant and singing. I often help Jack out with his restaurant. His wife broke her leg in an accident and is currently sitting at home, so now I help him out a little. Jack feels like a real dad to me and he's always a good distraction for me. At 5 PM the first guests arrive along with his personnel. He hired 3 waitresses when he found out that he couldn't handle his restaurant on his own any more.

Every day it's full of people, enjoying his wonderful food and I'm so proud that his restaurant is going so well. I say my goodbyes and give a quick kiss on his cheek before walking out of the restaurant, back home. James should be home by now and I think it's time to face my problems.

I rush home, afraid of every dark corner and every stranger. Afraid that it'll be them. I sigh as I finally arrive at the small apartment of James and feel my heart still beating quickly. As soon as I walk in I see James sitting on the couch, watching some soccer.

He looks up from his position and smiles at me. His smile immediately falters as he sees my face. Am I that obvious?

'Sofie what happened?' He asks as he rushes to me and envelops me in a big hug. The tears from earlier today come back and fall down my cheeks as I start to sob softly. James rubs my back comfortingly as he lets me cry into his shirt.

'Ssshh, it's okay. Come let's sit down, and I'll make us some tea' He says with his mouth still in my hair. I nod and he gently pulls me on the couch and walks off to make some tea. He copied my habit of drinking tea a couple of months ago and I still tease him about it. After a couple of minutes he walks back into the room with 2 damping mugs and puts them on the small coffee table in front of us.

I look at him as he sits next to me and pulls me into him. I sigh and tell him the whole story with a shaking voice. He stiffens at the part of me meeting Zayn and Niall. He and Jack are the only 2 people who know my story, at least a part of it. I let some details out as I find them not important at all.

James has helped me since with hiding from worlds most famous band and from my parents people who are also still searching me I believe. As I end my story he rubs my hair softly and pulls me further into him.

'We'll find a solution Soph, we always do' His voice softly whispers against my head.