Stockholm Syndrome

Chapter 7 -

(Maya's POV)

I'm sitting boredly  in the auditorium seats, waiting for Emma to return from the bathroom. Its been nearly a half an hour now, and I'm beginning to wonder if she might have gotten lost. Or maybe she got caught up in the gridlock the has more than a few people stuck in the auditorium. The latter is definitely more likely, and I certainly hope she doesn't wet herself while she waits. Her car or not, I'm not gonna ride home with her if she smells.

I've been staring vaguely towards the stage this entire time, but I'm not really focusing on what I see until now. And the only reason I care now is that Niall Horan has just ran onto the stage, reminding me vaguely of some incident last year that I can't remember the details of.

Niall grabs the microphone, not even taking more than a half a second to assess the small crowd before he starts speaking. Actually more like yelling.

"Louis and Harry are-" He screams into the mic. I stand up involuntarily, anticipating his next words. But he never gets to finish his sentence, as he is tackled from behind. My hand flies up to my mouth as several men in suits drag his limp body off the stage and m voice mingles with those of the other people in the audatorium. I can't even fathom what just happened. What happened to Niall? Is he okay? What are those men gonna do to him? I can't be sure if these questions slip from my mouth or not, but even as I ask them, another question comes to mind. What had Niall been about to say? Was Larry really real? And the question of Emma's location slowly slipped from my mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Emma's POV)

I wake to a throbbing headache and the sound of hushed voices. Hushed British voices I might add if I wasn't so tired. I could barely open my eyes, let alone move, so I just lay there listening to them talk.

"Do you think he'll be okay? I feel awful for causing all this." Identifying voices has never been my strong point, but I was almost certain that voice belonged to Harry.

"He'll be fine as long as management doesn't skin him alive," a voice, this time unidentifiable decided.

"Zayn, you aren't helping. Harry, baby, none of this is our fault. Niall knew what he was doing when he climbed onto that stage." That could only be Louis.

"But he wouldn't have been so angry if that girl hadn't caught us-" Harry's voice returns, only to be interrupted.

"I'd watch what your about to say, that girl is awake." Came another, almost bored sounding voice. Four members of the band were soon hovering over me, standing where. I could see them.

"Well look who's awake." Louis smiled cheerfully. I can't help but think he's a bit over happy after the conversation he had just been having.

"Where's Niall?" I have to force the words out of my dry mouth and even my own voice grates against my ears. I need to see Niall, he's the only one of these imbeciles I  can trust. He is, at least, human.

"Um..." Harry bit his lip. "Right beside you."

What? I force myself to roll over and see that the blonde boy is, indeed, right beside me. He appears to be asleep, his breathing low and even. Then a thought occurs to me.

"Why is he in the same bed as me?" I try to move, but that only causes more pain, and getting away from Niall isn't that vital. Not important enough to cause this much pain. I stop moving, but look back up at the rest of them, still expecting an explanation.

"Well I figured you had seen enough of those two kissing to last you a lifetime, and I can't guarantee worse wouldn't happen if I put you in their room. Zayn had Perrie over last night, so that would have a simular problem. So that left Niall and I's rooms, and I didn't think you'd want to wake up next to a stranger." Liam explains it as if it was perfectly logical, which I suppose it must have seemed last night.

"Did anyone call Maya?" I ask, knowing she'll be obsessing over my location. The four of them looked at each other, as though trying to think of something to say.

"Um...well yesterday Niall got tackled onstage."  Louis began.

"It's a long story." Liam assured ME, quelling my curious look. Their voices hurt my head, but I power through it. This had to be in some way relevant.

"And we figured people would be looking for you, so we had to do something," Harry adds.

"So I told the press you were responsible for attacking Niall and that we're holding you for questioning until further notice." Zayne finished.

My head is spinning. "So I'm stuck here?"

They all nod.

"Your Nialls responsibility until this all gets figured out." Liam agrees.

I groan and lay back on the pillow. "Last time I heard those words I ended up knocked out by some guy in a suit." They all laugh, but I'm sure this is going to be a long day.

"You should go back t sleep." Louis suggested. "That chloroform stuff can't be easy on the head."

I nod and lay back down, finding my self considerable less repulsed by the presence of Niall beside me than I should be.

I have a lot of problems, but they can wait until morning.