Stressed, Depressed & BoyBand Obsessed

Chapter 17:

"Leah?" The sound of his voice instantly calmed me but the tears still kept falling from my eyes, blurring my vision. Not that there was much to look at anyways.
"Hey" I whispered back, sadness thick in my voice. "Are you crying? Are you ok?" The panic in his voice made the tears fall even faster. I didn't want anyone to worry over me. After all, I'm nothing really.
"I'm fine." Was all I could say and even that came out as I tiny squeak. "What's wrong?" He asked sounding even more panicked than before.
I paused thinking about what he'd just asked me. What was right would've been a better question. "Everything" I whispered again. There was silence on the other line. Had he hung up? I took the phone that was pressed to my ear and looked at the screen. No, the call was still going.
"Can you come and get me?" I pathetically begged into the phone. "Yeah, where are you?" That all he seemed to be doing in this call, ask questions. I gave him the address of the park and hung up.

Just as I had slid my phone back into my pocket it ever so conveniently started to rain. Most people hate the rain but secretly I love it. Sitting in the rain is one of my strange pleasures. I untangled my arms that were wrapped around my knees and reached out in front of me.
The rainfall increased dramatically within seconds, the crystal clear raindrops hitting my bare hands and exploding in different directions. The rain soaked every inch of me, flattening my curly hair and more than likely smudging the poorly applied makeup down my cheeks. I exhaled deeply, this torrential rain was so calming. Anyone walking past would think I was crazy for lying in the middle of a field when it was raining this hard. But that was the messed up reality, I was crazy, absolutely insane.

"What are you doing out here?" A voice called behind me. I turned back to see Ashton. His face covered in small droplets of water and only a light jacket covering him. Only Ashton Irwin could look this perfect standing in the middle of a storm.

I picked my bag up and rushed into his arms. Longing, no craving that feeling of security I hadn't been able to receive all week. He seemed shocked at first but responded by tightly wrapping his arms around my waist. "Thank you." I said into his chest, hopefully loud enough for him to hear. "Come on, let's get out of the rain. You must be freezing." He said and guides me towards a car that I didn't recognise. I didn't want to break away from the hug but I also didn't want to seem like some clingy fan that won't let go, so I followed Ashton's lead and trailed after him. As we approached I could make out a figure sat inside.

Ashton opened the door leading to the backseat, allowing me to slip inside. But the thing is I didn't want to get in that car, I didn't want to leave him. Not even for a second.

He shut the door behind me and clambered into the passenger seat. I didn't know who was driving the car still, I had never seen this person before. He flicked away a lock of his wavy brown hair from his face, revealing faint wrinkles on the side of his face. This person didn't look too old, early 40s at best.

Ashton told the man driving where the hotel was and he pulled away from the curb, into the midday traffic. Large droplets of water hit the condensation covered window as we drove through the streets in silence. I traced small patterns on the cold windows and listened to the faint hum of the song playing on the radio.

"Are you okay Leah?" Ashton turned and whispered to me. "I already answered that." My eyes flickered to his momentarily before turning back to the swirls I had drawn on the window. This continued for another 5 minutes maybe. Him trying to spark a conversation between us, me brushing him off every time before he finally gave up and turned back around.

I wanted to be alone right now. Even though I had called Ashton to come get me. No matter how confusing or contradicting that was it was true. I wanted to be alone.

The car was pulled over to the curb once again but this time at the hotel. Ashton handed over a few bills and thanked the man before proceeding to clamber out of the car the same way he got in. So this was a taxi? I opened my door and slid out, slamming it unintentionally as I closed it again. I walked the short distance from the car to the lobby and turned back to see Ashton following a couple of steps behind. Why was I doing this, shutting him out? He had only done good for me so why shut him out? Because he will be just like the rest.

"Leah, slow down." Ashton grabbed my shoulder to stop me from moving further away from him. I halted and he slammed into my back. "What's wrong?" He asked from behind me. Was there any point in denying that there was? The lobby was fairly empty for the middle of the day in such an expensive hotel so I wasn't worried about people looking at me.

A few tears escaped my eyes even after I tried forcing them back in by clamping my eyes shut. I twisted myself round and buried my face into Ashton's chest. We stood in that lobby for what seemed hours but in reality were only minutes. "I'm sorry, I must look like a total baby, blubbering all over you." I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood whilst wiping away any excess tears and makeup. "You don't, I understand." He reassures me, but does he really understand?

Ashton placed his hand at the small of my back and guided me towards the elevator and up to his room, probably not wanting to scare the other people walking through the lobby with my hideous face. He unlocked the same door I had entered through a week ago, allowing me to step inside. The room wasn't as messy as I thought it would be. Sure there were a few T-shirts scattered around and the beds weren't made but it could be worse.

Even before the door is shut Ashton is interrogating me. "Please can you tell me what's wrong Leah?" He begged. "I hate not knowing what's wrong with you." He held both my hands in his and looked into my eyes, attempting to decipher what was actually wrong. I drew in a deep breath. "Everything is wrong Ashton. My grades are slipping, my parents are on my case, Noah... don't get me started on him." I ranted on. "Noah? The guy in your room Noah? Or do you know multiple Noahs?" He asked with a small chuckle. "No, I only know one Noah and that's the one from the other day." I smiled back weakly before letting my face return to the permanent frown that is always plastered on it. Thank God I only knew one Noah. What I would do if I knew more than one...

"It's going to be okay," He reassured me, my gaze fixed on the ground at my scuffed school shoes. "Hey, look at me. Everything's going to be fine." He placed a finger under my chin and pulled my face up to lock eyes with him. I leaned into his chest and he tightly gripped my back. Well he didn't need much of an explanation. If this were anyone else they would ask for a step by step explanation as to what is happening in my life. Making me explain every single problem I have to deal with. That's what my mum or friend or my old therapist would expect from me. I say old therapist because I stopped going to those counselling sessions, they didn't help in any way. Quite frankly all they did was make me share my problems that would shortly be told to my mum, who would then ask me a million questions on why I didn't pass my history test or why people teased me.

"So it looks like I have you to myself for the afternoon, what do you want to do?" He quickly changes the subject. I shrugged and looked at the floor again. "Do you want to go out shopping or walk around or stay here..." He persists. "I don't have any money so I can't go shopping and I'm wearing this disgusting uniform so I think going out in public is also off limits." I point down to the hideous black, school skirt, thick black opaque tights and creased school shirt. Oh shit, my shirt is completely soaked, which only means that my bra is bound to be showing. Why did I pick the pink one to wear today?

I wrapped the small, black cardigan around my bust tightly, ensuring that no one could see anything under my shirt. I look back at Ashton and he averts his eyes away from me, blushing. Did he see? "Sorry, I didn't mean to look." he apologises quickly, still looking away. This brings a small smile to my face, more than a small smile, close to an idiotic grin. Ashton was looking at my boobs. Why am I so happy about this? "No it's fine, honestly," I say back, still grinning like an imbecile, "Anyways, I think we'd better stay here considering my situation..." I awkwardly try to move the subject along but only really make things worse by releasing the grip on my cardigan and waving my hand over my chest when speaking. The cardigan falls back to my sides again, revealing my hot pink bra as I wave my hands about. When I realise what had just happened I wrap the cardigan back over myself and blush deeply. This shirt better dry quickly.