The Chase of Adeline

Chapter 6.

Adeline's POV 

When Zayn left, I could feel relief flood over me. I knew I should've talked to him, but I just didn't have it in me. I wasn't ready to face him. I couldn't. 

Louis wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a hug. "You alright?" he asked me. I smiled softly and nodded my head as Iwrapped my arms around his waist and pulled in his familiar scent that I've loved since my childhood. "We're going out to eat sushi, my siblings are just going to meet us there. Will you join?" 

"I don't think so," I told him. He pouted slightly and I laughed at him. "I'm not really hungry so-"

"Adeline, you need to eat. You've barely eaten besides pizza with my mum." He sounded dissapointed, and it made me a bit irritated. He spoke to me as if I was a child.  

"I said I'm not hungry Louis! If I don't want to go then I don't have to now please, I can handle myself!" I felt guilty as soon as the words left my mouth in an angry shout. He looked at me for a moment, surprised, and then nodded and turned away. I knew he was angry. 

I started to follow him, but then decided not to. I said goodbye to Anne as the two of them made their way out of the door before going up to Louis' room. Not even twenty minutes passed before I decided I needed to get out, get some fresh air. I changed into a pair of skinny jeans and grabbed a black jumper from Louis' teenage closet.  I stuck my phone and wallet into my pockets and walked out of the door, locking it behind me.  

The late afternoon air was perfect, not too warm, not too cool. The wind was blowing softly, pushing my hair around to tickle my face. I drew in a deep breath as I walked, trying to clear my head of the one thing I had been contemplating over for days now. 

More than almost anything, I wondered what Cedrick had to tell me. The messages he sent me, so many of them. He sounded generally concerned. Of course, he has never been a truthful person, and definitely never been high on my list of trustworthy people. I had a conflict. I didn't know whether to trust him or not. 

I could call him back; believe that the reason came home out of his mind that night was out of his control.  If he was telling the truth, then maybe I could forgive Zayn, and we could go back to the semi-happy couple that we were before, months away from our wedding. We could be together again. But then suppose I trusted him and it was a trick. Just another lie in the web. How stupid would I look? How pathetic? 

I stopped walking and waited for the crosswalk to change. I crossed the street and went into a small bakery just as it started raining lightly. An aroma like a mix between doughnuts and pretzels filled my nose. Although my mouth watered, I still had no appetite. But I did buy a smoothie. I sat at a table towards the back, taking in the look of the small shop. 

I came to the conclusion that this was a newer place. I didn't remember ever coming here, or even seeing the place before. I made a mental note to come back sometimme with Louis. Once again I thought about our school days when we would get breakfast together nearly every morning.  I smiled at the thought. 

I pulled out my phone and decided to check my social medias for the first time in days. It all seemed normal until I came across a web article with the title, " Zayn and Adeline or Adeline and Louis???". I was immediately both enraged and upset for numerous reasons. I was upset that we had already caught the public eye, and that there was no such thing as privacy, but also because it was just another slap in the face as if to say "Yeah, it's really happening." 

I decided to put away my phone and kept sipping my smoothie. I glanced down at it when it rattled as I attempted to suck the last drops from the bottom of the cup. After shaking it in my hand I rised from my chair and went for the trash can. Just as I tossed it in, I froze completely. Standing there at the oposite end of the counter, dressed in sweats and all he stood. Zayn. My heart beat a million  times a second. I wondered if he had seen me.