Starving (One Direction)

Chapter 3. ♡

3.00

"Miss. You need to wake up. You're in London." The hostess leans over my body and shakes me lightly. When my eyes flutter open she smiles brightly and repeats, "You're in London."

Oh.

I nod and sit up on the couch, which is difficult with the weight of all the blankets on top of me. But my hands grip the back of the seat and I use that to pull myself up. The woman continues staring at me while I struggle to stand, and when she sees my legs shaking, she offers her hand to me. I ignore her. I don't like help. It shows the weakness of relying on other people.

When I begin to walk to the door, she clears her throat and says, "Your bags are by the entrance door to the building on a luggage cart. You can get bring the cart inside instead of holding your bags by yourself."

I mumble a "thank you" before stumbling off the ramp to get outside.

It's freezing here.

I wrap my jacket closer around my body and walk to the entrance. As I move past the luggage cart, I clamp my fingers on it and drag it behind me. Then I remember that I brought my blanket from home. I'd be much warmer with it wrapped around me.

My bony fingers pull at the zipper and tug it open to show the soft blanket neatly folded inside. I pull it out and stick it between my legs so I can zip the suitcase back up. I was right. I'm much warmer with it on. I continue walking through the door and into the crowded airport.

Elizabeth said that there would be a man holding a sign with my name on it. I search for the man and stand on my toes to see over the heads of the people surrounding me. A middle aged man in a suit is standing in the crowd looking very out of place amongst the screaming children and overweight grandmothers.

I make my way over to the man and as I get closer, I notice that he is holding a sign with 'EMMA' written in all caps.

The cart is getting heavier, as though people are throwing bricks on it as I walk past them. I am struggling to pull the cart. It weighs 600 pounds.

I tap the man on the shoulder and say, "I'm Emma." I am out of breath and he smells like smoke.

The man looks me up and down once before smiling and taking a hold of the cart. "Hello, I am Gregory. I will be driving you to your father's house. Let me take you to the limousine." He walks in front of me and leads me through another exit.

I stray behind and pull the blanket tighter around my shoulders. As he quickly heads over to the black limousine and begins putting my bags in the trunk, I glance around at all the people exiting the building.

I am definitely the skinniest one here.

He jogs back over to where I am standing by myself and gestures to the limo. "Shall we?" He grins and pulls the door open. I press my lips together and slide into the vehicle.

My head is pounding.

I close my eyes and lean my head back against the seat behind me. I can feel the limousine move forward as I am pushed back into the seat a little more.

I don't know how long I am sitting like that until I head someone clear their throat.

My eyes snap open and my head flies up to look meet the five pairs of eyes staring into mine. I jump back and gasp, my blanket falling off my shoulders and my hands going in front of me. The quick motion causes my vision to blur and my stomach flies around inside of me.

I groan and clutch my stomach, bending over with my head between my knees. I hold that position until I don't feel like vomiting anymore. My head slowly comes up to find the five boys looking worried and shocked at my motions. A boy with curly hair reaches his hand out to me and says in a British accent, "Are you alright, miss? We didn't mean to shock you."

I ignore his hand and snap back, "I'm fine. Don't touch me."

The others pull their heads back with a surprised expression and raise their eyebrows at me. The curly haired one holds his hands up in surrender and shakes his head saying, "Okay. Sure."

I pull my blanket back around myself and hug my knees to my chest. "Why are you in here?" I ask them. I look each one in the eyes, pausing on the blond one to look up and down his body. Not bad.

A boy with a shaved head and big sincere eyes leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. "Your father works at Modest! Management for our band. He sent us to come get you. He wants us to become friends with you, Emma."

"Sounds like him. He can't even come get me himself. He sends his slaves to do it. Typical." I shake my head and look down at my hands. "He doesn't care about me. I don't see why I am even here."

Another boy speaks up. I don't know how to describe him besides being very...pretty. "Hey. Your dad does care about you. Don't say that." He tells me as he brushes his feathery hair out of his eyes and smiles.

"Don't tell me what to do."

The blond one leans forward and laughs, "She's a feisty one. Good luck Harry." He pats the curly one on the back.

"Who are you people?" I squint my eyes and shake my head at them all.

For the first time, a boy with black hair piled up on his head speaks up. "You really don't know who we are?"

I stare at him blankly. "No."

He scrunches up his face for a second, then continues, "I'm Zayn."

Pretty boy jumps to the seat next to me and smiles. "I'm Louis. Nice to meet you, Emma." He extends his hand but I don't take it. I don't want to touch any of these boys. If they do, they will feel my fat clinging to my body. I already know that they will talk about how fat and ugly I am when I am out of hearing range.

I ignore his hand and look at the other three boys, raising my eyebrows. 

Blondie grins at me, his blue eyes lighting up his whole face. "Niall."

The only sensible one in the car speaks up. "Liam."

Finally, curly waits until I look him in the eyes. He holds my gaze for three silent minutes before whispering, "Harry."

Dick.