Run [Stereo Kicks/ James Graham]

Chapter 13

That night, dreams haunted me.
**********
"Amelia! Run! Run, now!" Leo screamed, as he was pulled back, thrashing. "I've got this! Go!" My young legs carried me away, despite my uncertainty, right into warm arms.
"You're safe now, princess." Reece whispered in my ear, I was in my current body now. Suddenly, he pushed me away, leering. "But you think I ever cared? Do the fans really know about you? No. It's embarrassing, to have a sister like you. Someone too cowardly to do anything, ending up living their life as a thief. Despicable."
"I understand. I'd never love someone who'd done that." James snickered, staring down at where they'd kicked me to the floor. "Sympathy, pity, that's it. We have to take you in, we'd look bad otherwise. Our careers matter, not you." The rest of the boys were laughing wildly at me as I cried, too hurt to plead with them, because it knew it was true.
"He hates you, and you've broken the rules. Your precious Reecey is going to die." The hauntingly unfamiliar voice from years ago crooned to me, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from.
"No! Amelia! How could you leave me to fight by myself? You promised me! You'd never leave." Leo yelled at me. "You b*stard! I hate you!"
"We can't accept you back, Amelia. You used to be our daughter. Not anymore, not after what you've done."
"You were so stupid, falling for the fact that we cared for you, let alone loved you." Those eight voices of my brother, and his bandmates, washed over me simultaneously. "You stupid, stupid girl."
"Amelia Bibby..." James kneeled by me, his eyes hard as he slapped me around the face. "I'll never love you, you freak."
"Amelia, you ruined me. You came back. I never looked for you, did I? And I let you run away from us, and I never really cared about you." Reece taunted me. "And you're risking my life! I thought you had some intelligence and caring left. Apparently not."
"And you've killed him." The figure who spoke from all those years ago was covered by a hood, so I couldn't see his face, but I recognised it from when he told me to turn around, that I had to go with him. A knife appeared, slitting through Reece's neck, the body hitting the floor with a soft thud.
*********************************************************
"No!" A scream tore from my throat as I sat bolt upright, my eyes wide. As I rested my head in my hands, covering my eyes, I could feel myself shaking, drenched in sweat, tears in my eyes.
"Amelia!" The three boys burst through the door, looking at me worriedly.
"Are you okay?" Jake asked hurriedly as they jumped next to me on my bed.
"I-it was j-just a n-nig-nightmare, I'm fine." I wiped my eyes on the sleeve of my onesie, trying to calm down. "I'm sorry for waking you, you can go back to sleep."
"You guys go." I heard someone mutter, and two sets of footsteps left the room, before there was a warm hand on my shoulder. "Amelia? What happened?" It was James.
"It - it was nothing..."
"It wasn't nothing if it upset you this much." James said quietly, moving so he was sitting next to me. My heart thudded even harder as he put an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him, trying to catch my breath. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"It's just all stuff... Life." I tried to play it off, hiding my face in his chest as I forced myself to take deep breaths, wanting to calm down.
"It's okay, what ever it is." He assured me, stroking his hand through my hair, making me relax into him, my hair always having been a weak spot for me. "Go to sleep." As I tried to settle, he started singing quietly to me, his angelic voice nearly making me shiver.
"You have a beautiful voice, James." I whispered just as I drifted off to sleep.
*********************************************************
The next morning, I woke up, noting the warmth against me, and I opened my eyes confusedly. It wasn't Reece, and then I glanced up and went scarlet. James was sleeping next to me, his face relaxed and content, arms wrapped loosely around me. I was laying against his chest on my side, but I didn't make any move to get up, instead relishing in the moment.
"Amelia?" Jake asked quietly as he came into the room, before he looked at us both, a wide smile taking over his face. "Oooh."
"Ssh." I mouthed to him, so he pulled his phone out of his pocket, and I obediently shut my eyes, knowing it would look perverted if I was just laying there awake.
"I'll pretend to wake you both up." Jake said softly, coming over to the bed, so I shut my eyes, waiting. A soft hand was laid on our shoulders, shaking us awake. Because, you know. I was asleep and all that. "Wake up, guys."
Stretching out, I let my eyes flutter open, coming face to face with James as his eyes opened to meet mine. "Mornin'." He mumbled, his deep morning voice making me smile gently, as I drew back from him slightly. "Morning, Jake."
"Morning. Time to get up." Jake sent me a secretive wink as he left the room, and I laughed to myself, getting up and shaking my hair into place, grabbing a brush, some towels and my clothes.
"You go shower first." James offered as he yawned, padding out of my room. The second he left, I squealed, dropping everything and jumping around the room in excitement. He'd spent the night! Sort of! My face formed into a grin, and I bounded down to the bathroom happily, Chris bidding me a good morning as I ran past.
"Calm down!" Chris called after me as I locked the door behind me, brushing my hair out then stripping down and getting into the shower.
"It's a beautiful night, and I'm looking for something fun to do. Oh, baby, I think I wanna marry you." I sang giddily, letting the water flow over me.
For the entire morning, I was in a perfectly good mood, until my phone buzzed with twitter notifications. Clicking onto twitter, I noticed that Jake had tweeted me. '@jakesims: cute morning hugs @itsjamesgraham @ABibbyTwin #Jamelia'. Attached was the picture he had taken of James and I. Slowly, I saved the picture, before slipping my phone back into my pocket and going out into the main room.
"Morning hug buddy!" James cheered, hugging me tightly. "I can't believe he tweeted that."
"Me neither." I laughed, trying to play it cool.
"We should probably go." Chris prompted us, sending us both a smile. As we left, Jake teasingly squeezed my shoulder, winking at me before sauntering off to the other's apartment. Giggling, I walked after him, the image embedded into my mind.
**********
"Oh, look, it's Little Miss Lucky." Tom smirked at me as I went into the kitchen to say hello. Him, Barclay and Charlie were sitting down, talking.
"Shut up, I have no idea what you're talking about." I sat down next to Charlie, knowing my wide smile gave me away.
"Hmm, sure." Barclay smiled at me.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like this has anything to do with it." Charlie traced over my grin with his finger. "Or is it just the fact that you slept really well?"
"Hopefully not too well." Tom muttered dryly, and I went bright red, glaring ferociously at him as they all burst out into laughter.
"Shut up."
"Nope."
"Amelia?" Leo came into the room. "Can I borrow you for a minute?"
"Sure. Catch you boys later." Hopping off my stool, I followed Leo through to the bathroom, where we could talk privately. "What's wrong?"
"I just need to say... I'm not sure. It's unlikely we'll manage to stay in touch once I go back to Yorkshire." Leo said eventually. "And, if I don't find my parents, I'm going to be on the streets still, as I'm of age, so I'm not allowed to go to an orphanage or something like that. I just want you to live life, okay? Don't worry about me. You have the potential of a relationship-"
"No idea what you're talking about." I cut in, averting my eyes.
"Don't play dumb, it's obvious you have a crush on him." He smiled gently at me. "But, please, focus on your positives. I'll always remember you, from the moment I found you in the alley over three years ago. There's no need to think about me."
"Same. I want you to focus on getting back to your family, accepting what help is offered, and not thinking about how it inconveniences people."
"Touché." Leo smirked. "Look, I mean it. Oh, and get some aspirations. You can sing." With that, he left the room, leaving me slightly bewildered, but I trailed back into the main room. Jake, Casey, James and Reece were sitting scattered around, so I sat down next to Reece on the sofa, crossing my legs over his lap.
"I heard that. I know you can sing." Reece whispered in my ear, but I shook my head minutely at him. He shrugged at me, offering a smile, and I rolled my eyes, but a smile formed on my face anyway.
"We should go soon!" Tom yelled from the kitchen. "Come on, lads, hurry up!"
"Going, Tom!" Jake called, but didn't move from where he was draped across the sofa. Casey prodded him, before rolling him onto the floor and leaving. James was laughing, and I giggled, trying to prevent myself from getting into trouble by laughing at the highly offended look on Jake's face. "I hate you!"
"Love you, too, dear!" Casey's voice was quiet, then the door slammed shut.
"Come on!" Tom came into the room, so I got up, walking with Reece out of the door, shivering when the cold air hit me. Reece moved his arm as if to take his hoodie off, but stopped, concentrating on the floor with a smirk instead.
"Here." James whispered in my ear, wrapping his jacket around my shoulders. It smelt like him, and I forced the blush off my cheeks, murmuring a thank you instead. We waited outside for a few minutes, until a minibus pulled up, and the ten of us piled in.
Tom and Barclay, Jake and Casey sat in the front row together, then the rest of us got in the back, to the six seats in a row. Chris sat on one end, next to Charlie, then Reece, then Leo, then me and James on my other side by the window.
"You've been a bit quiet. Talk to him." Leo muttered in my ear before turning and easily picking up on the conversation the others were holding. I glanced up, managing to catch James's attention.
"You look better than usual." James commented lightly.
"Is that saying I normally don't look good?" I teased back, making him laugh.
"No, you just look more relaxed, that's all." He shrugged. "It's good."
"Well, thank you. Maybe I just slept well." The second the words left my mouth, I cringed, releasing how obvious it was that I liked him.
"Maybe I did, too." James sent me a half-smile before resting his head against the window, putting one earphone in and offering me the other. Smiling, I accepted it, placing it in my ear. Suddenly, his arm wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me into his side so we were both resting against the side of the car. He shut his eyes, and I forced the small grin off my face, closing my eyes and leaning my head on his shoulder, tucked into his side.
**********
"They're so dam cute."
"They do have a habit of sleeping together."
"Don't say that in an actual sentence, Case, it sounds weird."
"Yeah, and that's my sister. My little sister, to be precise."
"By four minutes."
"All of you, shut the hell up." James murmured next to me. "Trying to sleep over here."
"Well, we're here but you two are happily asleep." Chris said, and I cracked one eye open. I was still pressed into James, his arm around me, music playing softly in my ear. Taking the earphone out, I stretched, joints cracking loudly. A yawn left my lips.
"Let's go explore Yorkshire, then."