Diana

Chapter 4

When I finally woke up, the sun was striking through the windows and I could smell bacon. I walked down into the kitchen and Louis was standing over the stove making breakfast for everyone and the rest of the boys were outside playing a friendly game of football. I use the term friendly loosely, considering the fact that Liam just purposely tripped Harry and then laughed at him as he fell. 

"Morning Lou." My voice was still groggy as I greeted him and sat down at the table. 

"Good morning. You're just in time, breakfast is done. Don't get used to full breakfasts like this one though, I woke up at 4am to get everything ready. Go tell the boys to come in, I'll make you a plate." 

"BREAKFAST IS READY!!!" I yelled. They all looked towards me before walking into the house from the back door. Louis placed my plate in front of me before turning towards the boys.

"It's a buffet, I'm not your mum." He said matter-of-factly, as I took a sip of my tea. 

"You really outdid yourself Lou. Bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, baked beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, and fresh brewed tea. Is this all for me?" I asked, while picking up a piece of bacon and taking a bite of it, the savory flavor taking over my senses. 

"It might be. But don't get used to it, I'm not waking up this early everyday to cook for those heathens." He jerked his head towards the four boys piling their plates, fighting to get more food from each other. Louis and I giggled as we watched them. We ate our meal mostly in silence, everyone just enjoying the food. After we were done, I let the boys clean up and went to watch some cartoons in the living room. Liam sat down next to me. 

"Hey so I was talking to Louis this morning and we were thinking about taking you shopping today, that way you could have some clothes that didn't remind you of your mom and stuff. And we could look for a job while we're out too, Louis mentioned you wanted to do that." I thought it was sweet that they all cared for me so much even though they only met me yesterday. I nodded.

"Yeah okay, that sounds fun. We could make a whole day of it I reckon. I could show you all the places Louis and I got into trouble as kids." Liam smiled, but his eyes quickly looked down at my arms. Suddenly hyper aware of the cuts, I folded my arms, looked away and said, "Hey, uhm, can you ask Louis if I could borrow one of his jumpers? It's...kinda cold out." Liam nodded. 

"Yeah I'll go ask him. Did you want another cup of tea before we go?" I shook my head and focused my attention on the telly. 

We pulled up to the mall and I was suddenly aware of the fact that I wasn't hanging out with Louis and his mates- I was hanging out with One Direction. A large group of girls quickly surrounded us, screaming and begging for autographs and taking pictures. I was grateful that Harry told me to put my hood on before we exited the car, and I pulled it even lower and kept my head down as we walked. Louis held my hand the whole time, leading me towards the doors of the mall and kept me close to him. It was incredibly overwhelming and I was having a hard time seeing straight because I was too focused on keeping my breathing steady. 

As soon as we entered the mall, Zayn walked over to a security guard and they locked the doors, keeping the ever growing crowd of teenage girls from entering. One of the guards offered to walk with us in case we were mobbed by fans inside, but the boys declined the offer. Now that we weren't surrounded by screaming girls, I sat down on the nearest bench and tried to catch my breath.

"You alright Di?" I heard Niall's voice over my own heartbeat pounding. It was the only thing I could really focus on, my heartbeat. I nodded precariously, too scared to make myself dizzy. I heard footsteps approaching me and slowly lifted my head, face to face with a kneeling Niall. "What's wrong, love?" He asked gently.

"Just...a bit..over...whelmed... is all." I managed to get out in between gasps of air. 

I felt Niall put a hand on my shoulder and he said, "Hey, look at me. Focus on my eyes." I raised my head and locked eyes with his baby blue ones. "Now breathe in for ten seconds" I took a deep breath. "four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten. Now hold it for ten seconds. One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten.  Now breathe out for ten seconds. One...two...three..." As Niall counted, I focused on his voice and nothing else. We did this a few times before it became easier to breathe and my chest stopped feeling heavy. "You alright now?" He asked me.

"Yeah. Thank you. I usually don't get like that, I don't even know what that was." I said with a light laugh.

"You had an anxiety attack. It's normal to feel overwhelmed when things like this happen, but you're alright now, right?" 

"Yeah. Thank you so much." I leaned forward and hugged him. When he pulled away, he helped me stand up and walked me over to Louis, who had a concerned look on his face. "I'm okay, I promise. Just a bit of anxiety, but Niall helped me." I gave him a reassuring smile. 

"Niall is pretty good at calming us all down. I wanted to come check on you, but didn't want to crowd you.." I could hear a bit of sadness in his tone so I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"Let's just go shopping, all the screaming outside is giving me a headache." I laughed.

"Yeah, you get used to it after a while." Zayn said with a chuckle.

"Get whatever you want" Louis told me as we walked through the mall. 

 I put on a mini fashion show at almost every store we went to, and Louis convinced me to get nearly every outfit I tried on.  While the boys were inside the game store, I went and changed out of the sweatpants and jumper Louis lent me and into one of the new outfits he had bought me, a pair of black denim trousers and a light grey vest with a matching jumper. I also put on a gorgeous silver chain that Louis insisted on buying me. 

Not too many people crowded us inside the mall, and those that did recognize the boys approached us meekly and didn't cause a scene. I was grateful that the rest of the day was without screaming fans because I just wanted to enjoy my time with Louis. When we left the mall, six security guards escorted us to the car and the boys made sure to keep me in between the five of them so that I wouldn't have another anxiety attack. 

The ride back to the house consisted of the boys chatting while I rested my head on Louis' shoulder, trying not to fall asleep. When we finally got home, I left all the bags in the living room and walked upstairs to take a nap.

"Wake me up for dinner." The words left my mouth but I didn't even know I had spoken them. I didn't know why I was so tired, but it could have been because of the anxiety I felt while walking through the crowds of fanatic girls in the lot at the mall. Either way, I blacked out almost instantly when my head hit the pillow.