Married To A Styles | H.S +UNDER EDITING+

Rachael

"He saw me yesterday." I tell Rachael as she sits at the bar in my kitchen.

"Are you serious?" She gasps, taking a sip of her white wine.

"Yeah. We locked eyes and God, was it awkward." She laughs as I take a seat across from her, glancing to the clock.

Almost midnight.

The girls are asleep and when we got home earlier, we decided to go and get ice cream and rent a movie to watch. By the time we got done and ate dinner, they were sleepy and I called Rachael.

She insisted that she come over and when I opened the door, she had a bottle of white wine in her hands and 2 wine glasses in the other.

I don't drink, though. She forgot and she apologized for bringing the liquor over. But I told her that it was fine and insisted that she have some herself.

She felt bad, but still drank some.

She was a casual drinker. She'd have a couple glasses everyday before she went to bed with her partner, usually. Not an alcoholic. There's a difference.

"Do you think he will find you?" She asks as she takes another sip on her glass.

"I hope not." I say. "He will only find me if Niall spills the beans- Oh! I ran into Katherine and Amber at the store today."

"Wow." She laughs, shaking her head. "You're just bad luck, I guess. So, what're you going to do if he finds you?"

"Walk the other way." I laugh. "Anyway, enough about me. Let's talk about you. How's work holding up since I've been gone?"

"Well, haha. Not as interesting as if you were there, it's actually kind of boring actually." She says.

"It's boring because I'm not there?"

"Yeah, because the whole office listens to you everyday, telling a story from your past. You're an interesting person, Mia."

"And an open book, yep." I agree, nodding my head.

"Well, I better go." She says finishing her 2nd glass as she stands up. "The office opens at like 5am tomorrow."

"Why?" I ask. They usually don't open until 8am, 9am.

"Because everybody wants to get home earlier. Since it's a holiday, they want to spend time with their families."

"What? Holiday?" I ask, confused.

"It's labor day, Mia. Everyone's having cookouts after they get off work."

"Oh. I forgot. Well, I'll see you around." I smile as we walk to the door together.

"Yeah, it was fun talking to you. Bye, Mia. Take care of yourself and call me if you're in desperate need of money, okay?"

"Rachael, I've barely used the money you gave me. I took the girls out for ice cream and rented a movie with it. That's it, haha."

"Well, still keep it. See you around, Mia."

She starts walking down the steps and I suddenly remember something.

"Wait!" I call and she turns back around. "Are you sure you're okay to drive?"

She looks to the wine bottle then back up to me, nodding.

"Yeah, I only live a couple miles down." She says, pointing down the street.

"Let me take you home." I offer. "Or at least let me follow your car to make sure."

"Oh, Mia." She shakes her head. "I'll be fine. But you can follow behind me if that'll make you feel better."

I smile as I tell her that I have to go tell the girls.

Running up the stairs in a hurry, I open Darcys room. She is asleep so I go over to her bedside, shaking her awake.

"Is it time for school, already?" She yawns.

I laugh. "No. No, Darce. I have to run Rachael back up to her house, I'll only be 5 minutes, okay?"

"So I have to watch Maddy?" She asks and I nod.

"You know what I taught you if someone broke into the house, right?"

She nods. "Yeah. Go to the safe room and wait for you."

"Good. Now I'm gonna go and tell Maddy and she can stay in here until I get back, alright? Is that okay?"

"Yeah, I guess." She yawns, laying back down on her bed.

I nod, heading towards Maddy's room.

"Maddy, mommy has to go to take Rachael home, go to Darcys room until I get back, alright?"

She nods, not saying a word. Grabbing her blanket, she makes her way towards Darcys room. I follow her.

"I will be back in 5." I tell them but Darcy's asleep again and Maddy is too busy to listen.

She's trying to make herself Comfortable on the floor.