The President's Daughter (Liam Payne) Book 6

Chapter 26

Elodie’s POV

I couldn’t stand it anymore. This self-isolation I’d put on myself was making me sink into a deeper and deeper pit of unhappiness. I could scarcely sleep at all anymore and once we left California, I didn’t even have my old crowd to hang out with. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere. I’m laying on my bed, drawing when I hear noise in the hallway through the door I’d left ajar. I recognize Lauren’s laughter almost immediately and after a second’s hesitation, I slide off my bed and poke my head out the door. I see almost everyone, headed down the hall. The boys, the Aussies, and a good part of the band were dressed as if they were heading out of the hotel.

“Hey,” I call after them seeing a varying degree of shock registering on their face as they turn around. “Where are you guys going?”

“Uhh we’re renting ATV’s” Lauren is the first to speak. “Want to come?” I give a small nod, feeling self-conscious under their gaze and hating myself for it. Since when was I self-conscious? “Great!” she says, a smile appearing. She turns around and says something to Shorty who nods his head, ushering the others on while she turns back to me and walks back to my room. “I’m glad you’re coming with us. It seems like we haven’t seen you at all the last week or so..” she says, plopping herself down on my bed as I start changing into more appropriate clothing.

“Mhm…” I mumble still a bit uncertain about how much she knew.

“You know, if you ever want to talk about anything, you can talk to me right?” she asks. My cheeks flame up and I give a nod as I pull on my shoes and head for the door. She follows behind me and falls into step beside me as we catch up with the others out by the cars. I’m not sure how, but I manage to get shoved into a car with her, Shorty, Mr Polite, and Irish. I’ve got a window seat so I just stare out the window while they talk amongst themselves. I jolt when I feel a hand on my knee, but it’s just Lauren telling me we’re there. Joining the crowd, I stand at the back as I look around, feeling a bit better in this surrounding. It actually did look like a lot of fun. Paul begins handing out keys once everyone’s checked in.

“Not a chance,” he chuckles when he gets to me. “You’ll have to double up with one of the others.” I almost protest before noticing almost everyone was doubling up as it was. It wasn’t just me he was forcing to. Shorty was settling onto an ATV behind Lauren, Cotton Candy and Mama’s Boy were riding together, and so were the boy’s band. I suppose it made sense that the boys could each choose their own since they could probably buy the car if they crashed.

“Cheekbones,” I call as I approach the boys and their ATV’s. “Can I ride with you?”

“Course babe,” he says with a grin, tossing me a helmet as he settles onto the bike. I breathe out a sigh of relief, glad they were acting normal. I settle on behind him, latching the helmet and wrapping my arms around him as people start heading out the gate. I let out a burst of laughter when we jolt forward and begin picking up speed. Cheekbones is hunched down over the handles so I hunch down lower. Already I could tell this would become some kind of race for the boys. I stick my tongue out at Irish as we easily pass him by. Lauren and Shorty were way ahead of all of us, but I’m not all that surprised. ATVs seemed like a common thing for a country person to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d been doing it for years. I tighten my grip on Cheekbones when we hit a bump and I almost fly off.  This was fantastic. My eyes were watering from the wind and I had a huge grin on my face. Everyone begins spacing out, taking different paths and pulling ahead or falling behind until the road is empty.

‘“Shit!” I yell as Cheekbones jerks the steering wheel to the side to narrowly avoid crashing. Both ATV’s cut the engine and I try to calm my panicked heart as I realize I’m still alive.