Crooked Hearts

14. Numb

I put on my clothes.

Aria is gone. I'm alone. And I've realized I have no idea how to get back to my hotel. I'm confused, angry and hurt. God, everything felt so real, but in truth Aria was faking it all, to use me. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I wouldn't be surprised if the paps get hold of pictures of us. Oh God. What if Aria sells the pictures of us.... having sex..... to paps?

Oh God. I run my hand through my hair, frustrated. This will not be good for my career. Well, to be honest, I'll get press, which, if you really think about it, is a good thing. Because fame, bad, or good, is still fame. But I don't want to be that kind of person. I don't want to be known for scandalous things. The fans will be shocked, the boys will be shocked, and my parents will kill me. I can't even imagine what kind of lies Aria will be feeing to the paps.

This is so stupid. I pick up the last piece of clothing from the floor, it's the hoodie. I take a moment to stare at it. Aria gave it to me, but I contemplate leaving it behind. I want nothing more to do with it or Aria. But somehow I don't want to leave it behind, and before I know it, I'm slipping it on. I go back downstairs and out of the lighthouse. It's lighter now, the sun is beginning to rise, and people will be out soon. I need to get out of here.

I head back down the beach. Surely, I'll stumble across a security guard who can help me out. This place looks oddly familiar though I haven't been here before.

"Harry!" a voice calls.

It's Niall. He's on the beach alone. No security guards. I wonder how he persuaded security to let him out, despite the fact that I already went missing. Niall runs towards me and practically tackles me. Not out of joy, out of anger.

"HARRY! WHERE IT GOD'S NAME HAVE YOU BEEN?!" He practically shouts in my ear.

"MATE, YOU'VE GOT THE ENTIRE POLICE FORCE IN RIO ON HIGH ALERT LOOKING FOR YOU!"

The entire police force? Oh God.

"Niall, come down mate, I'll explain everything!" I say, trying to calm him down.

"Bloody damn right, you are!" Niall says with a mixer of anger and annoyance. "We gotta get you back to the hotel!" he says.

"Okay," I say nodding blindly, "Okay."

Niall takes my arm and we run.  Apparently the hotel is near that lighthouse. Aria must've known which is why she took me there.

As we run, I feel chilly morning air, making me shiver. I'm glad I got this hoodie now. Soon I spot the hotel from a distance. There's a ton of security everywhere. I cringe, God, I'm such an asshole.

"We gotta go to the back of the hotel." Niall says calmly.

I frown, "What-why?"

"Because we can't have security spotting you and taking you straight to management. You'll get yelled at in there, and the lads and I have agreed, you need some explaining to do, and you'll explain to us first."

"Fair enough." I say.

Niall darts towards the back, right past security. "Lou helped me get out of the hotel." Niall says.

"How?"

"Well, I wanted to be the one to go look for you. I knew I probably wouldn't find you, but still. Security wouldn't let me get out of there, so I asked for help from Lou and the boys. They created a diversion so that I could escape without being noticed."

"What was the diversion?" I ask, knowing these lads, they probably stripped off and ran around the hotel screaming.

Niall smiles wickedly, "We had Lou scream about a rat, then the boys started screaming along and running around with Nerf guns, making the hotel manager pissed as hell."