Stay With Me (Zalfie)

2. Panic In A Card Shop

It was a very windy day and it wasn't very busy for once which I was very, very grateful for as I was feeling anxious about it. We met the boys in Starbucks and I ordered a hot chocolate unlike the others who ordered coffee (I have worked out that caffiene makes my anxiety worse).

It was great having a catch up with Marcus as I know him quite well through Joe because they make YouTube videos together sometimes but I had never met Chai or Alfie before. I knew who they were from their YouTube channels and we greeted eachother with shy but polite hellos but we didn't talk much we just talked to Marcus or Joe.

"Right let's go look around then?" suggested Marcus so we all got up and entered the busy, brittle cold streets of London.

"I need to get a valentines card for Naomi" said Marcus so we ventured through the waves of people to step into the warm, sheltered card shop that only contained some cards, the person at the till and some balloons. Marcus looked through the shelves and looked around awkwardly. It was a very small and sad looking place and I didn't think I had noticed it before.

I heard a cheeky giggle from the back of the shop and saw Alfie Deyes reading the rude cards like a little kid.

"What's so funny?" I asked him and it looked like I made him jump but he just laughed again and showed me the card. I'm not going to say what it said but it was rude and not very funny. I laughed half-heartedly to make him feel a little better as he seemed embarrassed and I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot.

"What you think you can find a better one?" he challenged mischievously.

"You're on!" I said and we both started frantically looking through all the cards and giggling like school children at eachothers' and it was actually pretty fun. He sort of was very cute, in a childish way I mean, as he had those big eyes and very messy hair which all seemed to be brown except this one little bit at te front which was black; you can't notice that in his videos. Okay he actually was quite good-looking when I tried looking at him properly with his cheeky grin and flushed cheeks from the wind.

"Right Marcus has to be finished by now," Alfie said looking around but he wasn't there, neither was Chai or Joe...

I started to panic and we jogged out the shop door onto the busy street.

"They must of went on thinking they were behind us," said Alfie.

I was alone with someone I barely knew, in a busy street, in London. I didn't know my way round, what if I couldn't get home, what if Joe was lost, I kept having these thoughts spiral through my head as people, oblivious to me, fought past me and they were swallowing me up and..an.d. I couldn't breathe..an.and Alfie grabbed my arm and tried to pull me out of the way of the crowd, he started shouting but I couldn't hear him because I was drowning. I couldn't breathe, I tried to..in.out.in.out..i. i couldn't, I couldn't find my lungs but I was still able to run, still able to feel tears streaming down my face. I had so much adrenaline that I ran so fast away from the people, away from Alfie, that I knocked people over, Alfie shouted my name but I couldn't answer because then it all went black...