Save Me

Chapter 5

The next morning, I wake up at around 9 o’clock. Blinded by the bright sun streaming through the vast window straight ahead of me, I leisurely get to my feet off the side of the bed and reach for my phone. I squint to read the time; it’s 9:08 in the morning. My suitcases lie open, a jumble of clothes in each. I manage to pull out two of my trainers, and I find the sports bra from last night and athletic shorts. My pajamas come off, and then the sports bra was pulled over my head. The purple sports bra somehow matches the matching streaks in my gray athletic shorts, and I am surprised that my workout clothes match pretty well. I am reluctant to go downstairs to workout, but I realise I have less than three hours to prepare for my parents’ visit-and a long overdue explanation. Striding out of my room, I see that all the boys are downstairs eating breakfast in the kitchen; the 5 of them sitting in a line at the breakfast bar.

“Morning, boys,” I greet them as I open the fridge and search for an apple. After 30 seconds of combing the fridge, I finally open the bottom drawer and find a fine selection of fruit. I toss the shiny apple into the air as I turn around. When it lands in my open palm, I bite into it with my top teeth. Removing the apple from my mouth, I face five open mouthed boys staring at me with admiration.

“Well, hello Keira. Nice outfit.” Harry unabashedly checks me out, and I self-consciously cross my arms across my chest.

“Did you sleep well?” Liam asks, and thankfully maintains eye contact with me the entire time.

“Yeah, thanks Liam,” I say pointedly as I turn towards Harry, “I’m going to go workout now, see you all later.” I start walk towards the game room to descend through the hatch.

“Keira! Keira! Wait up!” An Irish accent calls after me, and he catches up with me, as I’m about to hit the button to open the trapdoor in between the TV and the couch. “There’s another way, a much easier way. The lads just showed you this path before the tour got cut off.” Niall grabs my hand and pulls it away from the controlling button on the wall. “This way,” he keeps hold of my hand and leads me along, back through the archway out of the game room. Niall lets out a small cough as he drops my hand before any of the boys saw. Immediately, I miss the feeling of our hands together, and I resent that he had to let go. My palm is still warm, and I rub my thumb over the opposite hand, feeling its heat.

“Come on, now, Keira. Let’s go workout!” Niall stops and turns back. He notices that I’ve not followed him; so he laughs and gives me a little shove from behind.

“Oooh Harry you jealous? Niall and Keira are going to go running now. I guess someone isn’t going to get to see Keira run this morning,” Louis jokes while staring Harry down.

“Niall, mate, since when have you worked out? You even told the fans that you don’t.” Zayn adds quite frankly, with a little frost to his tone of voice. Niall starts blushing, and mumbles an incoherent response.

“Well, I still need to run for a half hour. I’m going, if only someone could show me the other way.” I look around at the boys, waiting for one of them to step up.

“Come on, Keira, let’s go.” Niall shyly mutters as he starts walking towards an archway around the bend from the kitchen. “There are stairs over here, and a slide too.” I look at him, baffled. “What? We’re still kids at heart!” Niall is hasty to defend their childish toys in the house.

I make my way down the steps; the red slide is next to us. Niall takes the slide, and I chuckle and shake my head in amusement while watching him laugh giddily. My trainers soften the impact of my feet against the metal stairs. The stairs curve around, and about 15 steps later, my feet are on the softer floor of the gym. Directly across the room from me is the Ping-Pong table and the other games. The row of treadmills and exercise bikes lay unused, new and ready to be set up. They sit there like abandoned cars at a dump, and I walk towards the first treadmill. Niall has stopped, and watches me as I start to set it up. I create an account for myself, to track my progress. After 3 weeks of no exercise, my muscles are taut and I already can tell that I won’t do 4 miles in my half hour allotment like usual. I start out at a slow jog, trying to work my way up to the usual steady pace. I’m not used to running on a treadmill, but I don’t think I’d be allowed out for a real run in the fresh air. Considering that I got kidnapped while on a run, I can somewhat understand that I am probably not going to be let out for a while.