Stockholm Syndrome - A One Direction Story

Chapter Fifteen

Oakley's POV

I woke up to the sound of laughter out my bedroom window. My room faced the backyard where there was a swing set in the furthest part of the yard & a swimming pool closer to the house. I sat up when I heard the noise & walked over to my already open window. I sat in the windowsill as I looked out to find Niall & his friends Ryan & Jack playing water basketball. It's the summer of 2009. There was only two weeks left of summer now. Then I would start my last year of  junior high. Niall would be starting his junior year of high school. I didn't want to waste any time. I got out of bed & put on my swimsuit. I went downstairs to see if I could join the fun. My best friend was out of town for the rest of the summer & they seemed to be pretty understanding of that, so they let me hang out with them. We stayed in the pool until around noon, then we rode bikes to a close by ice cream parlour. I got a mixture of my two favourite flavours: cotton candy & birthday cake. Niall got chocolate, which is his favourite flavour. Ryan got rocky road & jack got bubble gum. Which I hate. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the neighbourhood park & then going back home for another swim. It was one of the best days of the entire summer.

I stared out the car window, daydreaming &thinking back on old memories as we drove down the freeway. We had been driving for two hours already & the sun was just starting to come up. It was nice to finally see the sun again. Like actually see it. It was weird to be out again. It was cold. Now realizing that the second week of February had just begun. It was Harry's birthday last week. He turned 23. I wondered what they had done to celebrate. & I really started to miss them. But I knew I would probably never see them again. I was about to start a whole new life after all. I had a new name & a new look & I was moving to a new state. I pushed Harry & the rest of my friends to the back of my head.
"It's gonna be nice to get out of this snow." I said.
Zayn looked at me briefly before looking back at the road. "Yeah. That will be nice." He admits.
"What are we going to do when we get there? Where are we going to stay I mean?"
"I'm not sure yet. Probably in a hotel for a week or two. Louis gave me ten grand. After that runs out he said he would send us $1,500 each month. It might be a little tight, but it's doable."
"Okay." I said, then went back to looking out the window. The next time I woke up the time on the car radio said it was 1:15pm. I had been sleeping for about 7 hours. The sun was shining & the radio was playing. There was still snow on the ground wherever we were, but it was still sunny.
"What time are we going to stop? I kind of have to go to the bathroom." I said.
"I'm going to get off at the next exit. We can stop at a motel or something. I'm starting to get a bit tired now anyways."
"Okay." We drove for another 20 minutes before we came across a motel. We pulled in. Zayn told me to wait in the car while he went & booked a room. When he came back out he pulled a bag out of the back seat & told me to follow him. I got out of the car & he locked it. We walked up to the second floor & he unlocked the second door.
We walked in to find a room with one double bed, a lounge chair, a mini fridge & a TV. It also had a small bathroom with just a toilet, sink & shower. But still, it was more than I was used to. After we got in I used the bathroom then took a shower. When I came out Zayn was laying on the bed watching TV. I'm sure he would have already been asleep if he didn't want to shower first. He went into the bathroom & I lay on the bed where he had previously been. I was wearing black leggings & a pink jumper. It was a bit cold in the room. I started flicking through the channels. Eventually I came across my favourite show. Grey's anatomy. It had just started a new episode too. Zayn came out of the bathroom about a quarter of the way through the episode.  He was wearing grey track pants. He lay beside me on the bed.
"Whatchya watching babe?" He asked.
"Grey's Anatomy. It's my favourite show."
"Oh. That's cool." He leaned into me to kiss me. I kissed him back & smiled.
"You tired?" I asked.
"A bit." He admitted.
"What time do we have the room until?" I asked.
"The office opens at six tomorrow morning, so we can hand in the keys any time after that, but we have to be out by 9am."
"Okay, so we have lots of time. It's only three in the afternoon. Sleep for as long as you need."
"What about you?" He asked.
"I'm not tired. I already slept. I probably won't be able to sleep until around two in the morning now. But at least I can sleep in the car. You can't."
"Okay." He said.
"Does the sound from the tv bother you?" I asked.
"No. It's fine." He said as he cuddled into me.
H had fallen asleep before the episode was over. Another Grey's episode came on right after, so I watched that. I flipped through the channels once that was over & found an episode of Family Guy playing. I watched that. After that ended, I didn't know what else to do. I didn't have internet connection on my phone, so I just lay there with Zayn as he slept. I was starting to get bored, but Zayn had told me not to leave before telling him where I was going & I didn't want to wake him. I went on my phone & found that Louis had went ahead & downloaded a few games for me that didn't require WiFi. So I sat & played those games for the next two hours... One might fall bored of playing iPhone games for that long, but I hadn't held a phone in almost six months, so it was the best thing for me in that moment.

***

I awoke to Zayn gently shaking me. "Come on love." He said as I opened my eyes. "It's quarter after seven. I let you sleep in for a bit, but we really have to get going now."
I nodded as I rubbed my tired eyes. I stretched & got out of bed. I put on a pair of black track pants & a blue t-shirt. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth & hair, then used the toilet. When I came out I slipped on my boots & winter jacket. Zayn grabbed our bag & we headed out once again. Returning the keys to the office & leaving. We stopped at a Starbucks for breakfast before getting back on the freeway.

***

We stopped one more time before finishing our journey & reaching California. I no longer needed a jacket & my boots were changed into converse sneakers. We pulled into a motel about half an hour after getting off the freeway.
This time we would be spending four days here... maybe longer, depending on how long it would take us to find a place of our own.
When we got in we got cleaned up & then fooled around for a bit before watching tv & eventually falling asleep next to each other.