You're Not Alone, You're With Me

Chapter 11

I slowly lift my head, warmth and comfort surround me. My eyes and body are listening again, so I sit up find a large hotel room surrounds me. The soft bed makes me want to lie back down, but I’m too curious to sleep. I swing my legs over so they’re off the bed. I’m wearing black basketball shorts that hang past my knees. A big, white, soft Slipknot sweatshirt consumes me, as well.

I get up, and open my door to be greeted with a main living area with a dining room. I walk to the kitchen off to the side, walking past four other doorways. The pantries are full of food, but the few bags of Goldfish catch my eye. I grab the rainbow bag and sit under the counter top. Ever since I was young, I always thought that somehow the rainbow Goldfish tasted better than the other. I was starting to think about how they actually make the Goldfish, when, in front of my spot under the counter, a pair of legs walks into view. I swallow the leftover Goldfish in my mouth, and wait for whoever it is to spot me. They walk around with their loose, grey sweatpants and still haven’t noticed me.

Soon, more pairs of legs show up in my line of sight. The grey sweatpants, black sweatpants, blue basketball shorts, dark boxers, and red basketball shorts. I cringe at boxers, but no one has noticed me. Blue shorts comes back into the kitchen, and drops a fork on the ground. He picks it up and stands back up, I let out a soft breath, but he quickly bends back down and I come eye to eye with Aaron Pauley. His hazel hair is a mess, but his eyes are startled. He waves, and I wave back to him. He looks confused to say in the least, but stands back up.

“Uh, hey guys? I think she’s awake?” He mumbles to the others.

“What?” Another voice asks sharply, and I hear them walking away from the kitchen. A door opens, then they speak again, “Where is she?”

Aaron must have pointed to my hiding spot, because all I heard were the feet getting closer. It was grey sweatpants. He bends down, and again, I find myself looking into the brown eyes that belong to Austin. I shrink against the wall, away from him. His eyes became sorrowful as he reaches out a hand to help me up. I cautiously take it and he helps me up. I look over to the living area to see that Phil was wearing the black sweats, Tino was wearing the red shorts, and Alan was wearing the boxers, of course.

With all their eyes on me, I felt myself shrinking back again. Coincidentally, I was shrinking against Austin, making me feel like I was intruding. I quickly stepped away from him, pulling my hand out of his grasp in the process. I looked at him and walked as fast as I could to my room. But before I could, Phil grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. Shocked at first, I slowly eased into his embrace and felt safe for the moment. He made sure that I could hide behind him if I felt I needed to, and we sat on the couch. I could hear the soft whispers directed at Phil, but all he would do is hug me and shrug his shoulders. It must have been at least ten minutes before I detached myself from Phil and looked around at the others. Tino was sitting on Phil’s other side, while Aaron sat in a chair to my left, and Alan sitting on a chair by Tino. Austin was standing in the kitchen, watching me intently. I hide myself in Phil’s sweatshirt again, but looked up when I hear talking.

“So,” Tino tries to fill the silence.

Alan looks at me, his eyes thoughtfully gaze at my own, “Why did you run that night? Why didn’t you let Ally help the first time?”

I don’t want to tell them, I don’t want to talk, but I’ve bothered them enough. I owe them explanations. I whisper into Phil’s ear, “Because I didn’t need help, and I felt like I was bothering her.”

Phil repeats it for everyone else to hear.

When Austin speaks up, I look at him over Phil’s shoulder, “Do you remember anything after I found you in the alley?”

I shook my head, lying, but not at the same time.

“I took you to the hospital. You lost too much blood, they had to do an immediate blood transfusion. Then they stitched up your leg,” I looked down, only now to notice ugly black stitches on it, “and they kept you there for two days. You were in a sort of coma, you couldn’t move and they had you on some machines. But yesterday they said it would be ok for you to come home.” He finishes.

“He sat by your bedside the whole time, we couldn’t get him to eat or sleep.” Alan adds, looking at the ground.

I feel even worse, the guilt on me. I made him wait for two days, I made all of them wait. I’m such a burden. A soft and shaky “Sorry,” escapes my lips and I bury myself into Phil again.

“What? Why are you sorry?” Phil asks me, worried.

I don’t look at him, “Because I wasted your guys time, and I made you guys worry, and I made you run me around and shit,” I mumble.

“You didn’t waste our time, we care about you even though we barely know you. It’s who we are, so yea, we would worry, and do anything to help you. It’s just us,” Phil explains, a bit angry. Probably because he thinks that its bad I blame myself, even though it is my fault. I pull out the Goldfish from the pouch in the sweatshirt and nibble on some. Phil reaches in the pouch and eats some too.

“Hey! Are those my Goldfish?!” Tino asks, trying to reach over and grab some.

I smile a little, and shrug my shoulders. I grab some and place them in his hand. He greedily eats them before someone would have the chance to steal them. The tension in the air leaves, and I start to feel more comfortable.

“So, just so it’s formal and all, what is your name? Or more so, what should we call you by?” Aaron asks.

“Anna,” I say quietly.

He smiles, “Beautiful name for a beautiful person,”

My cheeks heat and I quickly shake my head in disagreement. Me? Beautiful? Those two words in the same sentence doesn’t work. Aaron draws his eyebrows together, but I focus my attention on a story Alan was telling. For the rest of the day, it went on like this. Telling stories. Although I didn’t say much. I just sat there and laughed and listened. By the time is was dark out, we had eaten three pizza’s from Pizza Hut, me only having three pieces; we finished off 13 cans of Monster, I had three while everyone else had two. Phil had moved so I was now sitting next to Alan. I honestly thought he would hate me for running away, but now his head is in my lap. Even odder, is I feel like I belong here. With the guys, but I know its only until they find out about my step dad, then they’ll give me back to him.

I must’ve drifted off, because the next thing I know, I’m being carried to my room. Arms carry me carefully and I feel safe in them, but they start to leave me once I get laid on my bed. I grab at the arm and try to pull it back down so I can feel safe again. They give in and sit on the bed, their back against the headboard. I wrap my arms around their torso and drift back to sleep.

<<A.N. Havent updated in a while, so TADA, BIG ONE cxcx dirty mind be like ;) please vote!>>