Viscious Circle

Chapter 7

Walking into the kitchen, I hesitated, but grabbed an apple. Niall walked in. He'd been keeping a very watchful eye over me.

"I know that you are stressed and that this is really hard for you, but you need to eat," Niall said, his voice soft. He didn't look at me.

"I know, I will," I said, taking a deep breath in realisation that Niall was right.

"And remember, if you need to talk to any of us about anything, we're all hear to listen."

Niall walked out with a bag of crisps and I walked out with my apple.

"Wait, Gryffin, we want to get to know you," Louis said jumping up. I paused, and walked over to the tv room where they were sitting. I sat down in a chair and took a small bite out of my apple. Goose bumps raised on my bare legs; my old black volleyball spandex were too short to keep anything warm. I pulled my light blue Jack Wills hoodie, a simple one that said JACK WILLS in white print across the front.

"What do you want to know?"

"Your favroite food, tv show, sport, and song? Thats always a good place to start," Harry said.

"My favorite food is," I thought for a second. "Probably somosas."

"Same here," Zayn said. He was rather quiet, but I wished he would talk more because I liked his voice.

"Cool! We'll have to go and grab them sometime," I gave him a grin that was returned. "My favorite show, no doubt, is Spongebob. For sports, obviously running; but volleyball is a close second. And I dont have a favorite song. I like Green Day, Snow Patrol, Ed Sheeran. But I dont have a favorite."

"What kind of running do you do?," Liam asked. "Short distance speed or long distance?"

"Both. I ran cross country and track for school. I prefer the long distance, so does Tux. I love a running partner."

"We gotta run sometime," Liam said. "I decided to try out for the XFactor, but if I hadnt I would have gone to the olympics for running."

"Thats amazing!," I exclaimed. Im sure Id get along well with Liam. "I hope to go to the Olympics someday."

"Ive got to show you some of the trails around here; some real nice parks to run through, nice and quiet. I run everymorning, Ill drag you with me," Harry said, his smile was so pretty.

"I'd love it," I smiled at Harry.

"Your dimples are so fucking cute," Harry said, jumping up and poking them.

"Harry, sit down you dumbass," Louis said, his accent was cute. "You have your own dimples!"

"But Gryffin's are cuter!," he whined sitting back in his chair.

"Hey it's almost 6," Niall said. "We gotta get some dinner."

"Ill order a pizza. That good for you, Gryff?," Liam said.

"Sure."

I ate half a piece of pizza and downed 2 cups of tea. The tea was calorie-free and filled me up, perfect. Niall seemed happy that I ate somethine subsantial. After dinner, I threw my plate into the dishwasher.

"Im gonne take a shower and relax in my room," I said. It was hard for me to be around new people for long periods of time.

"Ok. The lads are thinking maybe a film later?," Liam said.

"Yeah, that'd be nice."

Warm air swarmed around the bathroom as I stepped out of the shower and dried off. I twisted my soaking hair into a towel turban and walked into me bed room. The door opened and I screamed, running into my closet.

"Harry!," I yelled.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry Gryff!," he yelled back. "Just wanted to let you know that we got some popcorn cooked if you want to come down."

"Maybe once I'm clothed."

"Ok."

I sighed, suddenly realizing that Harry Styles had just walked in on me naked. I pulled on some panties and black track sweats, the school crest topping the left thigh, white lettering saying PENISTONE TRACK down the leg. I pulled on a dark cranberry track hoodie as well, the one that went with the sweats. It had the shook crest on the left chest and Track embroidered under it in fancy cursive. My first name was embroidered on the left sleeve with the same font as the word Track. I walked down stairs, my white socks sliding on the wood floor. In the living room, popcorn and carrots littered the floor and the boys were trying to figure out who was cuddling with who. Zayn was settled in a big charcol grey arm chair, wrapped in a thick blanket and Liam, who had just put in a movie, settled into the other chacoal chair.

"I CALL GRYFFIN," Niall said, letting Louis and Harry spoon on one side of the L shaped couch. Niall jumped onto the couch and motioned for me. I walked over and sat next to him.

Maybe an hour into Fight Club, a movie Id never watched, I was struggling to keep my eyes open. Eyelids drooping, my head heavy, I didnt know how much longer I could stay awake. Before I could stand to go to my bed, my head fell to Niall's warm shoulder, my body pressed against his under the fluffy blanket we were sharing. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, Niall wrapped his arm around my shoulders and held me close. It felt so good, like I was with Ashton.