i n s c a p e. // one direction //

{ f i v e }

F i v e.

Dannie's POV -

"I think there's a blanket in the back."

And just like that, I had a blanket wrapped tightly around my shoulders, the heat in the car aimed directly at me. I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes. I shouldn't be here, shouldn't be burdening them like this. I glanced over to my right and immediately felt guilty at the sight of Louis practically being squashed under the weight of a boy with curly hair. On his right sat the blonde boy. There was barely enough room for the five of them in here, let alone little old me crashing the party.

"Where do you live?" The driver asked, glancing back at me in the mirror.

I shook my head and pressed my eyes together as I felt another round of tears coming.

"Hey, it's alright," Louis said, gazing down at me in concern. "You can stay with us for tonight, if you'd like."

The driver's shoulders stiffened at that, and I couldn't help but feel worse. I should've known they wouldn't want me. Nobody did.

"It's alright," I said, my voice cracking, "I can make it on my own."

"Wait," The driver paused me, "Do you not have a home?"

"Way to be subtle," The boy in the passenger seat smacked the driver in the head.

"I didn't mean any harm by the question," He quickly assured me, "I just was putting the pieces together."

I nodded my head. "I understand. No, I've got my own home."

Lie. Lie. Lie.

"Well, if you're sitting in the alley during a blizzard, I'm imagining you don't particularly want to be there right now," The boy in the passenger seat concluded. "Which is why I agree with Lou. You can come stay with us for tonight, and then we'll see what's happening tomorrow."

Oh, how familiar those words were. Jess had said something mighty similar to that before she stabbed me in the back. This time, I had the advantage, though. The boys didn't know me, didn't know Jess, and definitely didn't know my situation.

I nodded my head and wrapped the blanket closer to my chest and within seconds I had passed out.

...

Louis's POV -

The car had grown unnaturally quiet as soon as the girl had fallen asleep; I don't think any of us really knew what to think. This wasn't just your every day situation; this was something we'd never dealt with before. What were we supposed to do with a girl who we'd rescued from freezing to death in the middle of a blizzard?

We had stayed quiet for most of the ride home until Harry had suddenly nudged me, urging me to turn towards the girl. She had started to squirm, her face contorting with pain. She began to moan a little bit, and I adjusted myself so that I could be prepared for the worst. Sure enough, a blood curdling scream came out of the girl's mouth, and we all flinched. I carefully wrapped my hand around her shoulder and shook, and she immediately woke up and pulled away.

"What happened?" She asked groggily, her mind still induced with sleep.

"What were you dreaming about?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

Her face went white and she looked away. "Nothing."

"Love, you were screaming," Liam informed her gently.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, hard. "Nothing, it was nothing."

"You sure?" Harry pushed, clearly not believing a word. None of us believed her, though.

She was saved from responding by Zayn's announcement of, "We're home!"

She looked somewhat nervous, and as the boys piled out of the car, Harry nearly kneeing me in the groin in the process, I turned to look at her.

"Can you walk?"

She met my eyes with a glare, and I hurried to rephrase.

"Would you prefer me to carry you in?"

I could immediately see that she was debating the choices in her head, no doubt weighing the consequences. She didn't want to appear weak, and I understood that, but I didn't understand what had happened for her to be so touchy.

"It's only a thirty second walk," I added. I wasn't sure she was going to walk in; I assumed she'd probably just run off instead.

She sleepily nodded her head and seemed to tense her body up, preparing for the worst. I ignored that, though, and quickly scooped her up into my arms, making sure to shut the car door behind me.

As her head rested against my chest, I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to this poor girl.