Another One Cindirection Story (L.P.)

Chapter 5 - Hopeless

Aubrey's POV

Coming home had never felt so good.

I dropped my backpack near the foot of my bed and collapsed into my bed, exhausted. After surviving the day, I had come to the realization that no one knew who I was. And maybe it was a good thing. I tried to think through the things that happened to me today. Taylor invited me to sit with her at lunch and, although I declined to her surprise, it was still a surprise. When it came time to pick partners for my chemistry class, I wasn't last for once. Once school ended, someone even offered to drive me home.

I couldn't imagine any of this happening to me as Aubrey. The thought hurt more than I wanted it to.

Suddenly, there was a knock on my door.

"Aubrey?" someone called.

Owen.

"Door's open." I said and he walked in.

He stood there for a while, looking me over, before he walked over to my bed and sat on the edge. His brown hair fell slightly over his eyes and he sighed. "Aubrey, I didn't mean the things I said yesterday. I just didn't want to see you get hurt anymore." he said.

I shrugged and leaned back a little more into my pillow.

"Come on, you think I don't notice you in this condition every day?" he asked, giving me a little, friendly shove on the shoulder.

"Well, why wouldn't I think that? You come home from work, go to your room, and then lock it. And then I have to go find Layla's cat and clean everybody's room." I said, stating the facts that he knew on my fingers.

"That's why my room's always so clean." he said, trying to joke. When I didn't acknowledge him, he shook his head. "Why do you do it? I mean, why do you let Layla boss you around? She doesn't own you just because of the money." Then he froze, realizing what he had just said.

I sat up, my voice shaking when I asked, "The money? What money?"

He reached out to touch my arm, but I pulled back. He looked hurt, but he didn't understand what hurt was.

"Aubrey," he began. "I didn't mean that." He watched my face for a reaction, but when I didn't give any, he pled. "Please Aubrey, you have to believe me." Some part of me did believe him, but the other part was in shock.

I got off the bed and backed away from him like he was an open flame and he just burned me. "Believe? You want me to believe you when you just told me your mother only took me in because of the money?" I wanted to scream but my voice could barely rise over a harsh whisper.

Owen genuinely looked panicked. He stood up, his hands up. "You know I can't even stand the sight of them. The money doesn't mean anything to me. You know that. When has money been anything to me, but a payment to support us?"

"Us?" I asked. "You mean you."

"No, for both of us. I'm going to get the money and get us both out of here. Both of us.'" he tried to explain.

"Stop lying to me."

"I'm not lying to you Aubrey. When have I—" he began to say, but I cut him off.

"Get out." I said, I could almost feel the icy touch against my skin as my voice came out cold and dead. Owen didn't move at first, his feet glued to the floor and his eyes to mine. I could see him contemplating his options, his fingers tapping anxiously on his thigh before he made his decision.

He walked over to the door and moved to close it behind him. The door was about to close when he said quietly, "I'm not your enemy, Aubrey." I didn't respond. I just waited until the door clicked shut before I sank into the floor with the realization that I was even less a part of the family than I originally thought.

Liam's POV

Okay, now all I had to do now was wait for Louis to arrive with the girls. Any moment now, I glanced down at the watch on my hand impatiently.

I hoped she would be one of them. My mystery poem girl.

Just as I was thinking about her, Louis arrived with a trail of screaming girls. I took my seat behind the table and prayed to god that I made the right decision to go through with this. I made another silent prayer that our manager did not find out about this.

Louis put his hands up to quiet them down. "Okay girls, this is quite simple. When we call your names, please just come up and tell Liam the name of the poem you lost. Got it?" he asked, explaining the rules to come up and talk to me.

All of them nodded continually like bobbleheads.

"First up, we have Zoey Anderson!" he called out.

A dirty blonde haired girl stepped up and walked over to the table.

"Okay, so what's the name of this poem you lost?" I asked gently.

She took a deep breath before exhaling and answering my question. "'Crossing the Bar' by Alfred Lord Tennyson."

"I'm sorry, that's not correct." I said and she walked away with a defeated look on her face.

"Next up, we have..." Louis glanced down at his clipboard. "Audrey Lance."

This time, a petite girl walked over shyly to me before exploding in my face. "Liam!!!!! It's really you, I just knew it was you. All this time, I was thinking that it was some fake person who was pretending to be you, but oh my god, it is you!" she yelled, touching me to make sure that I was real.

I scooted back and her hand fell from my shoulder. She continued beaming at me and I attempted a smile back at her. "Okay, so name of the poem?" I asked.

"'What is Pink?'" she answered.

"No, I'm afraid not. Sorry." I replied.

"But it is, and it's my poem! Give it back! Oh, Liam, you're just so freaking cute, but it's my poem!" she said, remembering her act.

"Sorry." I repeated, shrugging. Louis finally noticed the trouble and came over to usher her away.

"Next up we have Aria Denoll!" he called.

A girl with dark hair walked over to me quickly. And before I even asked the same question, she replied, "'I, Too, Sing America.'"

"I what? Sorry, that's not it." I replied, already losing hope.

Louis must have seen the defeated look on my face because he walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find her, there's still a lot of girls over here. I'll make sure of it. It's only day one." he tried to comfort me.

"Alright, just call up whoever's next." I replied, patting the hand he placed on my shoulder.

"Anna Burkley?" he called.

No one stepped forward. "Okay, Anna? I know you're there, I just brought you here. Come on out." Louis called impatiently.

What did he mean he knew that she was there?

I stole a glance over at him and raised my eyebrows, he just shook his head in response.

Finally, a short goth girl stepped out of the line. "What? What am I supposed to do? Someone get me out of here." she said grumpily.

"Louis? What's the meaning of this?" I asked him.

"Okay, thank you Anna, but we don't need your help anymore." Louis replied, looking over at me, and finally remembering the fact that the girl from that day wasn't goth.

"Next up, we have—" Louis began, but I interrupted.

"Louis, that's enough girls for now. We'll try again tomorrow, alright?" I asked.

"But we still have about—" I cut him off again.

"I'm not in the mood anymore. Sorry girls." I said to the endlessly long line of girls. From what I could tell, none of them was my mystery poem girl.

It was all I could do to hope that she would show up sooner or later. Hopefully sooner, I thought.

A/N: Hoped you liked it! Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow! Thanks!

~Forever_Yours_Too