When I'm In His Arms

Chapter 9 :)

We got back to the hotel at five in the afternoon. The boys had decided on the way back that it was story time. They prodded me with questions one after the other. I actually didn't mind though because they were interested in what I had to say. Questions about food, movies, music, and many other random thoughts.

"So where's home?" Niall asked.

I flinched. Home? Where WAS home? I lived in a rundown house that would never qualify as a home for me.

Louis noticed my hesitation and changed the subject. "So what do you think of our fans?"

I pursed my lips. "Well," I began. "They're pretty different. I knew a couple of the girls there from school, like I said earlier. We aren't exactly best friends..."

Liam frowned. "Oh? I'm sorry to hear that. What did they do?"

Again, a bad conversation. But I tried to answer as honestly as I could. "Well... we just don't get along well. And... the one girl gets the others to solve her own problems. Physically. It's nothing serious though."

"Oh dear," Liam said. "That's really too bad. You seem like such a nice person, Sabrina."

I smiled. "Thanks Liam."

He nodded and said, "I used to have problems like that when I was in school too. Then I took some boxing lessons and well... they left me alone after that," he added, grinning wide. Liam hadn't struck me as a person who had trouble at school. He was an intelligent, nice, and handsome person. Who would pick on him?

"I'm sorry," I said. "What did they have against you?"

Liam laughed. "It doesn't always take much. I was just different from them."

I was different from everyone else too. He was right, that's all it took. I began to wonder what it would be like if things were different. What if I was just like everyone else? I could've been normal if my parents were still here, or if I never met my brother's friends. Not being able to go back in time and fix things was the hardest. If only one thing had been different, I wouldn't be in such a situation.

Harry garbbed for the remote control and said, "how about we watch some Tv?"

He turned it on and I choked on my cherry coke when I saw the short clip of Louis and I, holding hands, and running. The scene quickly changed, and there was an interviewer talking to one very conceded Cassi DeAngelo.

"So you say that you know Sabrina personally?"

Cassi gave the camera a wicked, and sadly attractive, smile and said, "yea, she goes to my school. I've known her for a very long time, and she's always said she isn't a fan of One Direction." She laughed and rolled her eyes. "We can all see that VERY clearly now. She's always been a strange girl, not too many friends. Maybe none at all. No one knows and no one cares."

I would've loved to jump through the screen and strangle her. I didn't want to be the pathetic girl who just let everyone else torture anymore. I had to change this, because she was doing a great job at getting EVERYONE to hate me. I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to tell her to shut up.

The interviewer brought the mic to her own lips again and asked, "maybe there's a little jealousy now?"

Cassi laughed. "Definitely not. They'll see her true colors eventually and-"

Harry turned the Tv off and exchanged a couple worried glances with the other boys. The room had become very silent, and no one looked at me. I felt so humiliated, all I wanted to do was run to the bathroom and cut, deep into my wrist.

But then I felt a hand grasp at mine. I looked at Louis who stood up. "Lads, you don't mind if we go get some dinner, right? Is that okay?"

Niall shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever Saby wants," he said, giving me a sympathetic smile. "Have fun and be careful."

As Louis and I left out the door, I still felt a lump in the back of my throat, holding back a sob. This whole thing was a mistake, and I knew the boys were beginning to think that as well.

"So," Louis said, as we started walking down the hallway. "What would you say about renting a couple bikes?"

I frowned. "But... wouldn't your fans, I don't know, come after us?"

He smiled and squeezed my shoulder. "You'll be safe with me."

Part of me wanted to believe him, but the rest of me couldn't. "How do you know?"

"Because we'll be careful. Just like Niall said. We can rent bikes in a little shop across from the lobby, and then we'll ride to the mall."

"The mall? What would I buy there?"

His gorgeous eyes twinkled with mischief. "Shopping isn't the only thing you can do in the mall."

He pressed the down button on the elevator and the doors opened. "What did you have in mind?" I asked as he stood aside for me to enter first."

"Oh," he said, coming up right by my side. It was electrifying having him so close. "Just some crazy stuff. It'll be fun."

Fun. Just like how the picnic was supposed to be fun. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, Louis?"

He raised his eyebrows and said, "of course not. But you won't go anywhere in life if you don't take risks."

The elevator groaned slightly as it dropped and made a 'ping' sound when it reached the lobby. The doors opened and Louis swept his hand towards the exit. "Ladies first."

The doors closed behind us and we made our way to a little shop across from the front desk. There were greeting signs and postcards in the display windows. Louis pointed to them. "We should get a couple of those as souvenirs."

"Okay," I said, trying not to sound too unhappy.

Louis narrowed his eyes.

Too late.

He sighed, pushing the door, which jingled as it opened. "You can't let them get to you."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "I know. It's hard not to though when they've dedicated their whole lives to ruining mine."

He exhaled and began looking through the postcards. He picked up one that had a picture of the Statue of Liberty and handed it to me. "They just don't realize how wrong they are about you."

The lady at the front desk barely made eye contact as she took the two postcards from Louis and I and scanned them. Her thin lips were pressed tightly together with bright red lipstick and her dark hair was in a bun at the top of her head. "Is that all?"

"Actually," Louis said. "We'd like to rent two bikes. I'm assuming they come with helmets?"

The lady nodded her head towards the bike rack. "They're on the handle bars. It all comes to forty dollars and sixty-seven cents. Make sure you use the side door, we don't want tire tracks in our newly remodelled lobby."

Louis swiped his debit card through the machine and entered his pin. The lady scowled and handed him the bag. Louis smiled politely and said, "thanks. Have a nice day."

She grunted and turned away. Louis and I walked over to the bikes and chose two blue ones at the end of the rack. We wheeled them out the door and put on our helmets. Louis tightened the strap under his neck and sat on the bike.

"Ready?"

"Nope."

He stood up again and centered my helmet, looking at me with eyes that were even more dazzling with the sun reflecting on them. A flutter in my stomach came instantly as he buckled the strap on my helmet.

"Well let's go!" he said and he hopped back onto his bike and we rode off down the sidewalk.