"I'm Fine" (Adopted by 5SOS)

Chapter 18

\|/ Ambers POV \|/

As Mattie and I walked into the paint section, I felt my anxiety start rising.

After being kidnapped, it scares me to be in public.

I felt like everyone was after me, everyone was ready to grab me. Any sudden sound was setting me off.

I saw a strange figure rush past the end of the isle and I lost it. (Some people really can have such bad anxiety they slightly hallucinate.)

I felt tears falling from my eyes and I started shaking. My breathing became rapidly uneven and I stopped walking.

"Amber? What's wrong?" Mattie turned to look at me.

"Shit. Come with me." She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the bathroom.

The butterflies I felt in my stomach seemed to help distract me a little, but not enough.

She held open the door and pulled me in the one-person washroom.

She closed the toilet lid and gently pushed me so I sat on it.

My eyes darted around the room, looking for anything out of place, anything dangerous.

Mattie placed a cold paper towel against my forehead and for some reason I started crying.

Mattie gently stood me up and sat on the floor, placing me on her lap.

I leaned into her, feeling small and vulnerable.

"Shhhh. You're okay. Everything's okay. I won't let anyone hurt you." She started stroking my nose. She must have remembered from last night when I told her that it was one one of the things that helped calm me down.

"Let's talk about something." She said. "Did you know I was held back a year when I was younger?" She asked.

I shook my head and let her continue talking.

"Yeah! And I was born earlier in the school year, so even though I'm in your grade, I'm 16 years old." She told me.

"I-I'm fo-fourteen." I stuttered. I'm 2 years younger than her.

We talked about random things and when I was calm, she pulled the paper towel off my head and threw it away.

"Are you good now?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm really sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" She slowly stood up after me.

"I broke down in front of you. I'm just really nervous after what happened." I explained.

"You really don't need to be sorry. It happens. I would be in a much worse state if I were you. You're so strong." She wiped my tears away.

I'm really not, though... I thought, but I just nodded and gave her a small smile.

"Come on. Calum's probably looking for us." She stated and I nodded again.

She took my hand and guided me back to where we were before, while I just chewed on my sweater paw again and tried not freak out over her holding my hand.

"Hey guys! I was looking for you. There's been a change in plans." He told us when we reached him.

"Oh, okay what's the new plan?" Mattie asked.

"I need you to listen closely." He sternly told us. I raised my head to look at him and he continued. "Since the fans don't exactly know who you are and you've only been in a few photos, they won't really pay attention to you. I'm going to give you guys my credit card and you're going to go to the mall together. Amber, you're going to buy a whole new wardrobe. Mattie, I'm trusting you to take care of her. There's plenty enough money on there for anything you could possibly want so don't worry about it. Stay there as long as you want and text one of us when you're ready to get picked up. I want you to stay together and keep your phones on you. Sound good?"