Motel 6 // n.h

[29] Little Talks

  Avery Holmes

  "Yes, I am," Harry said, grinning from ear to ear. I could tell that he was trying his hardest not to laugh at my very embarrassing mom.

  "Avery, why are you in a bus with Harry Styles?" My mom asked, narrowing her eyes at me. "And wait a second..." My mom's eyes flickered back to Niall and she studied his face as he blushed. "That's where I know you from!" She put all of the pieces into place that Niall and Harry were famous.

  "Stop being a carrot, mom." I chuckled. "The rest of the band members are in the back room. I'll introduce you to them soon." My mom nodded, trying not to freak out, but I could tell that on the inside she was probably screaming. Mom had always been a fangirl, and once you're a fangirl, you never go back.

  "And we have other things to worry about," Sam said from the passenger seat, taking a sip of his soda. "Currently it's... seven forty. Which means that we have around an hour and twenty minutes to distance ourselves from Kate and Jake. I'm gonna go get the others."

  He went to the back room and I looked over at mom, who took a deep breath and sipped some water from a water bottle in her hand. I only smiled, not wanting to laugh at her.

  Aimee crawled across the couch to me, a sleepy grin on her face. I scooped her up in my arms, knowing that my parents were watching as I handled her. They had missed a lot- I could truly say now that I did everything for my daughter and still do. 

  "You wanna lay back down, babe?" Niall asked her. She shook her head, very much wanting to be included in the conversation.

  "I wanna stay, daddy." Aimee said. I froze and looked over at my parents, and I could tell by the looks on their faces that they had caught that. I wondered how screwed up our little family looked like from the outside. My parents probably thought we were crazy.

  The rest of our group that was in the back filed in the front of the bus, slowly and one by one. Louis, Zayn, and Liam all said hi to my parents before sitting down. Darcy followed behind Harry into the room, his hand over hers. One by one, we all settled into the tiny room and managed to all fit in the space.

  "So what's the plan?" Zayn asked Sam, crossing his tattoo-covered arms over his chest.

  "For now, we're going to have to find a hotel in California. We're along the border, and as soon as we get a bit farther from Kate and Jake we'll stop. Make sure to keep the window blinds down, we don't want to be spotted by anyone."

  "Good thing we aren't in the 1D bus." Louis chuckled.

  "What about my parents?" I asked, speaking up. "I knew that they aren't safe with us, but they aren't even safe in their own home anymore." My shoulders slumped- I hated putting everyone in danger like this.

  "If it's okay with you two, Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, we're going to relocate you two for a while. A nice hotel in Cali, room service, and bodyguards. We wouldn't drop you off at a dump or anything. And then, once this gets cleared up, you can return home."

  "I have a job." My dad spoke up. "But it's from home anyways. But my wife, she works in an office. What do we do about that?"

  "I'll figure something out for you, Mrs. Holmes." Sam promised, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. "You'll both be in good hands, and your safety is what's most important now." He licked his lips and turned back to the group.