storm ➳ tomlinson a.u

five - change of plans

"Kelsey, are you leaving soon?" My brothers head poked around my door with an impatient look on his face. The vibrations of the loud music from the party which was currently taking place downstairs could be felt beneath my feet.

"Jeez, want me out the house fast enough?" I questioned, and continued the search around my bedroom while muttering, "Where the hell are my earphones?"

Josh let out an exasperated groan. "You said you'd be out before everyone got here."

"You said no one would get here until eight because 'no-one ever arrives until like, an hour after it's supposed to start Kels'. And guess what? It's seven thirty."

To be fair, Joshua hadn't even wanted to throw the party in the first place, apparently. Harry had talked him into it. It was apparently important, and the only information I really caught wind of was that it was something involving them owing to a rival gang. God, I still hated the thought of my brother being involved in that. But I couldn't control him - it was his life. Even if it scared the shit out of me. He had wanted to cancel the whole thing for my sake despite Harry's protests saying that it would really fuck things up for them and that they needed to do this. Joshua gave in when I told him that I'd go stay at a friends house.

"They're literally right there!" Joshua exclaimed, pointing to my bedside cabinet.

Realisation crossed my face when I turned to find them lying there, even though I was sure they definitely weren't there before. "Oh. Thanks. Okay, I'm ready." I grabbed the earphones slung my bag over my shoulder and left my room with Joshua following close behind.

Harry smiled at me as I walked by and I returned it, before he turned back to the pretty girl he was talking to. That caused me to wonder where Louis was, I'd seen him before everyone started to arrive but not since. When I asked Joshua he stiffened up a little before answering, "He's uh, he's going out to get some more beers."

And I didn't question the fact that they had enough booze to last three parties because the tone in his voice told me not to. Which to me, told me that Louis was dealing with some other kind of business. The thought of Louis handling something like that on his own made me feel uneasy and uncomfortable - although I didn't know why. He annoyed the hell out of me, so why was I feeling worried about him?

He followed me right to the front door, seemingly shielding me from the people hanging around in the hallway. "Will you be okay walking? Are you sure you don't want a lift? It's just not very - "

"Josh, I'll be fine. Honestly. It's like a ten minute walk." It was actually twenty minutes, but I just wanted to leave. "See you in the morning."

It was still pretty much summer, so it was only just starting to get dark outside as I walked down the road in the direction of Liam's house where I was planning on staying with him, Camilla and Niall. My music quietened as I received a text and when I brought it out of my pocket to check it, I groaned and put it back. It was Jeremy, who despite only really knowing me again for around three weeks, had become possibly the clingiest person I'd ever met. He was constantly insisting that we go out together and when I would say no, he'd get really mad and have a go at me until I agreed to go out with him or sit with him at lunch. Usually, I'd keep up being stubborn and just tell him to fuck off but honestly he kind of intimidated me. I didn't want to upset him or piss him off more because him even just raising his voice at me caused a chill to run down my spine.

Another few minutes past, and I was flicking through my music to find a certain song when I heard a loud groan coming from the alley a few steps in front of me. Curiously, I took my earphones out of my ears and took a few careful steps forward until I reached the opening of the alley. When I glanced inside, I couldn't see anything since it had darkened even more outside which caused the alley to become almost completely shaded. Everything fell silent again and I almost continued walking until I heard a muffled splutter followed by someone muttering a sequence of cuss words. My heart racing, I started to make my way into the alley despite my brain telling me to run.