Over Again

"Holy shit. Jenna?"

Fuck.
This has to be a dream. It can't be real.
It's a dream. It's a dream. It's a dream, I try to explain to myself, but I can't seem to shake how real the figures look like in front of me, their eyes wide open and disbelieving, examining me to see if they're hallucinating. The way I am.

After a minute, which felt like an hour- staring at the figments in front of me, I came to accept that I wasn't dreaming or hallucinating. However, I didn't dare to break the blanket of silence that had settled over us, enveloping us in its unwelcome warmth, as if the warmth emanating from the several bodies present in the tight and slightly crammed Starbucks space in the humid weather, refusing to let wind blow through its heavy weight, not to mention the absence of air conditioning.
The air gad grown so thick, layered with masks of inaudible tension, that it could be cut with a knife.

Once I had got over the denial part of the shock of seeing them, I took everything in. I noticed the small stubble covering Louis' chin, a slightly more developed one on Zayn, and a full on beard-ish thing on Liam. Liam's long floppy hair was also gone, now much shorter, and styled in a a small quiff, like the ones Zayn would always have. However, Louis and Niall had also taken to the classic, possibly out of Zayn's persuasion. Harry's hair remained similar, although there were traces of product in it that I couldn't quite place. They were also much taller, I was once only a head shorter than Niall, the shortest out of all the boys, but I would now only match up to his mid- chest.
Louis was in the corner of the shop after closing the doors with much difficulty, shutting out the fans which had come to be almost unnoticable during the time. His body was stiff, his mouth slightly agape, his eyes lost in thought. Liam and Niall stood side by side by the foods section of the coffee shop- Niall's eyes were by the cakes in the cooled area, although not in his obsession, his face wearing a trace of a smile, although it wouldn't be noticed if you weren't, well, ogling like me.
However, Liam showed signs of an emotion quite the opposite of Niall's, his eyebrows furrowed, a frown evident. Did he regret ever seeing me again? Did they all? Did they hate me?
What was going through their heads?
Zayn was unreadable, no emotion I could decipher from his expressionless face as he masked his thoughts, unlike mine, since I was always displayed as an open book, no matter I tried to conceal thoughts rushing to my head.
A sharp noise pierced through my thoughts, originating from outside the shop. I pinpointed it to be an extremely loud, high pitched scream coming from a girl with a short blonde bob wearing a "Crazy Mofos" cropped top, which barely covered her chest. I later came to the realization that she had found the back entrance to the shop and somehow managed to pick the lock, resulting in her excitement, and screams.
Damn.
All of a sudden, I felt being shoved to the side, into the metal coffee machine that produced my favourite vanilla lattes, by my arm. It had already begun to bleed, although I didn't feel much pain- just numb. I saw the crimson trickling down my tan skin, now spread ith goosebumps that I hadn't even realized had appeared. My eyes followed to the origin of the vividly colored liquid- four crescent shaped marks boring into my skin. Nails.
The smell of the blood made my thoughts run hazy as always, losing my ability to think with clarity and focus
I forced myself to get up, I wasn't just going to sit there, injured, waiting like little girl for her Prince Charming to come to her rescue. That wasn't how life worked, and neither should it. I wasn't a feminist, but I did believe in women living their lives being treated as equals of men. There were now several people crowding the tiny shop, and I could feel my breathing become ragged, the squeals and screams of the desperate girls drowned out by my heart drumming rhythmically fast in my ears.
I felt a slighty callused hand on my wrist, guiding me. Looking up, I recognized the familiar head of blonde hair, and I inwardly thanked Niall for helping me through the freaky drama. Blahhhh.

Zayn was the first to talk once we met up, Niall leading the way, as Liam spoke into the phone. I struggled to make out the words matching up to his lips, but my heartbeat and the girls drowned them out. Then, Zayn pointed to the right, and we began walking. Niall's guiding grip on my hand was broken by some girls smashing into us, and after that, I was unable to spot any of the boys as I tried not to get trampled by the females around me. Their limbs bumping into my arm made my crescent shaped marks sting, but I was used to the familiar burn due to my clumsiness. I suffered through something like this every once in two weeks or so, if I'm lucky.
Suddenly, I felt my feet being lifted off the ground, and onto someone's back.
Then, due to the excessive quantities of blood all over the area, my thoughts got hazy until they all faded to black, and I fell into a slumber, soothed by the pattern of the person I was piggy backing walking.

Notes