"Ari, Ari wake up. Breakfast is here. You need to eat. Big day today!" I heard Ryan say softly as he shakes me. I groan quietly, Ryan chuckling and getting off the bed.

“Give me a few more minutes…” I plead quietly. Things stay silent for a moment. Only a moment. Next thing I knew a body jumps on top of me and I quickly move into abrasive action. "I said a few more minutes!" I shove the body across the bed.

“Ari…” Ryan groans. “Get up.” I huff loudly, rolling my eyes.

"Alright..." I sit up and comb any strands of hair out of my face. "What time is it?" I open my eyes to see him picking himself up off the floor and moving to the door.

"8:30 am." He answers me with his back to me, no doubt in front of the cart of food for us, picking what to eat first.

I get out of bed and blindly walk towards the bathroom, getting the essentials done. I change into my day clothes, hoping it looked somewhat decent, before joining Ryan at the table. He smiles at my outfit, nodding in approval. Waffles, coffee, fruit bowls and utensils are placed down in a neat order. He pulls the chair out for me kindly and pushes me in before sitting himself. We happily dig in in silence, glances are shared every once in a while.

“So…” He starts. I look up at him to see him raising an eyebrow.

“What?” I question. Whenever he does this face, its when he knows something.

“What’s going on today…?” He smiles and gestures his head over to my nightstand where the letter from Louis laid. I sigh and drop my fork on the plate softly.

“You read it, didn’t you?” He nods happily, making me roll my eyes playfully. “Should I go?” I ask him in a more serious manner. He only shrugs.

“You really should. We can either hide in the shadows and watch from afar, or infiltrate them now when we get the chance to. It’s up to you. This is your mission, not mine. I’m just tagging along for the free ride.” he says jokingly.

“Let’s do it now, then.”

“Alright. In that case," he walks over and picks up his closed notepad from his side of the bed, flipping through a couple pages. "I haven’t found out where they are going next, but I did find out that they have the day off today, luckily, and they will be checking out at the end of the week. If you can find out where they are going next, I can let Walter know and get us there too. Unless they let us ride with them.” He explains on his return to sitting at the table.

“I don't know if we should even think of that as an option.” I counter. He looks up at me with a confused face.

"Why not?"

"There is no way that is going to happen. First and most foremost, we would literally be out in the open with the public, it is too dangerous. Second, don't you think it would be a tad awkward that we suddenly join them? Where would we stay? Not even we, what about you?"

"Well..." He starts, but stops to think. How could this even work, if that was to happen, then I would have to bring him with me today.

We finish breakfast and place everything back on the cart, cleaned, stacked, and organized. I look at myself in the mirror in the hallway, a ‘last minute check’. An alarm suddenly goes off, making me tense.

“What’s going on?” I frantically look around the room, watching for something to come out at me, but nothing does.

“Relax.” Ryan says calmly, getting up from the bed and walking over to the clock on the stand, which read 9:00 am, and turning off the alarm.

“Oh.” I sigh in relief.

“Get going, I’ll be here if you need me. If something happens, anything, knock twice as hard as you can, but don’t break the door, okay?” I nod. “Alright. I’m going to find out more on ‘normal living.’ and see if I can get us some more gear later on. Good luck, Ari.” He says before taking me in an embrace.

I wrap my arm around his waist, letting my head rest on his chest, the steady heartbeat relaxing me. He lets me go and hops back on the bed, silently shooing me out the room. I nod and take the note, stuffing it into the pocket of my jeans before leaving the room. Not really needing the note, I recall the room Louis entered from last night and stood in front of it. With one last heavy breath, I knock on the door twice.

“GUYS, THE FOOD IS HERE!!!” I hear a voice shout. Many joyous voices followed, making me tense. Maybe it was a bad idea, I should just turn and go back? I can do this another time. It's too early for this. Before I could evade, the door swings open, revealing a male that was shirtless, with his sweats hanging low. He had long curly hair, and bright green eyes staring intently at me. I think I am beginning to know why these girls around the building are trying so desperately to get up here. Wait, what?

“Hmmm. You’re not my breakfast…” He jokes, cracking a smirk. I stay silent, unsure whether to laugh along or not. He catches on to my uncomfortable silence and stops chuckling. “Can I help you?” He asks, crossing his arms across his chest, looking more serious this time.

“Is Mr. Tomlinson here?” I ask as calmly as possible. I can already feel my voice begin to shake, which is not good.

“Yeah, he’s here. You must be the reason why he’s been acting strange... I guess I can see why.” He mutters at the end while furrowing his eyebrows together. “LOUIS! IT’S FOR YOU!” He yells inside. He opens the door wider, giving room for me to enter. “Come in, make yourself at home.” He smiles, dimples displayed. Interesting.

I quietly thank him as he closes the door behind me. I stand by the door, watching Dimples walk away from me slowly. Looking around the room, the main area was an absolute mess. Silverware, food, and canned drinks were scattered all around the place. I find a clear area on the couch next to an empty bag of fast food and sit down, taking in deep breaths.

“IS SHE HERE?” I hear Louis yell out. Why are they yelling? It’s too early to be yelling! He appears out from the hallway that the first guy disappeared from, immediately finding me, eyes wide as I have ever seen them. He shrieks. Loudly.

“CARE BEAR!” He tackles me onto the couch forcefully. I quickly push him off and he lands on the very opposite side of the couch where a pizza box was. I stand up and keep my distance, waiting for something to happen. “Care bear... What the actual fuck…?” He groans, removing the box from him and standing up. I see that some things have been forgotten. He has lost his fighting stance.

“Reflex... Please, don’t do that.” I finally say, making him jump.

“But it is you… You're alive! How can I not be excited?” He moves to hug me again but I hold up my hand, motioning for him to stop. “Come on... Let me hug you. Please?” He says with a puppy face, I can feel my insides knotting up.

“You've grown, Mr. Tomlinson. Your voice is deeper. You've even gotten taller.” I say quietly. He cocks his head to the side, face full of confusion.

“Why are you talking like that? It’s Tommo...” He takes another step towards me and I mirror him, taking one backwards.

“I like to have my personal space, please and thank you.” I say sternly, hoping he will get the point. He doesn’t move for a couple seconds, before nodding and stepping back.

“What’s going on here?” A different male voice says from behind me. Multiple pairs of feet are gathered behind me, I can feel their gazes are burning into my back.

“Who’s she?” A voice whispers. Louis looks behind my shoulder with a smile. I don’t turn around, staying stationary where I am, readying myself if I am to be attacked from behind.

“Turn around.” Louis tells me softly. I look at him, the ocean blue eyes silently pleading me to do so. I shake my head at him.

“Go on, please.” He asks me again. I shake my head at him.

A knock on the door pulls the tension out slightly, a pair of feet move from behind me, heading to my right, and going around the table. I relax when I only see that it was Dimples opening the door, coming back in rolling in a cart that looked similar to the one in my room.

“Mate…” He begins to whisper into Louis’ ear. He nods at him.

“Okay, Harry. You guys can go.” Harry. He’s Harry. I prefer Dimples. Either way, he retreats to the group behind me. Louis walks up to me slowly, extending his arms out to me.

“Join us for breakfast?” He whispers. I shook my head.

“I already ate.” He pouts at me.

“Fine. At least come join us at the table.” He bargains. “We just want to talk.” He whispers even quieter, leaning in closer. “We missed you.” He smiles at me, taking my hands in his. I sigh, the distance between us closing in. I nod, knowing that if I don't I won't hear the end of it. Also, I'm a tad afraid of how the behavior is going to be, since I know that some things from them are gone, especially table manners. He smiles even wider and jumps slightly. “Just turn around first. Show him you are alive, I don’t think he believed me...”

He walks away from me with a smile, whispering to the fellows behind me before leaving me on my own, finally giving me space. The pairs of feet walk away, but I still feel like I am being watched. Come on Ari, just turn around already. I move one foot to the side, jumping slightly at my own actions. I breathe in heavily before turning around, hearing a gasp now in front of me. I look up, seeing Niall cup is mouth with one hand, the other hugging his waist. The bright blue eyes that I have been waiting for years to see again, stare right at me, taking me in.

“Hey.” I find myself whispering. I look behind him to see Louis giving me a thumbs up before motioning to stay put. I nod once before looking back at Niall, who still hasn’t said a word.

“Princess…” He finally says under his hand. I shake my head, scoffing. Here we go.

“Don't call me that. You gave up on me Niall.” I tell him, wrapping my arms around my waist so I don’t do anything I’ll regret afterwards.

His eyes widen, mouth agape. He takes a step forward, and by reflex I take one back. From the corner of my eye I see Louis frantically waving his hands around to get my attention. He does the same motion to stay put, to not move. I look back to Niall, whose eyes were already getting puffy, standing directly in front of me.

“Ari, no... It's not like that... Please, let me explain..." I shake my head.

"There is nothing to be explained. You moved on. It happens. Right?” I whisper.

"Ari, no." He says again. "Can I hug you? Please?" He pleads, his voice cracking.

After all this time, I’ve waited so long for this, to see him at my mercy, pleading to me and apologizing for what he has done. I would have just walked away from here, a part of me screaming inside, just begging for me to just walk out the door. He could get somewhat of the feeling that I had when he never came for me, easily. Right on the spot.

The door is right there, Ariella. This your shot. Let him feel your pain that you had, let it out. But, for some reason, I stayed. I didn’t move. And surprising myself and him, I nodded. He grins widely, tears at the brim of his eyes as he comes even closer and squeezing me in his hug, my arms around his neck by reflex. He picks me up and spins us around a couple times before setting me back down.

“I missed you. So, so much Ari, you have no idea.” He sighs, holding me tighter.

Memories immediately flooded back, the laughs, the hugs, the late nights, the comfort. The happiness. The good times. Then the tears, the heartbreak, the kidnapping, the pain and misery that I went through. I break out of his embrace, standing back. Don’t pull away Ari. That was a bad move. Let him hug you. Don’t hug him. Remember what he had done to you? The pain and suffering? But he didn’t mean it. How do you know? It’s Niall. He is sorry. He always is.

“Are you okay, Ari?” Niall sniffles. I look up at him, his eyes were now red and puffy, but he wore the same grin.

“Yeah. Where’s the bathroom?” I ask, looking away. I must look like a mess. His chuckle rings in my ears.

“You’re okay. You change subjects when you are nervous, it's okay.” He takes me back in the embrace cautiously. I let him hug me again, even tighter than the first time. “You’re alive… You’re here…” He repeats himself, getting more happier every time he says it. He holds me out at arm’s length and begins to laugh, making my stomach erupt into butterflies. “I told them all that you are alive, I knew it.” He begins to tear up again, the tears trailing down his red cheeks.

“Niall… Don’t cry.” I say sadly, removing a tear from his face. Why would I want to make him cry? He hurt you remember?

“Only if you don’t.” He says still laughing. It was then that I noticed that I was actually crying as well. I shouldn't be crying. He mimics my actions with a large grin. I shouldn't even be this close to him. I shake my head. He does need to feel my pain.

“Niall, you-” I say, standing back again.

“Hey! Let’s eat on a fantastic morning, yes?” Louis cuts me off, standing between Niall and I.

"Alright." I sigh. Let's get this over with.

We follow Louis to the dining area, which looked like the one in my room. The guys sat down, three chairs remain. Two on one side, the other one across the two. I decided to take the solo seat, since it was conveniently next to Harry. He nods at me once with a smile as I sit. I return the gesture as I watch the two guys I grew up with sit across from me with bright happy faces and dig in to their breakfast with the others. Niall's eyes had miraculously cleared up. That was quick.

I took this time as an opportunity to observe the other men sitting around the table. I knew Harry already. He is obviously cheeky. The one sitting next to him had light brown hair, and brown eyes. He seems friendly, however. He catches me staring and gives a polite nod. I smile and return the gesture.

The one across from him however, was already watching me. He has black hair, golden brown eyes, ears pierced and a bunch of tattoos on his arms. To be fair, they all have tattoos, except for Niall, at least what I could see, and he has the most. He didn't nod or smile at me, if anything, he seems a bit mad. Neither of us looked away, and I was up for the challenge.

"So, Louis." The light brown haired fellow spoke up after a few moments of silence, cutting the stare down between me and slick over there. "Care to introduce us?" He asks. Louis looks up from his plate, looking between them and me before smiling and swallowing what food he had in his mouth.

"Gents, this is Ariella Edwards. Ari, this is Harry," He points to Harry.

"Nice to meet you." Harry waves with a smile. I smile softly and wave back.

"Liam," points to the one who first spoke up.

"A pleasure." Liam nods again with his smile. I nod with a smile in return.

"And last, but certainly not least, Zayn." He only looks at me for a moment before looking down on his plate, taking another bite of his food. Mental note, keep an eye on slick over there. Harry leans to my right ear, automatically making me stiffen.

"Don't worry about him, he's just quiet sometimes. Give him a couple days, he will warm up to you." He assures me. I have to wait a couple days to gain his trust?

"So, Ariella was it?" Liam questions. I nod. "How do you know Louis and Niall?" He asks and my eyes widen. Guessing that Neither Louis or Niall had talked about their early years. Good for them. I looked over at them who had the same facial expression as me.

"Old friend. Ran into her at the shops the other day, literally, knocking down her stuff. I felt bad and found it a great time to reunite either way." Louis calmly says. Well, it seems that not all prior knowledge had been forgotten.

"And what about Niall?" Zayn finally speaks up. The entire table looks between Niall and I. Niall has never been good at improvising situations. I'm usually there to help him out, but the question seemed to have moved to direct Niall instead of me.

"Also my old friend. My best friend, if anything." He finally says, looking directly at me before taking a sip of his drink. I couldn't look away, his eyes piercing into mine. He licked his lips before continuing. "Louis texted me telling me that he ran into her. So now we are all here." He finishes. They all nod.

"Best friends, huh?" Harry questions. Niall nods.

"She was always there for me whenever I needed her, and it was the same for me to her. Yeah, there were times where we had our, 'arguments', but it didn't make a difference. Well, for me at least." He looks away from Harry and back to me. The pressure on me is unbelievable. "You were always up here, Ari. It's really, really great to see you again." He says directly to me. You bastard. You guilt-making bastard.

"Oh, that's good." Liam says happily. "We never really heard their childhood, you know? Wonder why he would hide such a nice person from us." He says before taking a bite of his pancake. They aren't allowed to, that's why.

"Was never asked, duh." Louis points out.

"Ha, ha Louis. How funny." Harry rolls his eyes before turning to me. "Well, how was it like growing up with these two? That must have been one hell of a life." He questions. I scoff.

"You have no idea." I mutter. The two boys across from me yell out a simultaneously 'hey' as if they were offended.

We chat a bit more until they were all done with their breakfast, moving to the living room where Liam had instructed them all to clean the room so 'I won't get the wrong idea of us being slobs'. I didn't mind, really. The dorms at Black Cove weren't as neat as you would think. Some of the guys, such as Ryan, clean their rooms up spotless, while others, such as Cody, like to be the more messy person.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" Louis asks me. I shrug.

"Sure." He goes to a cabinet near the TV and pull out a bunch of DVD's. Harry finishes up what was left of the mess as Liam picks up a couple of blankets and pillows, Slick sits in the far couch, peering over his phone from time to time to me, and Niall went to get snacks, which was odd since they just had breakfast not even 10 minutes ago.

"So, Ari. What type of movies do you like?" Harry asks, taking the seat next to me.

"Well, the only movie I have actually seen, would have been the one I meant to watch with Niall, but somebody took it from us, leaving us with no movie." I said, hoping Louis would remember what he did back in Oak Hills. He stops going through the movies and slowly turn to face me, a devilish grin was plastered on his face.

"You two were busy doing something else, if I recall correctly." He grins before turning back to the movies. Harry's eyebrows raised, as if he thought he knew what he meant by that. I do remember the small make out session that day, it does come back to haunt me...

"Wait, so you never actually watched a movie?" Harry asks, thankfully not having me explain what Louis meant. I shake my head. This brought Liam's attention into the discussion.

"What?" He asks, slowly making his way to me around the couch. My eyes widen as he fronts me, is he about to attack me? "You've never seen a movie?" I shake my head.

"So," he sits on the empty side of me, placing his arm behind me before continuing, "if I say the word 'Disney', you won't know what I'm talking about?" He says in complete seriousness. I look over to Harry, who's eyes were widened. Across from me was Louis with a movie in hand, with the same face as Harry's. I press my lips in a fine line before shaking my head.

"Louis-" Liam starts but was cut off with the sound of the front door being knocked on. He gets up and walks down the hall to the door, just as Niall returns with a couple bowls of chips.

"Who's at the door?" He asks as he sits where Liam previously was, placing his arm around my shoulders which made me tense. I looked up at him to see him already staring back down at me with a small smile. He nudges his head on top of mine, resting it there. "Guess what?" He whispers in my ear.

"What?" I whisper back, looking straight ahead.

"I missed you." He says, wrapping both of his arms around me before laying back, tugging me down with him.

"Niall!" I squeal, holding onto him for support.

"Ah. Much better." He sighs in content, making me shake my head.

"Niall! Why haven't you been-- Oh. Hello." A different voice says, storming into the room, stopping when she sees Niall and I. Niall's arms tighten around me as he sits us up. She had brunette hair with a couple streaks of blond, seemed 5'7... Oh God... It's Niall's girlfriend... I break free of his grip and move away from him, avoiding contact. How can I forget of her existence?

"Rebecca... What are you doing here?" Niall asks her, slowing standing up. She walks over to him, taking hold of his face and planting her cherry lips on his. I can feel my hands shake as I try to contain them on my lap, looking away. Liam comes back in to see this, obviously uncomfortable with it. I look over to Louis who was already looking at me, a guilt face. Louis sits where Niall was and left is arm behind me, but letting me rest my head on his shoulder. Once they broke apart, she kept her hands on his arms, squeezing them from time to time.

"I came to see my boyfriend, wondering why he wasn't answering his phone, obviously he seemed busy..." She sneers. I can feel her burning gaze staring right at me.

"Oh, sorry. I dropped my phone this morning and it broke. I am getting it fixed later on."

"But I texted you yesterday."

"I was working, yesterday."

"Whatever, what are you guys doing? Am I interrupting?" She questions us, keeping her eyes on me. The guys stay silent. "I'll take that as a no. Are we watching a movie?" She asks as she drags Niall to the empty couch across from Zayn.

"Yeah, we are." Louis mutters.

"Oh good! Then I came just in time then! What are we watching? Romance? Horror? Something that would make me hold onto my boyfriend?" She smirks, forcing Niall to sit before sitting next to him, letting her long legs dangle off of his. Okay, I've had enough. Better to leave before I do something that would scare them.

“You know what..." I start standing up from the seat, removing myself from Louis as all eyes following my movements. "I have to go anyway, got things to do…” I tell them. They looked at me with the same saddened face. Rebecca just smiles at me.

"Okay, bye!" She waves. I sigh before walking to the edge of the couch to recollect my shoes.

“Ari...” Louis argues. I shake my head.

“It's okay. You guys can watch the movie. I need to go. Ryan is waiting for me in our hotel room anyways.” I lie through my teeth. He probably left by now, anyway. I can’t do this. Not now, at least. I knew it was too early for this.

“Ryan? Who's Ryan?” Niall suddenly says with an unreadable expression, sitting up straighter. I shake my head at him as if saying nobody. I stand up once my shoes were tied on.

“It was nice meeting you guys." I address the three boys before looking between Louis and Niall. "It was nice seeing you two again. Bye guys.” I say before heading to the door, only to be stopped by a grip on my wrist. I move to slap the person, or at least push them away, only to have my other hand caught in the air. By Niall.

"Ari. Don't." He snarls. "Don't do this again."

"I don't know what you mean." I say, looking away.

"You know damn well what I mean. Running away from me. Leaving me hanging. Stop it. I want to fix this, just let me. Give me a chance to explain myself." He says angrily but quietly.

"I didn't run away, Niall. I got kidnapped and I could get out of it. You are the one that didn't bother send help." I countered, speaking the truth.

"Okay, fine. But I just need one. We can meet up for coffee or something. Just stop leaving me like this." I don't say anything, fearing that if I do, I am going to start tearing up again. "Are you going to protest?" He asks me after a couple seconds of silence. I shake my head. "Then..." He looks away, as if he was thinking of something, before turning back to me. "There's a coffee shop down the road from here, meet me there tomorrow at the same time you came here. Okay?" He instructs me. I only nod. He exhales before bringing me into a hug. "Don't forget." He lets me go and opens the door for me.

"By the way, you have a little something there." I motion to my lips. He brings his hand up and wipes off the cherry red lipstick that stayed on his lips.

"Thanks." I nod and walk out without turning back. I hear the door shut quietly behind me after a couple seconds, freeing me to run to my door and slamming my fist on it twice. The door opens and I quickly rush in before I was spotted.

“Hey,what happened?” Ryan questions me, but I ignore him as I walk to the bedroom, stripping down to my spaghetti strap under shirt, removing my jeans, tugging on my sweats; hopping back into the bed and draping the blanket over my head, letting the tears spill.

Notes

I'm pretty sure at this point we have all seen Night Changes... I love it, but when the events began to occur, I got nervous. Like, really nervous.

• Liam throws up in my hat,
• Zayn gets his food in his perfect hair, and I was taken away by God knows who,
• Niall is set on FIRE (which was what scared me the most, over reacting, I know),
• Louis gets arrested, no comment. xD
• Harry broke my ankle and his arm, I mean come on...

But I still love it either way :) Great job to Ben Winston and the guys:) Anyways, pls Comment/vote/subscribe to let me know how this is going! Love you all! xxx