My Love Next Door

chapter 4

"Um guys, this is Jada Ocean Brooks, but call her Ocean."

"Uh hey guys," I said looking down.

"And Ocean this is Louis, Liam, and Harry," Niall said pointing at them. I was pretty proud that I got their names right.

"Hi Ocean, I'm Harry," he said coming over to hug me. I stood the awkardly as engulfed me in a hug.

"Uh Haz, I think you're making her uncomfortable," Liam said, probably noticing the expression on my face. I'm just not used to friendly gestures like that.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to," Hary said, lookig at me, kinda worried if I do say so.

"Hey Ocean, I'm Louis. Or carrot king, whatever you like is fine."

"Aaannnyyyy way, welcome to the house," he said grabbing my hand and leading me to the couch. "Don't worry, you'll be fine," he whispered in my ear.

"Uhhh not to be rude or anything, but why do you have a black eye, a busted/bleeding lip and why are you holding your side?" Liam asked me as we sat down.

To be honest, I hadn't even noticed that I was injured."I..uhh...fell. Yeah I fell," I said. That sounded convincing right? At least I hope it did.

"So you fell. Gave yourself a black eye, a busted/bleeding lip, and an injured side?"

"Uhhh....yesss?" I said, sounding less convincing than I wanted to sound.

"You don't have to lie, Ocean," Niall said. "No one is gonn say anything or judge you for something that wasn't your fault. You're safe here. No one will hurt you," he said, sounding like he really meant what he said.

I sat there for a few more minutes, looking down and chewing on my lip. I heard one of the boys say, "She looks cute when she does that."

"Oh, shut up would you?" the other one said.

I looked up suddenly, startling them. "You wanna know what happened?" They nooded their heads, Harry's curls bouncing as he did so. "Okay, well after Niall and I got out of the house and to the car, Zayn came running out because I was leaving and not coming back, because I'm staying in my car tonight," as I said this they all looked at eachother and had the same expression. "He punched me in the face and in the stomach, and was going to hit me again, Niall punched him and here we are," I rushed the last part of the sentence. I can't believe I sat there and told them what happened, when I hadn't even known them for an hour! What's wrong with me? I never open up to people, not since my mom left me. I hope I can trust them.