Food Queen (Completed)

Chapter 6

"Steady..." I quietly murmur in his ear.

I have totally lost count for how many times I have uttered just that very exact frase the last twenty minutes but are pretty sure it has four numbers.

Liam hasn't opened his mouth during the hole trip. He is still shaking and his body's as cold as ice. I just want to wrap my arms around him and warm him up.
The very thought letting open for another.

What if Nick sees me now? He would kill me. Painfully and slowly. At least he would make that clear.

"Are you feeling better?" I ask after a while, slowly walking past street past street.

He brutally shakes his head from side to side.
Apperently not. Apperently he is still all caught up in those mysterious, frightening visions only he himself seems to be able to see.

I give him my muffler and mittens as we continue down the road to Greenwich Mainstreet. Speaking softly and calming, he barely noticing my words. But he is thankfull. Oh so thankful. I can feel his gratefullness like a heating fire through me.

---

Thirty minutes later we stand together outside Greenwich Mainstreet 23. Even I am shaking now, not because of spoons but because of cold.

The house rising in front of us is big. Huge in fact. Almost like a castle. It's unbelievable that five young boys live here all by themselves. With my tounge tied I stare up at the blinding whiteness. So elegantly built. It has a balcony. Two balconies. That kind of elegance often seen in France. Like a riviera but here in London.
The garden is decorated with statues. Each of them delicately sculptured, showing lions and birds majestately bowing towards the graveled path leading up to the frontdoor.

"Do you live here?" I manage to say at last, finally defeating my tounge.

Liam doesn't answer now either. I can feel his shivers both through his jacket and my own.
It settles it. If he is not going to tell me anything, everything is completely in my own hands.

I press the handle and the door opens with a squeak. It surprises me because the house really looked to be utterly new and in a great condition.

"Hello?" My voice echoes through the hall.

"Anybody there?"

I look around. Seeing posters and signed records from various artists covering the walls.

"Anybody alive?"

I hang off my coat. Before taking a short trip inside this extravagant house I so randomly ended up at, I stare at the green wallpapers. A little to the left and my orbs meets the crystal blue ones from the irish blonde. Against my better judgement I feel my stomach fly.

He's smiling, looking like he is having the time of his life, an arm around his friends.
I immediatley switch to Prince. Swallowing my words, not willing to let Liam know about my insecurity.

Three jeans jackets are hanging from three of five different hooks. Two remaining empty. A curved white stair curls in the middle, leading to the second floor. I cast a look at Liam, noticing he is still shaking. His teeth gritted against the devastating fear, sometimes violently clappering against each other. His fists tightly sqeezed into a compact lump of skin and bone. I don't know what I should do. Should I wait here? Should I take him to his bedroom? And if so, which room is his bedroom?

Luckily I don't have to think twice about that, but I remain unsure if I should be pleased or paniced over the result. Light cracks are to be heard from the floor above and before I have gotten the time to hide inside a big black wardrobe someone have already descended the stairs and is standing right in front of me.
Half naked.

With my body almost completely inside the wardrobe I immediatly look away. Too shy to face him. He looks down at my pathetic curved body squeezed between boots and coats.

"Who are you and what are you doing inside our wardrobe?" he says with rising scepticism in his voice, also popping the b.

I look at his piercing green orbs harmonically placed on his face. Then up to his hair. His hair. As brown as dark melting chocolate, spilling over with curls. Wild and free. It's something about them. He looks like he has just woken up and yet they are utterly perfect. It makes me wonder how easy haircare would be for him. If it even exist in his world.

"Ehhum... Hello. My name is Rose. Your friend, or at least I think he is your friend, blonde guy, got an irish accent, asked me to bring Liam here home." I hear myself explain very shakily.

"He saw spoons..." I finish at last.

"Oh not again!"

The curly boy leashes out with both hands. One of them quickly raising me to my feet, the other one going for Liam. Quizled I feel confusion take over. Swirling my body. He turns around to take a look at the horrorstruck boy.

"What have I told you about visiting Ikea all by yourself?"

"What did I just hear?!"

A new voice comes from the stairs. This one very high. Exactly as worried as the curly one's. Another boy with brown hair appears at the landing, but shorter this time. The first one immediatley looking around, his mouth shaped into a thin line.

"Can you please stop staring at us and start helping me instead? It's Liam again."

The brownhaired from the stairs draws a deep troubled breath. It seems like he is debatting with his own mind.

"Not again. This has gone too far by now, Harry."

He steps down, straigt in his back, orbing his friend and walks forward to help him. Harry ruffles a hand through his untamed locks, orbing Liam.

"What have I told you about visiting Ikea all by yourself?"

Liam just shakes as he did to all my own questions but when reaching the embrace of the curly one he seems to relax. His body melting as if lowered into a bathtub filled with hot bubbling water to the brim. Finally finding inner peace.
Now at least he can talk again. Even though the sentences are short and choppy.

"I wasn't. Alone. Niall with me. I thought. This time. It would be. Okay.
But I wrong. Again."

Harry sighs. The brownhaired one taking deep troubled breaths, frowning into seriousness.

"They say confronting your fears, is good to learn how to let them go..." Liam shakily continues.

Harry sighs. Even deeper and more troubled than the brownhaired one.

"Oh man, your phobia is way to strong for that. You need to start at a much more easier level. Like visit a therapist."

"Sorry Harry..."

"I'll take you to bed." Harry replies.

He turns around, letting Liam rest on his shoulder. Wrapping his arms around him. Comforting him in every way possible to make him forget about what he'd have seen. Then his orbs darts into mine. A thankful gleam playing on the surface.

"Thank you Rose. I just need to take care of Liam, but would you like to stay for a cup of tea? It would be nice talking to you after this. Louis here can help you get the table ready."

The brownhaired one merrily looks up. Smiling at me with piercing green orbs. I can do nothing but stare at him. Enchantment playing in my chest.

"Yes." I answer with a nod. Pretending to play it cool when actually my whole body is spinning.

"Nice! Take a seat in the kitchen. I'll be right back."

Then he jumps off with the petrified Liam resting against his shoulder, quickly bursting the stairs. Louis sides me a curious look with those colourful piercing green orbs as we enter the kitchen together.