Lost in London

Morning came too quickly. Reilly had stayed up late talking to Lexie. About Niall. About nothing. About everything. Being so far away from her best friend was the hardest part, but it was the only way for her to be away from her father and sister who generally felt only anger toward her. Thanks to technology, she was able to talk to her friend several times a week, and it was one of the few things that kept her together.

Sleepy, she was finding it difficult the concentrate on her Math class. On more than one occasion she had wondered why she had chosen to take it first thing on a Monday morning. Every time she would look up at the clock a sigh would escape her. It wasn't moving fast enough.

Niall would be calling her when the class was over and she was seriously considering dodging his call. Her mind went over possible excuses for when he would inevitably call again later. It mostly seemed like it was more hassle than it was worth. But still, she decided on telling him that she had accidentally left her phone at home if she ended up not answering when the time came.

After what seemed like days, her class finally ended. She walked out of the classroom with her head down, glancing up often to make sure she didn't run into anyone. She had only taken a few steps when she heard someone call out her name. Confused, she lifted her head and looked around. Her eyes fell on one blond boy, and two brunette boys. She sighed and walked over to them.

"What are you guys doing here? How did you know what class I was in?" she asked.

"I just went in and told someone that we were friends of yours come to surprise you, but we didn't know where your class was. The girl behind the desk looked up your name and told us where to find you," Niall explained.

Around them, a few groups of girls had formed. They were pointing and whispering to each other. Reilly had no idea why, but it was making her feel self conscious.

"They just gave out that kind of information? I can't... you guys could have been stalkers, or murderers," she said, looking around at the people who had gathered. "And why are so many people staring at us?" she asked.

Louis reached out and slid his arm around her shoulders. "They recognize us," he said simply.

She made a face at him. "Recognize you? From where?" she asked, obviously confused.

"Here. There. Everywhere," Liam chimed in as they began to walk.

"We brought food," Niall said, changing the subject. "Where can we eat? I'm starvin'."

"What are you talking about?" Reilly asked, still confused. Her question had not be satisfactorily answered.

"Food!" Niall said.

Louis' arm was still slung across her shoulders, but that didn't stop her from reaching out and giving the blond haired boy walking on the other side of her a little shove. "Shut up. Are you ever not hungry?" she asked.

The action caught Niall off guard and he stumbled a little, but quickly regained his balance. Liam and Louis glanced over at him, but he just gave them a little nod and continued walking.

"Careful of Niall's knee, Love," Louis said.

"Louis," Niall interrupted, but the older boy ignored him.

"He's too nice to say anything, but it's messed up. He needs surgery, but hasn't had the time to get it yet."

"Oh, my God, Niall, I'm so sorry," Reilly apologized. Her face quickly turned red in embarrassment, and she started cursing herself in her head. Her hands flew up to her face to cover the tint.

Niall tossed a glare at Louis. "It's fine, Darlin'. I mean, I do need surgery, but you didn't hurt me. The lads are just overprotective of me. All the time," he explained. Reilly kept her hands over her face. "You're goin' to walk straight into a tree if you don't look where you're going."

A giggle escaped her. She couldn't help it. Slowly, she lowered her hands and looked at the boys. A tiny smile played across her lips. In turn, the boys all smiled at her, though it concerned each of them how upset the smallest things seemed to make her.

There was a lot they didn't know about her. She had alluded to some family issues at Niall's house, which the boys had all been around to hear. And she had told Niall in no uncertain terms that she and her sister did not get along in the slightest, but he hadn't shared that piece of information with his friends. There was more to the story. There had to be.

They found a place to eat and sat down, Niall next to Reilly and Louis and Liam across the table. "We don't know what you like, so we got a few things. You can choose first," Liam said, as the boys started to take the food out of the bags.

Reilly tried to argue that it wasn't necessary, but the boys insisted. After they told her what everything was, she chose the grilled vegetable sandwich. She waited to start eating until the boys had all chosen and got settled with their food.

"You're a veggiesaurus?" Niall asked.

Reilly shook her head, giggling at his wording. "No. It just sounded good. It was between this and that," she said pointing at Louis' food with an extra fork she had picked up. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all, Love," he said, pushing his food toward her. "But don't try to share with these two. Liam here is a germophobe, and Niall is a human garbage disposal. If any of us don't finish our food, he will. Just watch."

"Lou!" Niall said.

"What? It's true, isn't it, Liam?"

Liam nodded. "It is," he agreed. Then to Niall, he said, "Sorry, mate."

They chatted while they ate, keeping conversation light. The boys asked Reilly about her classes, and were all in shock when she told them how many she was taking, and especially her schedule for the rest of the day. Through all their conversation, she couldn't ignore the eyes she felt on her.

She was about halfway through her sandwich when finally felt entirely too self conscious. "Are these people going to stare at us the entire lunch hour?" she asked, looking around.

"I don't know," Louis replied. "Would you like me to go ask them?"

Reilly sighed quietly. "No, it's fine," she said.

"No, it's bothering you. I'll go talk to them," he said as he stood. "Don't touch my food while I'm gone, Niall."

As soon as Louis' back was turned, Niall reached across the table and stuck his fork in his friend's food. Reilly watched Louis walk up to a group of girls. 'Ello, Loves,' she heard him greet them. She shook her head.

"I can't believe he's doing that," she said.

"When I first met Louis, he was really quiet. He probably never would have done something like that. It's almost like he's a different person now," Liam said.

"He's really funny," she commented.

"He's a big joker," Liam agreed.

Reilly turned to Niall, who was taking more of Louis' food. "So, your knee," she said. "What's wrong with it?" she asked.

He had just taken a bite of food, and it took a few moments for him to chew and swallow the mouthful. "I just hurt it one too many times. It's really not the big deal the lads made it seem," he said.

"You said they're really protective of you? Why is that?" she asked, trying to learn more about these boys who seemed so intent on being part of her life.

"I don't know, really," he said with a shrug. "Liam?"

"I don't know, really, either. We just are. I reckon it's because he's Irish, maybe," he said.

She looked back and forth between the boys, trying to see if what he'd said was a joke of some sort that she wasn't in on. Neither gave any indication that is was, so she moved onto her next question, which she directed at Liam.

"Hey, so," she said, shifting her gaze back to the boy across the table. "When Niall called me last night, his number was in my phone. That was weird because he never gave me his number. And when I asked him about it, he said he had no idea how it got there. When we were done talking, I looked through my phone and found your number, along with Louis', Harry's and Zayn's. I'm curious how they got there," she said.

Just as she was finishing, Louis returned to the table. "I'm going to go ahead and let Louis take this one," Liam said.

"Take what? Wait, before you tell me, those lovely girls over there sent me back here with sincere apologies for making you uncomfortable. They didn't mean to, they just really love your jumper," he said.

Reilly looked down, confused. "My what?" she asked.

"Your sweater," Niall explained. "A jumper is sweater," he said.

"Now that that's cleared up, what am I taking?" he asked, picking up his fork. He sighed when he looked down at his food. "Niall, I told you not to eat my food."

"You left it unattended. That makes it fair game," he said.

Liam interjected before they could get into an argument about it. "Reilly wants to know how our five numbers got into her phone," he said while Reilly silently offered the other half of her sandwich to Louis, which he accepted gratefully.

"Oh, right. I put them in there, Love. I sensed that you didn't really have anyone here you could talk to. And we're nice lads. We like making new friends. Niall fancies you," he said.

"Louis!" Niall exclaimed, his face tinting pink, as Reilly stuck her fork into his food.

But Louis didn't acknowledge that his friend even spoke. "I just thought you might like to know that we're here for you, if you need, or want us around," he finished.