5 11:36

The car is filled with silence. Not the awkward kind, the more comfortable kind as music softly plays in the background. A dramatic sigh escapes my lips in hopes that it catches Jacob's attention. From the corner of my eye, I notice him glance at me then back to the road.

"Where are we headed?" I finally ask.

"We are going shopping for clothes for you." Jacob says all excited and even beeps my nose saying so.

We slowly come to a stop as we reach a red light. I turn in my seat fully facing him and he turns giving me all his attention, his brown eyes locked with mine.

"What? Jacob, I do-" He pushes a finger to my lips, shushing me and I feel the coldness from his rings on my lips.

"Let me spare you your time and narrate what's going to happen next. You're going to protest, saying you don't want me to spend my money on you even though I insist." He rolls his eyes at me, continuing. "Then we'll bicker back and forth until we have a staring competition - which you WILL lose - and then we'll go shopping anyway."

By the time Jacob finishes his narration the light switches to green and the car starts moving again. There's a smug smile on his face as he knew that's would have happened.

"Well," I muster, "You wasted our time giving me that whole narration." I reply full of sass.

He lets out a loud snort followed by a hearty chuckles.

"Nice comeback, sweetheart."

My eyes narrow on Jacob, giving him a stink eye and I grunt in frustration instead of giving a verbal answer. He smiles and shakes his head at my behavior. A moment of silence envelopes us and a few seconds later we burst out in laughs. My eyes on Jacob as his eyes disappear once again.

"Just shut up and drive." I say.

"Yes, ma'am."

********

After our long drive to town, Jacob parks the car at a shopping center parking lot. I fumble with the seat belt while he reaches over to the compartment in front of me. Once the compartment is unlocked, he whips out a black cap. I watch as he rakes his hand through his hair and places the cap on top and moves it down a bit, making sure to cover his face as much as possible.

I frown, "What's that for?"

"I'm going out in public and if paparazzi finds me out with a girl, they'll be on my ass for a long while." He sighs, almost as if he's tired of this.

I shake my head and we exit the car and Jacob locks the door, putting the keys in his pocket and throwing his arm over my shoulder. I ignore his arm and hope he doesn't notice the blush on my cheeks.

"What if they do find you?"

He places a hand on his cap, trying to hide his face. "Well, as long as my face is hidden and judging by the way you're dressed, there's no way they'll think an idol would be with you."

I scoff, pushing him away. "Mind you, you're the one who picked out my clothes this morning."

"Yeah, did you like the underwear?" He asks and smirks. knowing it would shut me up.

My cheeks burn red and I bite my lips, preventing from throwing profanities at him. Instead, my middle finger whips out and I storm off, leaving him in the parking lot.

Jacob's laughs can be heard a mile away and so can his footsteps as he runs towards me. His arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulls me smack dab into him.

His lips are by my ears, his warm breath tinkling them. "Just kidding love, let's go by you some clothes."

And with Jacob's arm around my shoulders along with blush on my cheeks, we walk into the shopping center and blend in with mass of people.

********

The moment we stepped foot into the shopping center, Jacob eagerly dragged me to store, whose name I can't even pronounce. It's obvious this store is not for me. First, the prices are downright outrageous. Second, the look the store clerk sent me was clearly one that said 'How on Earth would I be able to afford this?' but nevertheless, I was dragged into store.

Now, I'm trailing behind Jacob as we roam the aisles and he keeps taking clothes off the rack and tossing them to me. What he didn't know was that each time he'd toss me a shirt, jean or sweater I'd check the price and yeet it over my shoulder.

A yellow hoodie falls into my hands. The color is not too bright rather a soft yellow and the fabric is soft against my skin. My hand clutches the price tag and my eyes widen, skimming over the price.

YEET!

Jacob turns around. "Right, I think that shoul- what, where's your clothes?" He asks, as his hand pats nothing but air when he looks for the clothes that should be in my hands.

"Jacob, the prices for these are-"

He groans, cutting me off. "Not this again."

Stunned by his response, I take a step back but Jacob grabs a hold of my tiny hands. He tugs me closer to him with a reasonable amount of space between us.

"Look, I know you're trying to be modest and independent but I dragged you to the store and I know you'd be more comfortable in clothes that are your's and not mine. Now shut that pretty mouth of yours and let me buy you some clothes."

Our eyes are locked with each other and I can't seem to look away. His thumb softly caress my hands and I'm not even trying to hide the blush on my face.

I've only known Jacob for a short while and yet he's so comfortable around me.

I like it.

Clearing my throat, I gently peel my hands away from him and point behind me.

"Umm, I actually really liked that yellow hoodie."

Jacob's plump lips tug into a beautiful and he reaches behind me, grabbing the hoodie before raising his eyebrows.

"Anything else?"

I point to the other side of the store. "Those boyfriend jeans look really good."

An excited noise escapes his lips before he grabs my hand, intertwines our fingers and rushes to the jeans happily. Chuckling and shaking my head, I chase after him.

After about an hour of shopping, we leave the shop with my face beet red and Jacob happily chuckling to himself.

It was horrible.

After a whole fashion debate about which jean matches which shirt and why leopard print is the best, we made it to the female underwear section.

I can still clearly remember the Cheshire grin on Jacob's face when he grabbed a red lace lingerie and pressed it against my body, saying he'd rip off an arm to see me in it.

There's practically steam coming out of my ears just thinking about it.

He nudges me. "Layla."

My arms are folded at my chest and I grunt in response. Not evening glancing at him.

"Come on," He tries to reason. "It was a joke."

"It was humiliating." I seethe, and speed walk pass him.

I hear the swish of shopping bags and rapid footsteps behind me. Jacob swings his arm over my shoulders while his other arm is holding the bags he insisted on carrying.

"I know what will make you happy." He says, tugging me into the crook of his arm.

"What?" I snap.

"Food. The food court shouldn't be too far from here." Jacob says and I can practically feel the smirk coming from his face.

My body perks up at the mention of food and Jacob smiles in victory. I might be stubborn as a mule but my love for food is much greater. I'm stubborn not stupid.

"Fine, let's go but only if we get pizza." I negotiate.

"Deal."

********

"Holy shit, he actually said that." I choke on laughter.

Jacob and I are seated at a Italian restaurant, where the chatter of people and chefs can be heard miles away and the smell of delicious food fills our noses.

"Yeah," He chimes. "He actually meant to say six but it sounded a lot like sex."

I choke on my pizza again from laughter and Jacob laughs along too, slapping his hand on his thigh. At this point, my eyes are tearing up.

"Okay, okay, tell me some more about your friends." I say, folding my pizza in half and stuffing it in my mouth.

"Well that sex guy," He starts and I giggle. "That is Timothy, my best friend, we went to school together and graduated together. We promised each other we would debut together."

"And you did, that's awesome." I smile sweetly.

Jacob nods. "Yeah, but I think he loves his dog more than he loves me." He laughs.

"The oldest of all seven of us, is James. He calls himself Mr.Handsome, he's like the mom of our group and he's insanely addicted to dad jokes." He says, shaking his head as he thinks about James's dad jokes.

"The second oldest is Seth. I swear if you had to meet him, you probably wouldn't even see him much, he sleeps like ninety percent of the time. He hates hugs but somehow always gives in whenever Timothy wants one from him."

Jacob seems to be in this trance as he talks about his friends, there's a distant smile on his face. He loves them probably more than he loves himself.

"Then comes Nathan. He's the leader of our group, the first one to be in it actually. We call him the God of Destruction, because he literally breaks everything without even trying."

Jacob perks up, remembering something. He puts his pizza down and I laugh at the serious look on his face.

"You know, we were in LA once and he bought a pair of sunglasses. When he tried them on, he snapped the side so easily. I swear, if I ever have kids they're never going near that man." He says.

"In the middle we have Harry. He's the sunshine of our group. With him, I can guarantee you will have a good time. He's always laughs and sometimes he can be a mood but that's why we love him."

I finish my pizza and wipe my mouth clean with a napkin. Listening intently to Jacob, I lean forward with my arms on the table and my eyes glued to him.

"Then there's me." Jacob pauses, as if thinking about something. "Well there's not much to know about me." He concludes, shrugging.

I frown. "Come on, there must be something about you to tell me." I coax.

"Nope, just boring old me." He looks out the window, avoiding my gaze.

There's a pool of sadness in his eyes that he seems to hide, but it's there. I can see it. Leaning over the table, I grab his jaw, I force him to face me.

"Hey, I'm not going to let this go until you tell me at least one thing." My voice comes out stern, leaving no room for arguing.

"Well," His fingers draws imaginary circles on the table. "I seem to be allergic to chairs."

I laugh. "What?"

"It's true," He argues. "Whenever I sit on a chair, I always fall off. I swear, they hate me so much. I'm surprised I'm still on this chair."

I laugh uncontrollably. "I'm serious, Layla." Jacob says.

"Okay, okay." I calm down a bit. "So far, you've only said six. Whose the last guy?"

Jacob swallows the last bit of his pizza before smiling and shaking his head, almost as if he's chastising the last guy of NYC. After wiping his mouth with a napkin, Jacob burst into a muffled laughter.

"The last of all of us is Jack. He's the youngest and the craziest. He's insanely good at almost everything but do not leave him alone, he does the craziest shit ever."

Jacob smiles. "And yeah, that's our New York family."

I smile when I see the happiness on his face. I look out the window just in time to see a small family walking by. The mother is holding her baby boy and the father is carrying his daughter on his shoulder and they look so happy.

Absolutely no care in the world, meanwhile I'm sitting here, eating pizza like I didn't try to kill myself just the other day.

A pain erupts in my chest when I remember how broken my family is.

Sighing I put a fake smile on my face and turn to Jacob.

"Hey, I just need to go to the bathroom quickly." I say, already out of my seat not even giving him time to response.

On my way to the bathroom, I rapidly blink my eyes when I feel tears about to fall. I'm not going to cry in a restaurant's bathroom about my pathetic life, no way.

Pushing the door open, I go straight to sink and take a good look at myself in the mirror. sighing, I turn on the tap and let the water run through my finger before washing my face.

I pat my face dry with a paper towel and make my way out. Just as I walk out, I collide with a body.

"Sorry." I apologize, not even looking up but before I can walk away, a hand grabs my wrist.

Frowning deeply, I turn around, prepared to yell at the stranger but I stop short when I see who it is and takes away my breath.

"Layla?"