All that I Want

Surprises & Breakups

I lay awake in Chase's bed, not accepting the fact that he still won't be back for another three days. It should be something I'm excited and looking forward to, but the hours seem to drag out longer as it gets closer, so I know it's still an eternity away. It probably doesn't help that I missed the past week of school, but I just couldn't face Charli and the rest of the student body after she humiliated me in front of everyone on Monday.
Footsteps creak up the stairs and stop at the bedroom door with a tentative knock.
"Come in," I groan and bury myself deeper into his pillows and blankets, his scent envelopes me. His mom walks through the door with a sad smile on her face, "hey, sweetheart."
"Hey," I force a tight lipped smile.
"I need to go run some errands today and wanted to see if you'd come with me? It'd be good to get out for a little bit."
Fresh air did sound nice, but it requires movement that I have no energy to do. "I'm not feeling that great," I lie.
She gives me a look that lets me know she knows I'm lying, "you don't even have to get dressed, and I'll brush through your hair for you."
"Okay," I sigh and move to get up. "What errands are we running?"
"Oh, just some boring stuff," she waves the question away as she gently runs a brush through my hair.
After she's done, I grab one of his hoodies and slide it on over my shoulders, giving it a quick spray of his cologne and following his mom out the front door.
Once we get in the car, Chase's mom hands me a blindfold and pair of headphones, "put these on."
I look at her like she's crazy, "I thought we were supposed to be running errands."
She smiles cryptically, "we are. Now put them on."
I shake my head before slowly doing what she asks. I tie the blindfold behind my head, then struggle to find the headphones to put on my ears, which she ends up helping me with.
"Okay, how many fingers am I holding up?" She asks but I can't see anything but the dark fabric of the blindfold.
"I don't know," I admit.
"Okay, good. I'm going to play some music, just don't worry about anything else."
"Okay?" I say and Lost Without You immediately interrupts me from hearing anything else around me. I don't know why I listened to her and willingly blindfolded myself, it felt like instinct to just do what she says. Weird.
I try to pay attention to the twists and turns she takes, but I'm immediately lost once she merges onto the highway.
After I've listened to all five songs on Chase's EP (Lost Without You, IDC, Don't Freak Out, 21st Century Vampire, and Cover Girl [cover]) she finally parks and turns the car off. I expect her to pause the music and tell me I can take the headphones and blindfold off, but she doesn't. Instead, I feel my seatbelt come loose and she guides me out of the car.
She holds both of my hands and I try desperately to follow her and not trip on the cracked pavement. The sudden change in texture throws my steps off as we walk into some type of building. She weaves me through some type of space until she guides me to a stop. She lets go of my hands and suddenly I'm left alone. I debate just taking the items off but am interrupted when someone grabs my hands. It's not Chase's mom, but I can't tell who it is, they're familiar though.
The person guides me further until we eventually stop, and they press my legs back enough for me to know there's a chair under me and I sit down.
Slowly, the headphones are taken off of me and I'm greeted with a bunch of whispering voices that don't give away much of the environment I'm in.
The blindfold comes loose and gets pulled away from my face to reveal a big concert venue and Chase smiling at me.
My eyes go wide in surprise, "Chase!" I jump up and throw my arms around him, bearing my head into his neck.
He laughs and pulls me tight against him, "hello to you too."
"As you can see, it's been hard on the both of us being away from each other for so long," he chuckles into a microphone I didn't realize he was holding. The crowd aws at his words and I pull away to see a huge crowd watching us.
"They've been there the whole time?" I ask nervously.
He nods with a laugh before pressing a quick kiss to my lips. "Sit," he nods over to the stool and I gingerly sit down on it facing him, trying to ignore the entire crowd watching us.
"Now, I want to dedicate this song to my beautiful girlfriend, y/n. I wouldn't be here without you." He smiles at me with a wink before singing Lost Without You without taking his eyes off of mine.

***

I spend the rest of his concert watching from backstage and he just ended the concert. He runs off the stage and scoops me into his arms, twirling us in a circle before putting my feet back on the ground.
"God, I've missed you," he whispers into my hair.
"I missed you too, so much," I whisper back as tears spring to my eyes.
"Don't cry," he pleads, "you're going to make me cry."
I laugh, "no promises."
When we separate I see that his eyes are already glossy with tears, "do we get to go home now?"
He shakes his head sadly, "I have VIP meet and greets I have to stay for, and they won't let you stay. My mom can take you home though, and I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Okay," I nod. "I don't know if I can leave you, though."
He smiles gloomily, "I know the feeling. But I promise I'll be there tonight, you won't have to go to bed alone anymore."
"Okay," I nod with a small smile.
"Let's go," his mom appears behind me with a sweet smile and we leave the concert venue.

***

Hours have passed since I left Chase at his meet and greets, and I'm getting antsy. My phone buzzes with a notification from TikTok:

charlidamelio tagged you in a post

I open it and a video immediately starts playing. From a small distance, it shows Charli and Chase talking to each other. Slowly, she leans forward and Chase presses his lips to her. I watch the video play over and over again, too shocked to stop it. I read the caption:

You may have gotten "Lost Without You," but "IDC" is definitely about me...

I save the video to my camera roll without a second thought and my heart starts breaking as I realize what this means. Chase cheated on me. With Charli.
He kissed her. Willing. That's why I couldn't stay for the meet and greets, that's the only viable reason. He could've compelled his label to let me stay. He could've made them cancel the meet and greets. He could've but he didn't. Because he was with Charli.
He was with Charli.
My bedroom door bursts open and concern is written all over Chase's face.
"I can explain!" He says in a rush. "It's not, it's not what it looks like."
"You kissed Charli." I don't ask. "You kissed Charli. You kissed Charli." I can't seem to get over the fact that he would do that. "After what she did to me. She's been making my life a living hell, Chase! She has been treating me like shit ever since we started dating and she dumped a milkshake on me Monday."
"Wait," he says and tries to reach for me but I flinch away from him. Sadness washes over his face and his arms return to his sides, "just hear me out, y/n. It's not what it looks like."
I shake my head quickly, "no. No. I waited three weeks for you to come back. Three weeks, Chase. And you go and do this?? No, we're over."
"You don't mean that," he shakes his head.
I point to my heart, "listen."
He nods his head to indicate he's listening.
"We. Are. Over."
Sadness envelopes his entire being, and even though I don't like seeing him like this, I don't change my mind.
Chase and I are over.

A/N
Stay tuned for a third book in this series <3. Thank you for reading this and following their story from day 1! I appreciate it.