out of the blue | george clarkey

7; the aftermath

elena's pov
i wake up and i can tell i'm not in my own bed. i know the way that my mattress feels and it's not this. i rub my eyes open and begin to realise i'm in george's room. why the hell was i in george's room. i look to the side and there is a bowl and some water on the bed side table. i sit up and see some blankets and pillows on the floor insinuating he must've slept on the floor last night. i get out of bed and look down to make sure i'm fully clothed, thankfully i am and i walk into the kitchen. george is sat at the counter on his phone. "good morning, sorry if it threw you off but you were really drunk last night and i wanted to make sure you weren't sick in your sleep." he explains and i smile, "makes more sense" i laugh. "i'm so sorry you had to deal with me last night, i hope i wasn't too much of a hinderance" i cringe thinking of all the things i could've said or done. "no you weren't too bad, just wanted to make sure you were alright" george smiles at me and my heart melts. why was he being so kind to me, i didn't deserve it. i walk to the fridge and grab a water and look around for ibuprofen because it wasn't where it normally is, i turn around to george rustling the packet. "i was prepared" he says, holding it up. "thank you" i laugh and take the packet off him. i down the tablets and sit opposite him. my phone was turned off on the side so i flipped it over and turned it on. i could see george looking at me with concern. i ignored him and just carried on doing what i was doing. as i open my phone about a million different notifications pop up on my home screen which sounds like an exaggeration but there was an unthinkable amount. i'm confused for a second until i remember thomas' statement from yesterday and my heart sinks. i can see george looking slightly nervous as he is fully aware what is going on right now. turns out that tiktok i had seen yesterday now had over 1.5 million views and multiple different news outlets were talking about it. i felt like i was going to throw up again but not from the alcohol this time. "you okay?" george looks up at me and i can see sincerity in his eyes. the same that i see when i'm drunk, not that i'd remember to compare the two but i can see he truly does care. "no, yes. i don't know. just overwhelmed" i say. "i'm not surprised" george responds. "it's just like, why would he do this? why does he think this is a good idea?" i ask, knowing george doesn't have the answers but i still want to know. "because boys like him crave pity and attention and he's now trying to flip this narrative and make himself the victim and make you go back to him. he's trying to make people feel sorry for him because he's apparently sorry to you. but boys like him are never sorry but he's trying to convince himself he is but we all know he's not. and the only advice i can offer you in this situation is don't get back with him. people like him never change or if they do, it will not happen this quickly. and also don't worry about what other people think. my mum told me this quote once and i really like it. 'those that matter don't mind, and those that mind don't matter' and i think in your situation this hasn't changed my opinion on you and any decent person would say the same, they're the people that matter, not dickheads like him and other people online". that was genuinely some of the best advice someone had ever given me. i don't know how else to react apart from reaching out to hug him. i immediately engulfed george into a big, maybe too quickly but he reciprocated and we stayed like that just for a second, it was slightly uncomfortable due to the fact we're sat down but i didn't care. after about 30 seconds, we pulled apart and our faces were inches apart, part of me wanted to kiss him but part of me knew this wasn't right. "elena! what is going on?" we hear alex burst through the door and thankfully we both pull away quick enough for him to not suspect something. i gather that he must have read the article. he comes in and he looks angry, i don't know if he's angry at me, angry at thomas, angry at the press but i do know that he is angry. i look at him and start to cry all over again. george reaches over and rubs my back slightly before getting up and leaving the room so it's just me and alex. "why did you never tell me any of this?" he sits where george was previously and he's in full protective brother mode, ive never seen him so serious. "i don't know" i shrug. "he told me not to and i was scared" tears fall again. alex gets out of his chair and walks over to hug me. we sit for a while longer and he comforts me and offers to smash thomas' face in for me (his words) but i tell him i just want to ignore the situation. and that's what i did, i turned my phone off and kept it that way for the next few days.