Something Beautiful

↠f i v e ↠

Song of the chapter: ♪
Never Be by 5 Seconds of Summer

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When I slammed the door behind me, I went over to the kitchen window and watched Ashton. He didn't see me as he stared at the door, looking defeated.

He didn't seem like other guys I had dated, who had used me because nobody else was willing to date them. In truth, I had dated some nasty guys. But Ashton seemed different--more genuine.

He seemed like the kind of guy who was happy all the time, and always tried to become friends with everybody he met. Something I was far from ever being.

I was hardly ever actually happy with myself, because I knew that sooner or later, somebody would come and shut me down. It was like I was never meant to be a happy person. The only two people in my life who gave me something even remotely close to happiness were my parents. And Farcus. That was it. They were the only ones I could trust so much that I was able to let my guard down.

Ashton stood there for a few moments--it was like he was waiting for me, before finally going over to his Jeep that was parked in the driveway and hopping in. He started the engine and after he put his seatbelt on, he slowly backed up out of the driveway, watching the door. Once he was on the street, he shook his head and drove off.

I sighed and leaned against the counter and looked down. I had to make sure to keep him out of my life. I hated to admit it but I was attracted to him which was a very bad thing. If he didn't move out soon, I'd have to be the one to leave, because I couldn't handle it.

"Good morning, Hazel." A female voice said.

I looked up. Lizzie Benson, Ashley's mother, stood before me in a tattered pink robe. A Siamese kitten was sitting beside her feet looking up at her, expectantly.

"Hello." I nodded at her and moved away from the counter so she could get by me.

She walked to the kitchen sink and turned the tap on. Water blasted out and she ran her hands under it, rubbing them together. "How was your sleep?" She asked, smiling at me.

"It was okay." I still thought of Ashton, not really thinking about what I was saying to her.

"I hope your room downstairs satisfies you. I'm so sorry about Ashton taking over one of the rooms. Right after you and your father left the other day, Ashton called, saying he needed a place to stay. And since he is family, I kind of had to allow him to stay here." She turned the tap off, and pulled a bag of cat food out of a cupboard above the fridge.

"It's okay. I was just surprised, that's all." I didn't want to tell her about all the issues from my past.

She nodded, as she poured the cat food into a black bowl.

"I do have a question, though." I squinted my eyes. "How are him and Ashley related?"

She nodded again, clearly not surprised that I was asking that question. "Well, his mother, Ashley's aunt, went to Australia one year and fell in love with an Australian chef. Long story short, she moved to Australia, had Ashton, and that's why Ashton has an Aussie accent. She actually developed a bit of an accent as well." Lizzie chuckled at the last part.

"She still lives in Australia now?" I asked.

Lizzie bit her lip, and looked at me, and this time her eyes seemed sad. "Y--yes, she does."

"Oh." That look caught me off guard. "Well, I think I'm going to go downstairs and unpack some more of my things."

"Alright. Let me know if you need anything." She gave me a forced smile.

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Later that day, about four and a half hours after I went downstairs, I heard footsteps on the stairs, and someone humming a happy tune.

My door was open a crack and someone rapped on it, making it open a couple centimetres. "Hazel, are you in here?" It was Ashton.

"Yeah, I am. What do you want?" He wanted talk to me all the time, it seemed like. Not that I minded.

Stop it, Hazel. He deserves someone like him.

"I picked something up for you." He pushed the door open and was now looking at me, waving a white square thing at me.

"What is it?" I tried to hide my curiosity but that didn't work out too well.

"A CD." He held it out to me.

I stood up and walked toward him, eying it. "From the music store?"

"Just listen to it." He shoved it in my hands--lightly, and walked off to his room.

I turned the case over in my hands. The front of the case was transparent, and I looked at the CD. It was blue, and written on it in black felt tip marker were the words, "5 Seconds of Summer".

I have never heard of this band, I thought.

Ashton clearly liked Nirvana, considering he had a poster on
his--my wall, so I was going to give this band a chance.

I walked over to my Macbook computer and popped open the CD tray. I opened the case and pulled out the CD, turning it over to look at the back. There was not a single scratch in sight so whoever had this CD before me took really good care of it. Most of the used CD's I got, had lots of scratches, sometimes they were so scratched up that they didn't work.

When I put the CD in the tray, I was hesitant to push it closed, afraid that this wasn't a CD filled with music, maybe it was something else--something I didn't want to think about.

But when I pushed it closed, almost immediately music blasted out of my laptop, making me jump. I quickly turned the volume down a few notches and listened.

'We'll never be as young as we are now
It's time to leave this old black & white town'

Wow, they were good. Like, really good. I grabbed my favorite red Beats by Dr. Dre earbuds and plugged them into my laptop. Music was better with good earbuds and good bass.

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