Something Beautiful

↠t w e n t y - o n e ↠

Song of the chapter:
18 by One Direction

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I was up bright and early, the day we were to go pick up Ashton. I decided that for once I would dress myself up a little. First I showered and took a long time making sure that I shaved off every little hair on my body. Then I went to my room, blow-dried my hair and straightened it. My hair was already straight but straightening it made my hair look extra nice. I then put on a black tanktop that had the word ARMY written across it, black shredded skinny jeans, black ankle boots and my army green jacket. I put on black eyeliner, winging it and a bit of mascara.

"Hazel!" Lizzie called down the stairs. Her voice was muffled due to the fact that my door was closed.

"Coming!" I called back. I heard scratching at my door and walked over to open it. As soon as I swung it open, Farcus ran in and hopped on my bed. "Haven't seen you lately, have I?" Farcus was getting on quite well with the other two cats and preferred to sleep with them at night, which happened to be in Lizzie's room. I hadn't minded but lately I felt lonely because Ashton wasn't here. "Guess who's coming back?" I said happily.

Farcus only stared up at me with his piercing green eyes, seeming to judge me.

"Ashton is. Not that you care, of course." But I do.

"Meow." He said.

I rolled my eyes and scratched under his chin. He began to purr and leaned against my hand.

"Ready to go, Hazel?" A female voice asked behind me.

I whipped around, goosebumps beginning to rise on my skin. "Crap, you scared me."

She laughed at the shocked look on my face. "I'm sorry--but we have to go now. Ashton's plane is due in about a half hour."

"Okay." I looked back at Farcus. "I'll pet you later--if I can find you, that is."

Lizzie ran back upstairs and I followed close behind. She grabbed her black fake leather purse off the kitchen and led the way outside to her car. I locked the front door behind us. When I got to a car, she was already in it, revving the engine. She stared straight ahead, looking glum.

I opened the passenger's side door and hopped in. "Is everything alright, Lizzie?" I asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "I don't think so."

"What's wrong?" I really hoped it was nothing too serious. I honestly didn't know how much more bad news I could take.

"I think Jim is cheating on me." She whispered. I could tell she was close to tears.

"Oh my god--how do you know?" I asked. I could not believe a guy that seemed so nice would do something as terrible as that.

"Well think about it, he's gone for several days on 'business trips' and once I saw a hickey on his neck and it certainly wasn't from me."

"Why do you say 'business trip'?" I air-quoted.

"Because I've talked to his boss. I suspected things were going on behind my back so I called him. They haven't had to go anywhere out of the city in over a month. A month, Hazel!" She started to bawl into her hands. Her shoulders shook uncontrollably.

I stared at her in shock for a moment, not expecting that at all, but then I came to my senses and pulled her into a hug. "It's gonna be okay." I whispered over and over again. That's all I thought that I could say to her.

"What am I going to do, Hazel?" She asked pulling away to look at me.

"I think the first thing you should do is talk to him about it. You don't know for sure if that is true but you need to find out--and soon." I replied.

"I just hate confronting people--especially about stuff like that."

Ditto. "Well, I guess you're just going to have to deal with it. Either way you'll feel better once you do it. Because you'll know."

She laughed sarcastically. "I don't think I'll feel better knowing that my husband of almost twenty years is cheating on me."

I laughed. "Okay, scratch that. You'll most likely want to punch in a wall or something. But you do need to talk to him, Lizzie."

She nodded. "Okay."

I looked at the clock on the dashboard. "I think we should go now. Ashton's gonna wonder where we are."

She nodded again.

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Once we got to the airport, we fought against the massive crowds of people to get to where we were supposed to meet Ashton.

Finally I spotted him and nudged Lizzie's arm. "There he is!"

She looked in my direction and called out, "Ashton!"

His curly mop of hair whipped around and once he saw us, his lips curled up in a huge grin. He opened his arms wide and I ran into them. He spun me around, making me squeal.

"Put me down, Ashton!" I screeched.

He set me down on the ground and before I knew it, he pressed his lips to mine quickly.

"I missed you so much." He whispered, his forehead against mine, and staring into my eyes.

"I missed you too." I whispered back and smiled.

He set his hand on the side of my face and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. He went in to kiss me again but someone cleared their throat behind us.

I whipped my head around and saw Lizzie standing there awkwardly. I instantly felt guilty because she had just told me about Jim cheating on her like twenty minutes beforehand. My face became hot and I moved away from Ashton, staring down at my feet.

"Hello, Lizzie." Ashton said, his voice wavering in embarrassment.

"I uhh--I didn't know you two were a thing." She said, sounding extremely awkward.

He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Well, uhh--" he didn't know what to say.

"I mean, it's fine, I just--didn't know." She said quickly.

He nodded his head, visually looking relieved.

"Well, let's head home." She said and turned to walk away.

Ashton and I followed close behind. When he grabbed my hand, I almost burst with happiness.

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