Wasted Time

Chapter 27

Ashton's POV

The cinema was filling up quickly as we slouched in, and most of the front few rows were taken. Maddy and Chris sat right in the middle at the front, as the stars, and the other actors and people who had done important work behind the scenes filled in the rest of that row and a couple behind.

"Shall we go over here?" muttered Luke, gesturing to the very back row.

"Might as well," I shrugged, sitting down.

"...looks even better in that suit than I remembered," Dean was saying, biting his lip.

"Hey," Michael said, slapping him lightly. "He's Emily's friend."

"Yeah, but she doesn't like him like that," Dean replied, rolling his eyes.

"Well, she says she doesn't..." said Michael. "She did bring him as her plus one..."

"Who are you talking about?" I asked, frowning. They looked at me slightly guiltily.

"Emily's plus one... he's called Will, she knows him from uni."

"Where's he sitting?" asked Luke immediately, craning his neck to try and locate Emily among the crowd.

"Third row back, next to Emily," answered Michael, looking as well.

"He looks like an idiot," mumbled Luke. "You guys have met him?"

"Yeah, we went out for lunch with them once," said Michael quietly. "And we went with them when they picked their outfits."

"I didn't know that," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. Just then, the film began, and we fell silent as the opening music began to play. I made my mind up to try and enjoy the film, and forget about the fact that Maddy was in it, which worked fine - until her character walked on screen, looking beautiful as ever. I banged my fist lightly against my leg, trying to distract myself in some way from the romance that was quickly unfolding in front of my eyes.

I had been apprehensive about watching this film ever since I had first heard about it, but it was much more difficult for me to watch when I knew that their relationship was real - I couldn't even tell myself that it was all acting any more. The film itself was good, I suppose, but it was hard to appreciate the cinematography when it felt like your heart was being ripped from your chest. Before long, we had got to the scene I had been dreading - the sex scene.

Even though I knew it was going to happen, and I had seen them filming it, it was still difficult to watch at first. I watched Maddy nudging Chris in the front row, and for a moment I allowed myself to think about what it would be like if I hadn't started an argument with Maddy about it.

It would be us sitting in the front row, giggling as we watched this scene, and Chris would be with some other girl, that was how it ought to be. This is it, I thought to myself miserably. This is what we broke up over. I can't believe it, how could something so petty ruin the best thing that ever happened to me? I didn't think I was completely to blame - we were both at fault when we had that argument, but I was starting to regret everything I had said - I was just worried that it was too late.

***

I sighed as I sipped my beer and stood in the corner of the room, watching the crowds of tipsy, dancing people. I had begged Dean to let us leave straight after the film, and not stay for the party, but he said something else about it "looking bad". I was so tired of everyone worrying what the rest of the world thought of us - did it even matter? I was here to make music, not be judged by people who had never met me. Still, Michael and Calum had tried to persuade me that it would be fun, so I reluctantly followed along. Chris passed me as he left the room, glaring at me out of the corner of his eyes.