Brother's Best Friend || l.h.

Chapter 20

-Ashley-

"Ashley?"

Ryan was standing at the foot of my bed when I pushed the covers from over my head.

"You need to eat," he said, setting the bag of takeout on my bed. My stomach rumbled and I sat up, snatching the bag and practically ripping it open.

"Thank you," I mumbled. He nodded and rubbed my shoulder, walking towards the door.

"I just need to talk to her!"

I caught eyes with Ryan who shrugged. I could feel the tears coming to my eyes as I shook my head. I swallowed down the rest of my food and then laid my head down on the plush pillow that was behind me.

All the times he said he loved me. All the times he kissed me. All the times he held me. All the times he lied.

I had been laying in this bed for the past three hours, our soundcheck being cancelled. Ryan was forcing me to eat before we had to get to the venue.

I ate quickly, ignoring the shouting that came from the other room. When I was finished, I gathered everything I would need for the night and my yellow notebook.

I opened the door and was almost crushed by Luke, had it not been for Ryan holding him in his arms.

"Ashley, please. Please, just let me explain," he cried. I shook my head and followed Michael out the hotel room door and to the separate car that was waiting for me. I could bear to be in the same car as him for any amount of time, so Michael got a separate car for the two of us. He rubbed my back and helped me into the back seat before running around to the other side.

"How're you holding up?" He asks. I shrug, staring ahead.

"Why did he do it?" I asked. Michael looked over at me, but I kept my eyes forward.

"I don't know, love," he said.

--

Casey was kept in our team, seeing as personal problems couldn't be involved with work. So, I sat in front of her as she did my makeup how I asked her to. She smiled lightly at me as she finished. She opened her mouth to speak, but I didn't give her the chance to as I stepped from the chair and walked away. I could hear her sigh as I walked towards the wardrobe team, but I chose to ignore it.

As I slipped on my outfit behind the curtain, I couldn't help but wonder what Luke was doing. It was an old habit, wondering about him. I didn't know if I'd ever be able to break it. It was just one of those things that came naturally.

I took one last look at myself in the mirror. I looked fantastic. Not to be cocky, but it was true. I was glad this was one of those nights that I looked better than usual.

"Ashley, you're on in ten!" I heard from the other side of the curtain. I smiled at myself in the mirror and took three deep breaths, pushing the curtain away and stepping out. I could hear my heels clicking against the hard floor as I walked towards the side of the stage where I was to go on. Michael and Ryan stood, holding hands and smiling at me.

"You look gorgeous, babe," Ryan said as he released Michael to hug me. When I wrapped my arns around his neck, he whispered slowly in my ear.

"Show 'im what he's missing,"

I laughed and rubbed his back before pulling out of the hug, only to be taken in by three other bodies. I laughed along with Ashton and Cal and Mikey as they all tried to wrap their arms around my waist at once. I pulled back and kissed all of their cheeks, watching as Ashton's face heated slightly. I laughed as Michael made a joke about it and Ashton punched his shoulder, making Mikey cry out.

Looking over these four boys made me realize that I wasn't alone. Everyone here had gone through something similar to what I have gone through in my life, and they all saw past it. I could get over everything with them by my side. I hugged them all one last time when the stage director called for me.

As I turned around, I spotted Luke standing just a few feet away. His eyes caught mine and he smiled lightly. I nodded at him, keeping a straight face, and turned my back to him, climbing the stairs to the stage.

---

"Thank you all! Who's ready for One Direction?" Ashton called through the microphone as they finished their set.

It hadn't been a great one. They added Broken Home to their set and when they played it, Luke kept missing lyrics or strumming wrong chords. He'd been struggling all night, and the fans noticed.

I had been on twitter scrolling, favoriting some of the boys' fans' tweets when I saw the first one.

Girls had been tweeting from the stadium about how Luke looked upset and he kept missing lyrics or he wasn't jumping around as much. I saw some people being really negative about the show and how they really wanted to see Luke more happy.

I could help but think he deserved it.

He deserved to be questioned. He deserved to be upset that I wouldn't speak to him. He deserved rhe silent treatment.

I skipped past all the posts about Luke and was reading some article about Justin Bieber when Casey appeared next to me.

"Can we talk?" She asked, a little shy. I looked up at her with a blank face.

"What is there to talk about?" I asked. She averted her eyes, so I looked back down at my ohone, picking up where I left off in the article.

"I need to tell you something about Luke," she said.

I looked at her again, fire burning in my eyes.

"You want to tell me something about my boyfriend?" I asked. She looked at me with panic in her eyes.

"N-No that's not what I meant," she said.

"Then what exactly did you mean. Because that's not something you say to someone who's boyfriend cheated on her with you," I said. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, shaking her head.

"He never kissed back,"

A/N: i'm so so so sorry.

I have been having a major writers block on this story and I finally had a light bulb go off.

I'm sorry I kept you waiting and I hope you're still reading and enjoying this story.

I hope you like the chapter and I can't wait to be writing this story again.

Thank you.

All the love,
    M xxx

P S happy valentine's day