Permanent Vacation ~ MGC

Part 28

Y/N's POV

"He what?!" Luke shouted, walking towards me; tears were streaming down my face - again - and I reached over to my phone, switching it off to silence the ringing. I fell flat onto my bed, face in my pillow.
"How do you know? Did you see him?" He asked, sitting down again. I turned my face sideways so I could speak audibly without the pillow muffling my voice, as well as my crying.
"Y-yes." I stammered bluntly, staring blankly at my wall. "I s-saw Karen accross the street, and knew he'd be nearby. W-when I walked to the m-music s-store he was laughing, and there was this g-gi-" I still stayed still, no longer crying, but still staring at my wall, too distraught to speak- or cry - now.
"I'm calling him." Luke said blankly, dialling Michael's number. I didn't stop him; I had cried too much, draining all the energy from my body so I couldn't even sit up from the foetus-like position I was now lying in. I remembered lying like this with Michael, on the tour bus, in his cramped bunk; we weren't together officially then, but were still so close. I remembered our bodies pressed together tightly, wearing his clothes; "You look cute in my shirt." He mumbled.
Luke stood up, pressing a button on his phone before sighing irritably:
"No service, in a house." He mumbled, turning so he was facing my still body. "Are you okay if I leave you here? I'm going to find him, but you can call me if you need anything."
I looked up at him, my expression blank. "I don't want to be alone," I began. I didn't want to be by myself, but at the same time I just wanted to block everyone out, even if Luke was trying to help, "But... I don't know. Just go." Luke looked at me doubtfully, then to the door, eventually walking towards it. "Don't hurt him." I mumbled, and I turned over, so I was facing the wall. I closed my eyes, and everything around me seemed to disappear.

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A knock at my door woke me up, and I opened my eyes, turning over so I was facing my nightstand; a glass of water stood on it, probably warmed from the light streaming through my window in the last few days. I hadn't moved from my room, apart from to collect food, shower, and use the bathroom. But even then, I brought food to my room, and the bathroom was just accross from it.
When I didn't respond to the knock, my door opened, and both Mum and Ash walked in. I sat up, and Mum gave me a pitiful look as she saw what I was wearing; Michael's shirt, which I had taken out of my suitcase when unpacking - one of the only things I had done since 4 days ago. Luke had told her, I had noted that from the sympathetic looks she gave me when she came to collect laundry.
I didn't even know why I was wearing the shirt; out of loneliness, or out of wanting Michael back?
I frowned, then glanced at what Ashton had in his hand; a gift box wrapped in blue paper. I smiled briefly, recalling from the back of my thoughts that it was my birthday, then being overcome my sadness, a single tear dripped down my face. Mum looked at Ashton, and she didn't have to speak for me to know what she was 'telling' him. She walked out of the room, closing the door and leaving my brother and I alone.
Ash sat on the end of my bed, looking at me for a second before smiling, and handing me the box. "Happy Birthday Y/N." He said, and I smiled, wiping the tear from my eye, and taking the box from his hands.
I stared at it for a while, hypnotised in it's bright colour and small size that seemed to mirror my current feelings; small, and sad. "Open it." Ashton said, and I simply didn't respond, but opened the box as he said.
When I eventually tore away its blue exterior, the box was bare, and brown. I looked at it, confusedly, like a young child at christmas, trying to figure out its contents with every cell of my brain. I opened the top of it, lifting out the light envelope inside.
"Did you really waste a box on an envelope?" I laughed for the first time in almost a week, and Ash did too.
"Nope." He said, popping the 'p', "But you have to open the envelope first." He grinned, and pointed to the envelope. I tore it open, and looked at what was inside in confusion.
"Ash, why did you get me a flight to Melbourne?" He grinned again, and I continued to get him to talk, "In 2 days specifically?"
"We got a phonecall from some new guy at management who's replacing Dan. Do you remember when we missed the thing in Melbourne?" I nodded. "Well they want us to go back and do some accoustic thing at a radio station, so I thought you could come with us... if you want to?"
I sighed; an accoustic thing meant the entire band being there, and that meant Michael. And me. Together. On a plane. Did he even know I'd seen him? "I know what you're thinking, Y/N."
"Hmmm." I mumbled, fiddling with the loose thread on the edge of Michael's shirt. Of course he knew; Ash had been able to read exactly what I was feeling since we were small.
"Have you spo- actually never mind. Look in the box."
I looked into the box that was nestled in a pile of torn blue paper on my bed, and saw something I hadn't noticed before.
"Do you like it?" Ashton said, and I laughed lightly as I lifted a copy of my favourite book from the box.
"Yes, I love it." I said, and hugged my brother. This was the only slight bit of happy I'd felt in almost a week.

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I sat on the couch in my living room - for the first time in what felt like years - watching Regina George consume multiple Kalteen Bars, as I sipped my own bottle of whatever Ashton had pulled from the fridge. He and Mum had gone to order pizza from downtown, but couldn't ring up because the phone had broken; my own mobile had been switched off since Luke left, and I debated switching it on again to see if Michael had rang anymore.
It felt wrong to want him beside me, on my sofa, watching films and eating pizza, when I knew that he was seeing someone else. I mean, he might not have been; from what I saw, they were laughing and just talking, but thats exactly what Michael and I had acted like before we were 'official'. I felt betrayed, despite the fact that we'd only been together just less than a week, or more close to around 3 unofficially; I felt so lonely at the same time, and I felt bad for not speaking to him, if he wanted to explain. My mind also thought he might not want to, that he may have never liked me at all, and that's what made my heart ache the most.
I jolted forwards from the couch and landed on the floor as a knock at the front door suddenly interrupted my thoughts; it must have been Mum and Ashton with the pizza, and my mouth watered at the thought of food.
I stood myself up from the floor, noticing I was still clothed in Michael's shirt; I sighed before walking over to the door, and opening it to a figure I thought I wouldn't see.

(A/N sorry for this chapter being so long 😂 I think they'll be around this length from now on because I write so much now. And I'd also like to apologise for not mentioning Ash's brother and sister 😂)