Pieces of Time

17

Michael's POV

"It's a good thing we have a couple days off to sort out all this crap." Calum shrugged as we walked out into the hallway.

"Speaking of crap, what are you going to do about Nicole?" I asked Luke. "Rude." He warned, "I'm going to talk to her. In the meantime, you two can go talk to Ashton." Luke grinned pointing at the door behind us.

"If all my shit wasn't in there, I wouldn't do this." I was honestly scared to face Ashton with this subject. It's not the same as telling it to other people because it's about him. We all worked so hard to protect him and he has every right to judge what we did. I just wish he wouldn't.

"You got the easy part mate." Calum sighed as Luke walked down to his room.

Calum and I looked at each other before I pulled out my key to open the door

Ashton's POV

I woke up after, basically, a sleepless night. I went in circles all night trying to fully understand everything. Although, the one thing I didn't do was open that book Winter left on the chest.

I took a quick shower and pulled on some fresh clothes. Being on tour makes everyone forget about clean clothes and washing.

I starred at the hotel ceiling for what felt like an eternity trying to remember anything on my own, but nothing came.

I heard the door knob turning but didn't care to see who it was. It had to be Michael because only he has the key and it was too early for the cleaning ladies.

"Hey Ashton?" Calum said as he entered with Michael. "Get up asshole, we need to talk." Michael snapped.

"What do you want? I already feel like shit and I don't need you two coming over here to make me feel worse." I snapped back.

"Well too fucking bad!" Michael shouted.

I quickly sat up and saw them both standing there. I really didn't need them to come over here and tell me everything I did wrong yesterday, because I already knew it.

"You didn't fuck up with us because we obviously care about you and will deal with your shit-" Michael started. "-but you hurt Winter." Calum added shyly.

"She didn't deserve that." Michael snapped.

"I know! But how did you want me to react? I've known her for the past 5 months but I never knew why. I never knew that you guys brought her into my life because she is from a fucking past I cant remember. I know its all fucked up but I needed answers and no one was giving them to me." I let everything off my chest, which only made me feel like a bigger asshole.

"You want answers mate?" Calum asked getting closer to me. "Fine, we'll give you answers."

Calum pulled up a chair next to my bed and gestured for me to sit. Michael took a seat in another chair, a distance away, as I waited.

"What exactly do you want to know?" Calum asked.

"Who the hell is Winter? I feel like she is some spy, sent to befriend me. I feel like I don't even know her anymore and everything you said yesterday made no sense." Michael made a snickering sound as I spoke, as if he was shocked at what I was saying, but I elected to ignore it.

"Winter was your best friend before the accident." Calum started. "She knew you before we did." Michael added.

"What? For how long?"

"Since you guys were little." Calum shrugged. "I think she said you were 8 and she was 6." Michael added.

"Shit, that's 9 years." How could I not remember her if I knew her for 9 years?

"Yeah, a long while and she actually remembers it all-" Calum snapped. "-so try not to be an asshole around her mate."

"Since she knew you longer, we thought she could help us trigger your memory. We tried everything to help you but we only have 2 years prior to the accident while she has 9." Michael explained leaning into his knees.

"After we explained the delicate situation that this is, she wanted to find the right time to tell you, as to not hurt you." Calum said.

"But fucking Nicole over heard us speaking, and for the past 5 months we've been trying to make sure she didn't tell you anything." Michael shouted.

---

The more they explained, the more details came up, the worse I felt.

"I literally lost everything. I didn't even know it." I sighed putting my head to my knees.

"It's alright mate. We've tried our best to give you a life back." Calum said.

"We really didn't want you to find out this way." Michael sighed.

"But I ruined your football dreams Calum!" I shouted as I sat up, "I was on my way to your game when it happened and I have never even seen you play. I took away months of your lives while I rotted in a hospital. I just ruined the friendship I had with Winter by yelling at her. It's all my fault!" I yelled.

"Hey mate, you didn't ruin my dreams. You made them a reality. This band is my dream and it's coming true." Calum small smiled.

"And we didn't waste months of our lives because we love you. Besides, you know you would have done the same for any of us without thinking twice about it." Michael smirked.

Their kind words made the pain lessen but it was still there. Here I have this girl, who's known me for years and I cant look at her the same way she looks at me with years of memories. I can see it in her face and never realized what it was until now. Her facial expressions and smiles had always been different with me.

Hell, she even stopped hugging me recently and avoids physical contact with me. I assume because she thinks it's uncomfortable for me since I cant remember our past.

"Where is Winter? I need to make this right." I said standing. Calum and Michael quickly blocked my path, concerning me.

"Move." I warned.

"She's not here Ashton." Michael sighed.

"What? Where is she? With her friends she talked about?" I asked.

"She's back home by now." Calum sighed.

"What the hell?" I yelled. "She left? You all let her leave?"

"She needed to go back home, but she'll be back." Calum small smiled.

"In the meantime, you have to work on not being a dick." Michael teased.

"When will she be back?" I asked pulling out my phone.

"We don't know." They shrugged.

I sat back down on the bed in defeat. Now I needed to impatiently await her return. I just hope I didn't fuck things up too bad.