The Nightmare Angel

He Sleeps Alone

  "Fuck, okay... there's a lot of people out there," Michael whispered, glancing out the window in the restaurant bathroom.

"We should probably just get this over with..." Shawn said awkwardly. Michael sighed and looked at the young Canadian boy.

"Don't worry... by the end of this year we'll both be out of this," he said.

"Yeah, well until then we have to act it up, so..." Michael sighed and walked over to the door, pulling it open and gesturing for his "lover" to walk through first. He followed him out and together they went outside, intertwining their fingers and beginning to walk away, hearing the girls screaming from behind them before they were surrounded by people asking questions.

"Where's Luke?"

"Where's your ring?"

"Shawn is gay??" They ducked their heads and acted like they were trying to get away from the paparazzi and fans that were swarming them. After three hours of the mob following them, they made it to the beach. The sun was slowly setting and only a few eager photographers remained.

"Do you think we should... uh... make it look more... uh?" Shawn muttered, tripping over his words.

"What, you mean kiss?" He asked quietly, out of the hearing range of the paparazzi. He just shrugged and looked down, his cheeks flushing. Michael had only ever kissed Luke before, but he knew that just walking around holding some guy's hand wasn't going to sell this whole thing. He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and let out a deep breath before lifting Shawn's gaze to meet his own. He grabbed the boy's face and planted his lips on Shawn's. The kiss was void of any emotion, other than the shock from Shawn. He didn't really know what to do, so he placed his hands on Michael's hips and just  let him kiss him. He pulled away and Shawn shuddered. His first kiss and he could tell it wasn't real...

"Okay, I think we gave her enough. We should go back to the house," he whispered as Michael's phone continued to go off like crazy. He pulled it out and saw a text from Joanne.

'Go now and get your shit. He'll be out for 2 hours.'

"Will you uh, help me?" He asked awkwardly. "I need to get all of my things from my home... my old home now," he whispered.

"Yeah. Of course. Let's go."

~~~~

Luke sat in the office of their manager, staring at the pictures she was showing them on the screen.

"N-no... this couldn't possibly be happening," he said quietly, holding back all of his tears.

"Luke," Ashton said quietly, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"No! Ashton. This isn't happening! This doesnt mean anything! M-maybe they're just close cousins and-and he hasn't introduced us. I-I'm sure he will..."

"Mate he lied to you last night and he never came home. He wasn't at his parents house..." Calum said quietly.

"No! Michael wouldn't do this to me!" He shouted.

"I'm afraid he would... there's just been a new video.." Joanne said, pressing play. Luke felt his heart shatter as the two boys on screen pressed their lips together. He couldn't hold it any longer. He began sobbing.

"I-I have t-to go," he said, standing up and walking out of the office. His two friends chased after him, but Joanne sat still. She couldn't care less what happened from this point on, as long as Michael kept up his end of the deal...

"Luke, where are you going?" Ashton asked.

"H-home... you'll see. He'll be there. H-he'll be there and he'll e-explain everything and-"

"Luke, Luke. Hey," Calum said, grabbing his hand and turning him to face him.. "Hey... just take a breath for a second, okay?" He said softly. Luke broke down and hugged his best friend.

"W-why would he cheat on me? A-am I really that t-terrible?" He sobbed.

"Of course not. You're not terrible at all..." He shot Ashton a concerned glance. Ash took the keys from his friend's hands and sighed.

"Come on... I'll drive," he whispered

They pulled up to the house and Luke noticed his bedroom light was on. He jumped out of the car and ran inside.

"Michael?" He asked, walking inside, but his heart shattered even more. All of his fiance's things were gone. The pillows, the clothes, even the pile of guitar picks he had laying on his bedside table. Calum and Ashton came up behind him and gasped. Luke's eyes landed on his pillow and he slowly stepped forward, picking up the ring that sat on it. He fell to the ground and started sobbing again, pulling out his phone.

"H-he hasn't even tried to message me," he cried. "W-where is he?" His friends came over to him and sat on either side of him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Luke," Ashton whispered.

"No! You don't understand!" He shouted, standing up. "I-I... I can't handle this all right now... I'm going to my parent's house."

"Let me take you-"

"No! I just. I need to be alone... I'm going to walk..." without waiting he walked out of the house, holding onto the ring tightly in his hand.

"His parents live in the middle of nowhere. We can't just let him go by himself..." Ashton said.

"I know, babe. But he won't let us go with him. I'll call Liz. She'll find him..." Ashton sighed and nodded.

"I'll call Michael..." he whispered, standing up and walking out. The call instantly went to voicemail. "Hell no. Pick up your fucking phone, we need to talk, now," Ashton said, trying to contain his anger. He hated seeing how broken Luke was, and even though Michael was his best friend too, he wasn't going to let him get away with breaking his heart like this. He continued calling and leaving voicemails, the longer it took, the more agressive the messages got until finally he was shouting.

"How the fuck could you do this to Luke? You fucking asshole! Call us! You can't just fuck around with a bunch of guys and disappear on us like this! God, you're such a selfish prick!"

"Ashton," Calum said quietly from the doorway. He sighed and lowered his phone, ending the voicemail and throwing his phone to his bed. Calum walked over and hugged him tightly. "What's going to happen?" Ashton hugged the boy back and played with his hair.

"I don't know... but it isn't going to be good..."