To love you | Malum

Ch. 30 - I Wrote A Song About You + You've Forgotten About Me

Michael + Ch. 30 - I Wrote A Song About You + You've Forgotten About Me

Ashley was strung up on a hospital bed by the time we made it back to our hometown. When we pulled up, Calum was sitting in the drivers seat of his car freaking out. (I didn't understand it, nor did I understand most of the things that he did. He was insane and weird, but most of all, he was mine. It felt nice being able to say that for once.) I held his hand a couple of times before we walked inside. Daryl was in the waiting room, his hands shoved inside of a bag of snack mix, and Ashton Irwin was there – the one person I truly didn't expect to see.

"What are you doing here?" Calum asked, and his eyes turned a darker shade of brown than they actually were, and I could see the veins in his hands popping out, and the way his left eye was twitching, which tends to happen when he's mad, but I couldn't see much of anything else. He was angry rather than sympathetic for the boy who hurt Ashley. "Because last time I checked, this isn't an open invite."

"It kind of is," Ashton sighed, and he stopped pacing around the room and decided to sit down because his feet were hurting, and I thought it'd be nice to talk to him, even after all that he's done. "Besides, if it isn't an open invite, then you shouldn't be here either."

"She asked Michael and I to take care of her baby," Calum said, and Ashton's eyes dropped to the floor. His words were caught in his throat – almost like he was choking on them. (And yeah, I felt pretty damn bad for him. I was hated just as much as he was a while back. I still kind of am.) "So therefore, you have no business being here."

"I - I know I fucked up by saying that, but it was just out of shock. I didn't mean to hurt her, and I didn't mean to. . I just, fuck, I hate myself," Ashton mumbled, and he had tears welling in his eyes and his lip was quivering, and God, I hated him for what he did to Ashley but he deserved a second chance. Everybody does. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Are you?" I asked this time, and Calum looked at me with a small smile on his face. He wasn't angry anymore.

"Yeah, yeah, I swear I am."

"I think you're apologizing to the wrong person," Calum added in.

"Yeah, she won't even talk to me," Ashton laughed, though we could tell it wasn't meant to be humorous. He was just trying to cheer himself up. "So really, I should be going now."

"Is the baby. . . you know, born?"

"Yeah," Ashton muttered again, his voice cracking this time, the tears finally floating down his cheeks. "She won't let me see her either."

I looked over at Calum who was looking down at his shoes, and I didn't miss the way his breaths shriveled, or the way his hands started shaking and clamping, or the way he looked as though he was in another place inside of his head, but I did miss the way his eyes clouded with sadness and sympathy. If he felt bad, then I felt obligated to cheer him up, even if he wasn't the one who needed it. "Ashton, I miss being friends with you. . but you took Luke away from me."

"Luke?" I stepped in, suddenly feeling angry. (I know I didn't have a right to be angry, but that's exactly what I was. He kept going back to him as if he was under a spell and I hated waiting for him to come around again. It was starting to feel like he never truly would.) "Are you kidding me? We're back to that again? Literally after you asked me to be yours?"