Secrets // An Ashton Irwin FanFic

Chapter Twenty-One: Full Chapter

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

HADLEY’S POV

I woke up a few hours later to find Ashton passed out beside me. I grabbed my phone to look at the time and it said it was nine in the morning Los Angeles, meaning it was four in the morning the next day in Sydney. I sighed and slowly sat up in bed. I told myself I needed to stay awake in order to adjust to the time change faster.

I felt a million times better than I had the night before. I’ve never gotten motion sickness or thrown up from a panic attack before. I didn’t understand what happened. I hoped I wasn’t getting sick. All I wanted was to have fun in Los Angeles.

With Ashton still snoring next to me, I carefully got out of the bed and headed down the stairs. The hallway was still dark, even though the sun was brighter than ever. I grabbed onto the railing of the stairs to make sure I wouldn’t fall. Once I got to the bottom of the staircase, I was blinded by the sun. I heard Michael’s voice in the kitchen . I was so tempted to head back up the stairs, but I reminded myself I couldn’t hide from him forever. 

I walked into the kitchen to find him cooking eggs for a tall, thin girl with black hair sitting at the counter. It was Claire. I tried my best to stay quiet as I grabbed a piece of toast and put it in the toaster.

“Hey, Hadley,” Claire said with a small smile.

“Hi,” I gave her a small smile back and turned y attention back to my toast.

“Are you feeling better? Last night after you fell asleep, Ashton came down here and was telling us you kept puking your guts out,” Claire spoke again, causing my stomach to turn. Thanks, Ashton.

“Um, yeah. I’m feeling a lot better,” I kept my back turned to her and put some butter onto my toast.

“That’s good.”

“Had, can you go wake Ashton up? We have to leave in ten minutes to go record for the album. Luke and Calum are already gone,” Michael said  as he opened the fridge to put stuff away.

“Sure,” I bit into the toast and walked back up the stairs with it. I went back into Ashton’s room to find him now laying on his stomach. I shook his back and bit my lip. “Ashton…”

“Hmm?” He groaned and didn’t move. 

“You gotta go record,” I kept shaking his back to get him to move.

“I don’t want to,” He mumbled, his head still buried in the pillows.

“Ashton, go…” I laughed softly and used all my strength to roll him over. He groaned and slowly sat up in bed. “Michael says you have ten minutes until you have to leave.”

“Why are you talking to him?”

“I wasn’t trying to. He was in the kitchen when I was there and told me to wake you up,” I informed him and stood up. Ashton did the same and quickly threw on black  jeans, a black t-shirt, and put on a maroon beanie. “How long will you be gone?”

“I don’t know. Maybe like three hours,” He bit his lip and looked at me. “How are you feeing?”

“I’m a lot better.” I smiled softly, but quickly remembered he told everyone I spent the night puking my guts out. “Why did you tell everyone?”

“They were all asking what the noises were.” Great. “I’ll call you when we’re heading home. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I responded as Ashton kissed my temple. I followed him down the stairs and turned into the kitchen while he went out the front door. I poured myself a small glass of orange juice and leaned back against the counter.

“Hey, um, I kind of need to talk to you about something…” I turned my head and found Claire standing in the family room. Her accent threw me off for a second. I completely forgot that I was in Los Angeles again.

“What is it?” I watched her and took a sip of my juice.

“I’m honestly really sorry about everything that happened. I honestly had no idea Michael even had a girlfriend. He just kinda of—” She took a few steps towards me, trying to apologize, before I cut her off.

“You don’t really need to apologize for anything. If the whole situation hadn’t have happened, he’d still be cheating on the both of us,” I gave her a small smile, trying to ease the tension. Claire sighed in relief.

“After everything that happened, Michael told me about you. He said you were really kind and understanding, and now I know he was right. I thought you hated me,” She bit her lip and sat down at the counter.

“He didn’t fucking say that. He hated me,” I laughed softly and took another drink of my juice.

“He did. He told me he loved you more in a sisterly way and didn’t know how to break it to you,” Claire looked down at her empty breakfast plate. She wasn’t really helping the cause. I guess she was trying to make me feel better, but it just made everything one hundred times more awkward.

“Oh,” I nodded and put my juice cup in the sink. Everything grew quiet before I ended the silence with a sigh. I couldn’t stay mad at her, because if she hadn’t have been with Michael, Ashton and I wouldn’t be together today.

“The boys are gonna be gone awhile. I was thinking maybe we could hang out by the pool and go get lunch together or something?” Claire asked as she looked up at me with her huge eyes. I automatically felt self conscience.

“Uh…” I looked down into my cup at the few remaining drops of juice. I needed a friend so I agreed to go.

***

“What did you do while we were gone?” Ashton asked as he sat down next to me on his bed. I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. Claire and I went to the beach for like thirty minutes, but she had to leave for a ‘family emergency’.

“Nothing really. I mostly just read,” I lied and sat next to him.

“Are you still feeling sick? You’re acting kind of strange and you’re literally radiating heat,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me.

“My head and stomach still kinda hurt,” I explained and leaned into him. He used his arms to move both of us and laid down.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Don’t leave again tonight and cuddle with me,” I looked up at him, resting my chin on his chest. Ashton smiled that half smile of his that I loved so much then kissed the tip of my nose.

“Deal, but can I change first?”  He was still in his jeans and shoes.

“Fineee,” I whined, obviously joking with him. He got up from underneath me and went to his dresser. He grabbed a pair of gym shorts. Ashton quickly kicked off his shoes and struggled to get out of those damn skinny jeans. 

Just as Ashton was about to lay down again, one of the boys started yelling for him.