Who Are You? - A Matthew Espinosa Fanfiction

Chapter 14

MATTHEW'S POV:

It's been about a week since my conversation with Allison that ended with her asking why I cared. Honestly, I couldn't answer that because I had no clue. We already picked up Carter and Taylor from the airport. Carter was extremely hurt that I didn't mention to him that I had a "girlfriend", and he hadn't talked to me for the first two days he was there. On the third day, I had finally gotten him to talk, but things weren't quite how they used to be. It sucked because Carter was my best friend. I blamed Allison for what happened at first, but then I realized that I couldn't because my fight with Carter was my fault. I could've texted him about my "girlfriend"--no matter how fake the relationship was--and warned him, but I chose not to. Blaming Allison didn't make things better. For some reason I just felt guilty about placing the blame on her. She had enough to deal with already. Plus, my mind kept picturing all the hate she was getting and the threatening texts I saw that day on her phone.

I kept wanting to ask her about them, but I never had much alone time with her, and when I did, I was too scared to ask. Plus, I highly doubted that she would confide in me of all people.

Today was the day of our first meet and greet on the tour, and I can't help but say that I'm pretty excited for it. I was sitting on the bed in the hotel room when Allison walked in looking frustrated. Her eyes were swollen and red, almost as if she had been crying, but I knew that wasn't possible. Allison Morgen didn't cry, not even during The Notebook. I even teared up at that movie.

"What's wrong with you? Where were you?" I asked her, earning a glare. Well, probably could've phrased that better...

Allison sighed. "Did you know about all the drama on the other tour bus? I didn't know and now I feel like I'm a terrible best friend. I was out in the hallway FaceTiming Claire."

"There's drama on the other tour bus?"

Allison sighed. "Yeah, and Nash just screamed at me when I was FaceTiming CK earlier that all the fighting on their bus was all my fault and I ruined whatever CK and Shawn had. He said that if I weren't such a bitch and a terrible person that none of this would've happened. God, I'm a terrible person." Her voice started shaking towards the end and before I knew it, she was crying.

The more she talked, the sadder she began to look. Als was never one to seem sad, and the look didn't fit her. Yet, there she was, crying and broken. I don't know why, but once she started crying, my emotions went into overdrive. I felt protective of her, and I felt myself feel upset that she was upset. When she said that Nash yelled at her, I felt my blood boil. No one gets away with insulting Allison, well no one except me. Gee Matt, that doesn't sound messed up at all.

"Hey, you'll be fine. You and Claire have been friends forever. Don't let Nash get to you. I'll handle him. Plus, aren't you the one who says you can't let haters get to you?"

"Yeah. But sometimes, you just reach a breaking point, you know? And it becomes so hard to handle, so you just let the hate control you. It only takes one comment that hits a little too close to home to send you over the edge."

I did know. I had experienced that a time or two before, and surprisingly, Allison must have been more like me than I thought, because she was handling the situation like I did.

"Believe me, I know. I've been there. But don't let it get you down. It's your first meet and greet. You should be getting pumped up, not brought down by Nash."

I honestly had no clue when Allison and I's relationship started changing, but it was kind of nice. It was hard to come up with insult after insult and took a lot of brain power to constantly hate someone. Plus, this new side of Als was nice to experience, because she was being herself. I decided to do something I never thought I would do: I hugged Allison Morgen and let her get her tears and snot all over my sweatshirt. Funny thing is, I didn't even care. I just wanted the normal Allison back, even if it meant she lobbed an insult my way with every sentence she spoke. That was when I knew: I didn't want a fake relationship with Allison. I wanted a real one.