Left Behind [Discontinued]

10 - My Blood

July 3, 2015 - 12:07am

Songs: My Blood x Ellie Goulding and I Know What You Did Last Summer x the brown haired boy and Camila Cabello

**very slight trigger warning on an early party scene as a simple precaution**

His hands were rough. She knew that from looking at them because he hadn't even touched her yet. They were calloused from the fact that he played guitar – not very well might she add – in a crappy band that she allowed herself to pretend to love for his sake.

That was mistake number one.

She was at a party that she really had no business being at nor any interest in being at. However, she was invited by him and she felt obligated to go because he had asked. He had done so much for her lately, it was really the least that she could do – to show up to his bandmate's early birthday party.

That was mistake number two.

For the first hour she walked around with him, allowing him to happily tote her around to show her off to his friends. It was as if she were this big, shiny prize that he had won, as if she was anything other than a friend to him. Regardless, she let him do what he wanted. He was the one current constant in her head while it was strained between her and everyone else – including herself.

For the second hour she sat on the couch with him, beer bottle lazily clasped in her hand at the neck. He rested his left hand on her thigh and while he's always had issues with boundaries between them, she didn't have it in her to tell him to move his hand. Not as she often did. Not tonight.

That was mistake number three.

She kept making mistakes and it was long before she stepped foot into the overly crowded house.

It started a few weeks earlier and it started everywhere. She had made mistakes with the people that she considered to be and mean everything to her. It was not just once but it was twice.

She had received an offer to work on a project with Shawn Mendes, he wanted her help on a deluxe track after perusing through some unrecorded songs that she had written some several months ago. He wanted to hang out within the next week and brainstorm some ideas on what they would do since it was only in the early stages of thought.

This was an issue between her and everyone else, but not because she wanted to branch out – as that was fine and Lauren was also working on something herself. The issue was what constituted as mistake number one.

She was the accidental face of the group – the designated popular member. She hadn't even noticed that it happened but suddenly her followers on social media doubled almost everyone else's – she even passed the group's account.

If there was anything that she had never wanted, it was that. She didn't want it when she was the only one receiving praise in performances on the X-Factor and she certainly didn't want it now – not when their dynamic was at stake, not when she was slowly accumulating hate from their own fans for seemingly basking in the popularity.

Branching out and away from the group would cement her place at the forefront and made sure everyone else remained in the background. That was the only reason she had for not wanting to take the offer, originally. However, something happened that caused her to call Shawn up and agree to work together only two weeks ago – that's mistake number two by the way.