Discover Me {a Why Don't We fanfiction}

Chapter Seventeen

"What relations do you guys have to her?" I ask, mainly looking at Daniel and Jack. "Why do you need a manager?"

Jonah sighed. "We should probably tell you girls something." Maria, Ellie, Erin and I all exchange confused glances.

"Let's just say I didn't put all of that American Idol stuff to waste." Daniel winks at me, and he smiles.

"You guys do music?" I gasp, a thrill of excitement flowing through me.

"Yeah." Zach says, smiling to himself and leaning back. "We're in a band."

"What are you guys called?" Maria asks curiously.

"Why Don't We." The boys all say in unison- and suddenly everything made sense again.

X

Ashley's Point of View

"How did you and Tea meet?" I ask, Corbyn playing with the black rings on his fingers.

"Atlantic Records." He says quickly, and I could see he was lost in thought, probably thinking back at the memory.

"What were you doing there?" I ask curiously. Suddenly, his face fell.

"Oh..." He stops playing with his rings and he starts tapping his fingers on the table.

"Corbyn?"

"I... um..."

Suddenly, his phone buzzed, and he picked it up.

"Oh my god." He says, looking at his phone, disgusted and shocked, placing his phone down again without turning it off.

"Hey," I say, looking at the photo on his phone. There was a girl in a hospital bed. The sender had captioned it; She was in a car crash last night, going to your house. My poor baby girl. "I know that girl."

"Aspen Loeffler." Corbyn says, leaning back in his chair.

"Aspen." I whisper her name. "Corbyn, do you know that Tea was cheated on?"

"Yeah. What does that have anything to do with a beaten up girl who fell off the side of our hill?" Corbyn asks curiously.

"This Aspen girl was the one that Dmitri used to cheat on Tea. They went to a party together, hand in hand."

"When?" Corbyn asks, suddenly intrigued.

"The night before Tea had her meeting at Atlantic Records."

"The night before?" He questions, and I nod. "She was meant to be going on a date with Jack that night. That means she blew him off for this Dmitri guy. This stupid person who cheated on Tea and harassed her and Daniel. Who does he think he is?"

"I don't know, but this is crazy. The dots are connecting themselves." I whisper.

"We need to find out, Ashley." He grabs one of my hands, and my eyes meet his.

"Find out what?" I ask, confused.

"If Aspen knew Dmitri was cheating on Tea. Maybe it was all a setup."

"Corbyn, that's crazy." I say with disbelief, but the way he looked at me told me he needed to find out.

"We're going to the hospital." He says, and he stands up.

X

The emergency room was filled with miserable people, and I sadly looked at all the little kids running around, thinking of their poor, tired mothers. I glance over at Corbyn, and he smiles at me reassuringly.

"How may I help you, sir?" The nurse at the desk asks.

"I'm here to see a patient. Aspen Loeffler." He says, and she looks through her computer.

"She has a visitor at the second. What is your relation to her?" The nurse asks in a robotic tone.

"She's my manager's daughter. A..." He clears his throat. "A good friend." He says finally, looking at the ground.

"You can visit her soon. She's in room 346 in the normal hospital ward. You can wait in the waiting room until you are called."

"Thank you." Corbyn says, and he grabs my hand and leads me through a couple of doors and staircases.

"Manager's daughter? What manager?" I ask curiously, and he exhales as we sit down in the waiting room chairs.

"The other girls don't know this yet, but me and the boys..." He pauses for a moment. "We're in a band." He says, closing his eyes and smiling to himself. "We're called 'Why Don't We'."

"Corbyn!" I say, putting my hand on his. "That's incredible!" I laugh- this was something new to bond over. When the girls find out, they will freak.

"Really?" He asks, looking at me hopefully.

"Yes!" I say passionately.

"Corbyn Besson?" A nurse steps out of the hallway, reading off of a notepad.

Corbyn and I stand up in unison.

"You and your friend may come in."

X

"Corbs, I'm so happy to see you." The injured girl barely managed to say. "I'm sorry Daddy had to leave before you two could talk." She reached for Corbyn's hand, and he takes it, cautiously. "Say something, Corbyn. I've missed you."

I could see the guilt on Corbyn's face. He looked so uncomfortable.

"Everything's going to be okay, Aspen." He says, unable to make eye contact with her. The sun glared through the window, turning the two people on the bed into silhouettes. I still sat on a chair in the corner of the hospital room, praying for the awkwardness to disappear.

"There's someone else in the room." Aspen says, and my heart skips a beat. "I can hear them breathing. Would Daddy approve?"

"We came here to ask you something, Aspen. I'm sorry that I have to ask you this while you're in this state, but-"

"Just ask me already Corbs." The sun hides behind the clouds for a moment, long enough to see the wicked grin plastered on her face. She knew something that we didn't.

"Aspen, did you help Dmitri cheat on somebody?"

"Who's Dmitri?" Aspen asks, and Corbyn's head whips back at me.

"If those are the answers we're receiving, Aspen, then I'm leaving." Corbyn goes to stand up, but Aspen clutches onto his hand tightly.

"Corbyn..." She says helplessly, but in that moment, Corbyn's eyes flickered.

"Aspen, you need to stop using me." He states, and snaps his hand out of her grasp. He walks towards me, his footsteps heavy, and he grabs my hand, pulling me outside the hospital room, closing the door behind him. "She's up to something." He has, fastening his pace towards the elevators.

"Corbs, what just happened?"

"She was being a snob." He says bluntly, and he looks at me. "She's encased in casts and she still manages to talk to me like she's standing on two feet. She tells her Dad everything. She knows the ropes. She knows how to get what she wants." He says, his fists clenched tightly.

"Corbyn, it's okay." I say, reaching for his hands.

"No Ashley, it's not." He says, avoiding eye contact with me and biting his lip. "She treats all five of us boys like trash. She makes us do whatever she wants or else she threatens to tell her Father. She blackmails us into doing horrible things, Ashley. I just wanted her to give me one answer to one question." He sighs, and I noticed his eyes had become glassy. "She's a horrible person, Ashley. And she'll never stop being one."

X

Tea's point of view

I hadn't seen Daniel since we got home from Cheesecake factory, so I ran up the stairs and knocked on the door that belonged to Daniel and Jack. I opened the door without waiting for an answer.

But what I saw was something I never wanted to see again.

"Daniel? Daniel! Daniel, oh my god."