Laconic » a.i

2.8

//ashton//

After Ella grabbed her belongings and threw them into her bag again, we checked out of the hotel and flashed to the house after making it outside the hotel. We ended up in the living room where Jeremy was pacing, Calum was on Luke's phone, and Emily was sitting on the couch with her knees curled to her chest as she watched the two boys with obvious worry on her own face.

"Okay, now that we're done rushing around," Michael began, causing everyone to stop and look at us, "would someone explain what the hell is going on?"

"Calum!" Noel smiled, running over and leaping into his arms.

"Bridgette went to meet up with Luke but he's been missing for a day." Jeremy said shortly.

"Well what if he just ran off to be alone?" Emily shrugged. "He does that a lot anyway."

"But he would've at least texted to say he's okay by now." Calum said.

Jeremy looked at me, "Have you heard from Bridgette?"

"I called Bridgette three times," I informed them. "She didn't answer."

-

//cooper//

As soon as I flashed into Luke's house, my mouth was covered by a cloth and I was transported to what looked like a torture chamber. The only thing familiar about it was the boy chained to the brick wall in front of me. Luke looked like he was in a trance as he looked straight ahead of him, his blue eyes slightly glazed over.

"Luke?" I asked softly after the cloth was removed from my mouth.

His gaze snapped to me, a smile flashing across his features before he turned sad, "Bridgette, I'm so sorry."

"You fucking tricked me?" I growled.

"We made him," a husky voice said behind me. I had no idea who was behind me but the disgust on Luke's face when he looked at him made me think that Luke knew exactly who he was. "We never thought you'd make it this long. You're pretty good at hide and seek, Bridgette Cooper."

He walked me over to the wall, his grip on my arms so tight that I'd probably get a bruise where his fingers were. He managed to chain up both of my ankles and my wrists -- when I fought against the dark-haired boy, a glow came around his fist before he shot it straight through my abdomen, causing an immense amount of pain. I didn't put up any sort of fight after that.

The guy gave one more smirk toward me before leaving the basement. Once we heard the door shut, Luke sighed, "I'm sorry. Not just about getting you here, but for ignoring you. You were right, I did stop paying attention to you and I shouldn't have because you have always been there for me. Even Calum wasn't as close with me as you were."

"I'm sorry I stopped talking." I said quietly.

"It's not your fault," he decided. "I understand that it's something you just didn't understand. There's shit going on with me I don't get either."

I looked over to him, "Do you really hear voices in your head?"

He nodded sadly, staring at the floor, "They told me not to go with Emily that first night and I did. That's when they got really loud. They've been like, screaming in my head ever since. But I just couldn't stay away from Emily, you know? She was addictive, like when Ashton used to practically live off Oreos when-"

"What?" I cut him off. Oreos? Ashton never mentioned Oreos to me before and I didn't understand why they were so significant.

"Yeah," he nodded, looking at me, "he used to always eat Oreos. He would share them with his mom; they did this thing where they each had an Oreo and they'd split them in half, lick the creme, and then his mom would stick her other half of her cookie to his and vice versa. After he killed her, they stopped doing that. But he was like, in love with Oreos and that's how it is for me with Em."

"Why compare you and Emily to Ashton and Oreos? Not to sound conceded but why not-"

"I can't compare us to you and Ash because there is no person out there who loves anyone more than Ashton loves you," he cut me off, reading my thoughts. "I do like Emily and all, and even if I do love her, it's nothing compared to how Ashton sees you. You don't see what goes on in his head and I never really did either, but I've seen little bits before and it's just...it's indescribable. You don't know what you are for him, Bridge."

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. I never thought I'd mean to much to Ashton, or anyone for that matter. Of course I had to find all of this out after I was taken away to be erased by Calum's crazy sister.

"Sorry," Luke shrugged -- well, it would've been a shrug if he wasn't chained up to a wall, "I was too busy being incredibly ignorant to tell you."

"I was too busy being bitchy to listen if you did tell me." I chuckled.

"You have to work on your punches, though," he smiled. "Those didn't hurt."

"But this will." the very familiar voice of Mali-Koa sang from the bottom of the stairs.