Good Girls

Chapter 27

I woke up and for a split second I forgot what was going on in my life. For that short, blissful second I could breathe. Then it all came back at once and hit me like a big yellow schoolbus.

I inhaled and there was a physical pain in my heart. And my head, but that was probably the results of the night before. Then I realised that I wasn't where I had fallen asleep on the floor. I peeked my head out of my bunk and looked down the bus to the kitchen where Michael was standing making coffee. I slid out of the bunk and walked down towards him.

"Oh good you're awake" he smiled as he saw me walking into the kitchen area. I nodded.

"Did you... When did..." I searched for words but my mouth was dry and my head was too sore to be bothered to talk.

"I came in pretty late last night. I moved you to your bunk" he explained handing me a mug of strong coffee. He plonked down into the seat closest to him and I did the same.

"Thank you" i said quietly. I wanted to ask about Ashton and Calum. I especially wanted to ask about Luke. But I didn't. All i wanted was to go back to sleep. Actually, all I wanted was to erase the last 2 days of my life. Michael scrolled through his phone and sipped his coffee as I grabbed two aspirins and dry swallowed them.

"Ashton and Calum came back last night too" he told me after a while, reading my mind. I nodded, briefly acknowledging his statement. I silently prayed in my head for him to carry on. To say something about Luke. Anything at all. I wanted to hear that he was just gone grocery shopping or came back early this morning looking for me. But we just drank our coffee, the silence deafening.

Eventually I decided that as much as I wanted to crawl back into bed, I should get dressed. Wash my hair, put some makeup on. I got ready to face the day and by the time I was applying mascara I heard the bus door slam. My heart jumped in my chest and a fresh flock of butterflies swarmed my stomach until I heard ashton speaking quietly to Mikey. I didn't even know if I was relieved or disappointed.

I walked out of the tiny bathroom and the conversation between them stopped. It was like they were saying something I wasn't allowed to hear. I looked up at Ash and he gave me a small smile, nothing like his usual chirpy self.

"Where's Calum?" I asked them.

"He... He went to go get some milk" Ash said to me. "Want to watch a movie?". I shrugged. There was nothing else I wanted to do. I flopped down onto the couch and ash put his hand on my shoulder suddenly. He didn't speak. He just gave me a very sad smile and then put on some movie I really didn't care about.

LUKE'S P.O.V

I woke up with a pain in my neck first. Then I remembered the events of the previous night and a whole new kind of pain set in. God if I had to wake up without her in my arms I didn't want to wake up at all. I instinctively hadn't moved much in my sleep because I was afraid as usual that I would hurt her in the middle of the night. She was so small and I was so big that sometimes I had a horrifying image of me accidentally crushing her.

But she wasn't here. I was alone. In my car. Fucking pathetic. I shouldn't have even left last night. I should have explained there and then that it was all a huge misunderstanding. SHIT. I was supposed to be back on the bus at 7 to go to Chicago. They were going to kill me. I took my phone out of my back pocket quickly and strangely saw no messages. Maybe Alexa wasn't the only one who hated me. Maybe all the boys hated me. I wouldn't judge them if they did. I kind of hated myself right now. I scrolled through my contacts to find Ash's number. I was about to click on it when a knock on my car window startled me. I looked out and came face to face with Calum.

I rolled it down cautiously. "Aren't you supposed to be in Chicago?" i asked.

He rolled his eyes and walked around the other side of the car, getting into the passenger seat. Once the door closed I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off.

"Don't talk Luke... I just need to know... Why?" He asked his face furious. "Why did you do it? You said you loved her...".

"I do love her... Calum I didn't cheat on her" i shook my head. He wasn't convinced.

"Don't lie to me Luke" he wouldn't look me in the eye.

"It was a fake picture! Someone photoshopped it!" I protested, growing impatient and frustrated. His eyes traveled across the car and finally found mine.

"Who?".

"I don't know... Probably a jealous fan or something... That's why I need to know where she got the picture" I ran my hand through my hair. Calum seemed to finally have some sort of pity for me. "Does she know your here?" I asked him referring to Alexa. He shook his head.

"No. And she's not going to... You really hurt her Luke". His words were like a knife sticking into my chest.

"I... I didn't mean to..." My voice cracked and I coughed to try and cover it up.

"I know" he replied, shocking me. "For her sake, I'm going to help you. I'll help you prove that it's fake". I nodded.

"I'll talk to her for you" Calum opened the car door.

"Thank you".

"You should probably stay away from the bus for now though" he instructed. That wasn't going to be easy but if it meant I got Alexa back I'd do it. I'd do anything. Calum opened his car door and stepped out.

"Oh and Luke" he said before he walked away. "I'm sorry about..." He said awkwardly gesturing towards his nose.