Too Good To Be True?

Chapter 9

"Ash, this is stupid," I complained, trying to stop him from pushing me to the living room and shoving me onto the couch. "How is watching this dumb movie going to help me feel any better than staring at the wall in my room?"

"Mate, you have been in that room so long Amy was practically convinced you were dead."

"I basically am..." I grumbled, my eyes glued to my lap, feeling like a grumpy toddler who was woken from his nap.

"For christ's sake, would you look up for once?" I heard him open the blinds but still refused to meet his gaze. "Look, remember this? It's called outside."

"I have a window in my room, idiot."

"Which you haven't looked out of once since you got here," he argued pointedly and I finally sighed and lifted my head, glowering at him with what little energy I had left.

"You don't know that," I replied, crossing my arms.

He narrowed his eyes at me and my gaze skittered away guiltily, the frown deepening on my lips. "Whatever." I stared blankly at the TV across from me and asked sarcastically, "So what is this movie that's magically going to mend my shattered heart?"

He shook his head, "There's no movie, mate. I just had to say something to get you far enough out of the room so that I could drag you out here."

I rolled my eyes, not surprised that he'd lied. He was totally overreacting, anyway. I hadn't been in the guest room that long. I mean, five days is nothing to a broken heart. Besides, the only reason I'd agreed to come out of the room was to stuff myself with as much food as possible so I wouldn't have to move for the next three days. Seemed like a fine plan to me, but apparently, Ash thought otherwise.

"Then why am I out here?" I asked, deciding to give it exactly 30 more seconds before I bolted out of there and locked myself upstairs for the rest of eternity.

"Get out here, guys!" he called out into the hallway, instantly making my stomach drop.

I groaned as Joe and James sauntered into the room and I tried to stand up but Ash held me down by the shoulders.

"Whew! Dude, you reek!" James so kindly pointed out as he sat across from me, waving his hand in front of his nose. "When's the last time you showered?"

I scowled at them and looked away, refusing to participate in whatever they had planned. "What the hell is all this for?"

"We're worried about you, mate," Joe replied, eyeing the seat next to me for a moment before deciding to sit next to James. Ash continued to stand by the window, leaning on the mantelpiece with a contemplative expression.

I waved it off, "I'll be fine, as soon as she remembers. Which, by the way, you guys should be trying to help her do." I shot them each a pointed look and Ash sighed.

"Trust me mate, we wish there was more we could do and we're trying our best but we can't just force her to remember us. Cam showed her videos of us and for some reason, Amy is the only one she really remembers. She just needs more time."

"She's had plenty of time..." I grumbled, closing in on myself again.

"Hey," James said, surprisingly soft and sincere. "We all want to help you. Just tell us what you need. You want a night out somewhere? On us. You want a guys night? No sweat. You wanna go whistle at pretty gir-?"

"What James is trying to say," Stamps so kindly interrupted as I flinched at the idea of flirting with anyone else, "is that we know you're hurting, but we want to help you however we can."

I sighed and looked up, opening my mouth to respond but stopping short when I noticed Joe fiddling with his engagement ring. My heart ached like a lead balloon and my gaze drifted down to the silver band on my own finger. I ran my thumb over the broken red heart, almost laughing pitifully at how well it represented my feelings of the past few weeks. I shook my head and thought about getting up and leaving right then, but Ash must've known what I was thinking because he tried one last ditch effort.

"David, how do you think Angel is going to feel when she finally remembers and then finds out you spent this whole time moping around, rotting away like a piece of rubbish?"

That statement hit me and I imagined her disappointed face looking up at me, feeling the guilt she would show in her eyes. She has absolutely no reason to feel guilty for this, I told myself firmly. This is my fault and I need to do everything I can to make it up to her.

"What do you think she would want you to do?" Joe prodded when I didn't respond.

I slowly looked up from my lap, squinting against the sun pouring in through the window. The world looked so lush, so bright, so... alive. Just like Angel...

"She..." I licked my lips, every moment thinking of what she'd say if she were here. "She would want me to... to be strong. To make sure that... that my fans were happy... and that I wasn't dwelling on her..."

I saw Ash smile out the corner of my eye. "Exactly."

My gaze finally landed on him and I could see that he really did feel bad, that he really wanted to do what he could to help me. I nodded slowly, finally coming to terms with the fact that it was time I did something about how I felt.

"Alright..." I said, still a bit unsure. "You guys wanna play a few rounds...?"

They looked at each other and grinned, proud that they'd accomplished their mission. "You know it."

***

It took a bit for me to really get into the game, but after a few rounds of Fortnite, the guys had me laughing and feeling a lot more like myself again. Of course I still couldn't stop thinking about Angel for a second, but I was grateful for the temporary distraction. They even got me to goof around and pretend like I was making a video, using silly voices and going over the top, and I started to realize that I did miss recording. Our fans were being amazing and supportive as always, of course, but I knew they missed having content, too.

After a few hours, they finally shoved me out of the room, complaining that they couldn't stand my stench anymore and I laughed as I was pushed to the bathroom. The warm shower felt great and almost seemed to wash away a layer of my doubt about Angel's memories along with the dirt and grime. It cleared my head and I decided I would start making videos again. Not as frequently as before, but just when I was in the mood for it or needed a bit of cheering up.

When I was finished, I followed the amazing scent of grilled meat out the patio door and a smile skittered across my lips as I took in the sight of all my friends lounging about under the sunset.

Amy practically launched herself at me as soon as I stepped out and I smiled as she hugged me tight, babbling about how worried she'd been and all that. I managed to calm her down and whispered in her ear that I was planning some new videos and she squealed and hugged me even tighter.

The boys looked on in amusement but didn't ask what the commotion was about and I took a seat next to Stamps, glancing at his ring again, but I managed a smile this time and asked him how the wedding planning was going.

He gave me an apprehensive look, silently asking if I was really okay to talk about this, and I looked on encouragingly. He smirked and shrugged, starting off on a tangent about how Beth had been obsessing over flower arrangements and bridesmaid dresses recently and we all laughed, falling into easy conversation.

Amy snuggled up next to Ash and instead of getting jealous that Angel wasn't here doing the same, I thought about how nice it would feel when she was finally in my arms again, and I was determined to make sure it happened.