Beside You - Ashton Irwin

16

                                                          **Flashback - 5 Months Previous**

Bruce Pentworth sat quietly in his office. He had told his wife that he would be home at 9 pm. It was currently 11:49 pm. It wasn't that he didn't love his wife, he did. It was that their relationship wasn't working. After Anthony's death, everything had gone to shit. Bruce wasn't at home as frequently as he should have been, he was in other states with other ladies. He wasn't upset at all by this when he knew he should feel bad for having multiple affairs, but he couldn't find it in him to feel bad for Melissa. 

He was considering getting a divorce lawyer, just to consult him on his best options. The only reason he didn't pursue this was his daughter. He knew that he had started putting a lot of pressure on her to be the golden child at a young age, but it didn't stop him from wanting her to be a child prodigy. Bruce hadn't been able to focus his attention on the work in front of him, it was a proposal for new legislation to be passed. He pulled out his bottom draw which held his top-shelf whiskey collection. Bruce was always an alcohol lover from quite early in his life, but after Anthony's death, he had begun to drink more and more often. It was beginning to become a problem, but Bruce refused to do anything about it.

Andrea Pentworth knew about her father's addiction, but she hadn't done anything about it. Her mother was oblivious to the fact that her father was coming home at 1 am most mornings, drunk off his ass. Andrea was scared of her father. She knew that addiction ran in the family. As the 16-year old ran upstairs to her room to hide from her dad, she heard an odd sound coming from the balcony. 

It was singing. She knew that there was a building close by that had apartments on it, she wondered if the soft voice was coming from there. It was oddly quiet at 1 am in New York, or maybe it was how high Andy was from the street. She walked towards the opened balcony door and stepped out into the cool air. She couldn't place the song she heard, unsure if she had even heard it before. She swayed to the rhythmic voice and guitar strings until she heard her father's office door slam shut. She was safe now.

I could feel something poking my arm repeatedly. Memories of where I was, came back to me. In my dream, I was remembering things I had tried so hard to forget. My dad's alcohol problem. It was something I hated thinking about. I had never told anyone the things I had witnessed him saying whilst he was drunk. Any time I was in a room with him whilst he was drunk, it felt like one of those massive hedge mazes that you can never escape. 

I looked up at Eddie while she poked my arm over and over again. "Ok, ok, cut it out, Eddie, I'm up!" She looked painfully excited about something, and then it hit me like a truck. Our conversation last night. "I'm going to tell Calum I like him today, Andy!" I gulped and tried not to look her in the eye. How the fuck do I get out of this one. I nodded and then grimaced once she had turned around to put on her makeup. I put on the annoying uniform thanking whatever god there was that it was Friday and I had no important classes today.

Unfortunately, Eddie was a fast driver so we reached the school in no time. I was hoping that Calum really did like Eddie and today would go smoothly. Eddie grabbed my hand as we walked our way quickly past everyone's lockers. "Eddie, Eddie! Slow down, you're gonna break my arm!" Suddenly, Eddie stops moving. I look in the direction where she's looking as she sees Calum, with a guitar, and a rose, standing in front of Rebecca Richards. After the song finishes, he hands her the rose and says, "Becky, I really like you. Will you be my girlfriend?" 

I felt all the blood drain from my entire body. I glance at Eddie who has tears falling slowly down her face. Luke, Mikey and Ash stand beside us, also in a state of shock. None of us was expecting this. Didn't Cal know how much of a bitch Becky was? Then I remembered that he wasn't there when she accused Eddie and I of dating and called us fucking disgusting. Eddie turned on her heel and ran off. I had seriously fucked up. I could see Becky nodding her head at Calum and a huge smile break out on his face. Cal looked over at our group to see our reactions and when he saw all of our faces of mixed disgust and shock his smile faltered.

I had absolutely no clue where to find Eddie, and it hurt me more knowing this was all my fault. I ran around the school, not caring if I looked crazy when I got to the parking lot, I saw Eddie's car was gone. I felt a tear fall down my face. I had broken this entire friendship group up. Over a stupid lie trying to make my cousin feel better. I knew she was angry, she was never one who was able to control her emotions or knew how to understand them. There wasn't any way I could leave school and go and apologise for being a dick, so I did the next best thing and go find the rest of the group. They were all hanging around Mikey's locker, without Calum. 

"On a scale of 1-10, how bad did I fuck up?" They all looked at me, then brought me into a small hug. "Eddie's pretty pissed right now. We all knew she liked Cal, it was pretty obvious. We were sure he liked her back, they basically already acted like a couple. But using that scale of yours, I'd say about an 11." My head dropped back to the ground again as we heard loud footsteps coming up to us. "Guys! She said yeah! Wait where's Eddie? Why do you all look sad?" It hurt even more than he had asked where Eddie was first. "She went home, Cal." He cocked his head to the side. "Why did she do that?" I didn't want to tell Calum that Eddie had liked him for a while, just because he had just got himself a girlfriend, even if it happened to be bitch #2. 

"She was just upset about something." He nodded then looked around the group. "Andy you were right, yesterday, when I said that I liked someone, and you gave your whole speech about how that 'special someone' liked me back!" All the boys looked at me. "Uh, Cal I didn't say that at all. I said I knew someone who liked you." He looked confused. "You were talking about Becky, right? I've liked her for a few months now?" This felt like someone had stabbed my heart a million times. I could only thank Jesus that Eddie wasn't here to witness this. "No... I wasn't. But anyways. Congrats on getting a girlfriend!" I tried to be happy for him, I really did. Calum always tried to see the good in people. But he probably didn't know how evil Rebecca Richards could be. I had completely and utterly fucked up everyone's lives.