Meghan's POV:
I stared at the picture. The longer I looked at it the more it burned into my brain. I felt paralyzed, all around me it was as if time had slowed down and all I could hear was the increasing beat of my heart thumping in my chest.
I quickly texted jack back before going right back to the picture. I couldn't look away because the longer I stared at it, the more I wanted it to be fake.
There was no faking that.
"Meghan?" Bridget said trying to get my attention but I had no answer. I looked around me at the many girls around me screaming and singing along with the boys." Is everything okay? What's wrong?" I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. I looked out to the stage, waiting for his eyes to catch mine and when they met, I gave him the coldest stare possible before storming out of the arena as the set ended.
"Meghan wait up!" Izzy called as I made my way backstage." What's going on?" She asked, Bridget following behind her.
"This." I snapped, showing them the picture jack sent me. Bridget gasped and Izzy had no words.
I found my way around to where John was meeting the boys and when I saw Luke my blood started to boil.
"Babe! How'd you like the show?" Luke asked as I walked up to him. When I approached him I slapped him hard in the face earning a look from the boys.
"What-"
I shoved my phone in his face showing him the picture of him and this random girl." How could you?!" I said beginning to cry.
"Meghan you have to listen-" I cut him off.
"No! Luke you lied to me for fucks sake who is she?!" I yelled.
"She's nobody! John hired her for press! It wasn't supposed to be anything!" He explained.
"Then why is this picture of you and her kissing all over the internet? There's pictures of her with you! She's wearing your shirt! Why didn't you tell me? I found out from jack!" I asked." I can't believe you."
"Meghan I'm-" I cut Luke off again.
"Save It." I said, my voice cracking a bit." How could you do this to me?"
"Meghan it's not what you think it is." Ashton said." It's a long story."
"You knew and you didn't tell me!" I yelled." You four knew and nobody said anything?!"
"John said we couldn't tell you!" Calum said as the boys agreed.
"I don't care! Luke regardless of this being a publicity stunt, you still kissed her and did god knows what else. That's what I'm mad about! And the fact that you didn't tell me as soon as it happened-"
"I was going to!"
"What stopped you? Did you just forget?" I asked, tears now streaming down my cheeks. Luke didn't say anything.
"Meghan please you have to trust me, you're the only one I love. She means absolutely nothing to me and I have been trying to beg John for months to fire her but-"
"Months? How long has this been a thing?" I asked. He didn't need to answer because I already knew." Since we left. Of course it was; you were far enough to hide her from me."
"It wasn't like that. I wanted to tell you, we all did but John said-"
"Screw John." I snapped. When I said that I finally noticed John coming in with her following behind.
"She's here?" I said. Luke looked behind him at John and this girl talking and looked at me with pleaded eyes.
"Meghan-"
"No that's it. I hope you two are very happy together, Luke." I said before walking off.
"Meghan please," He said running up in front of me, taking my hands." Please don't do this. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me, I can't lose you. I love you so much please don't go."
I wanted to believe him but the image of him and this girl together is burned into my memories and when I look at him all I can think about is that.
"No." I said, tears coming out." I feel like I don't even know you anymore. I thought you would be someone who would never, ever hurt me but when I look at you I picture you two together. I'm sorry but this is over." I took my hands away from him and headed for the exit. I stopped in my tracks and turned to him before taking off his shirt; the same shirt she was wearing in one of the pictures Jack sent me. I threw it at him before leaving.
Luke's POV:
"That's not how you two were supposed to say goodbye." Michael commented.
"Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" I yelled.
"Whoa luke calm down." Calum said.
"Did you not just see what just fucking happened?! Were you not listening?! I just lost the best god damn girlfriend I've ever had! How am I supposed to calm down?!" I yelled." This is all your fucking fault." I said to John.
"I told you to break-" I cut him off.
"Why would I break up with my actual girlfriend for some girl I wish I had never met?!" I asked." Seriously in what world does that make sense! I would've risked screwing up everything I've worked for and what these guys have worked for because that's not just some girl. For the first time since Aleshia and I broke up, I've finally found a girl who I can picture myself with for the rest of my life and you wrecked it." I grabbed my jacket and started heading for the exit, I didn't want to be around anyone right now but I saw Bridget coming back in.
"I'm going to ask this one time before I decide whether or not to beat you up." She said sternly." What exactly happened with this chick?"
"Bridget not now." I snapped. I pushed past her but she grabbed my arm.
"No I want to know. What happened that caused you to cheat on her?"
"Fine. Two months ago when my face was plastered on every pop magazine cover in the nation regarding a misunderstood fight between me and some random guy, my producer thought it'd be a good idea to hire a girl who had good media reputation to promote us in a better light. I had until the end of the last tour to change his mind but he wouldn't budge and a month ago he came into a meeting with her and told me that she would be my fake girlfriend for the time being. I wasn't allowed to tell Meghan or anyone outside our band in risk of it getting out. As badly as I wanted to, I didn't because I knew it'd hurt her and a part of me hoped I could get out of it. At a party last night in celebration for this tour, I had one drink and that chick had more than I could count. The press were there and we were supposed to act like a couple despite me pushing her away from me and only taking pictures if the guys were there too. I was about to leave but she grabbed my face and kissed me right in front of a photographer and next thing I know I'm on her Instagram, I'm on fans twitter pages, and worst of all it was a trending topic on google." I explained." Go ahead and hit me Bridget because it'll put both of us out of misery because thanks to Arzaylea I lost my girlfriend and god knows nothing I can do right now will make me feel less shitty."
She was speechless. After a minute or so of saying nothing she drew her arm back and punched me in the nose.
"What the fuck!" I yelled, grabbing my throbbing nose.
"That's for not telling her right away." Bridget said and then kicked me." That's for breaking her heart."
"Are you done?" I asked getting up off the ground.
"Yes. Don't talk to her okay, she doesn't want anything to do with you." She said before leaving." I'm sorry."
With that Bridget left to say goodbye to Michael and the others. I got up and left the arena having nowhere to go or anyone to see. When I walked out, I saw a crowd of girls standing outside waiting for us but in the back of my mind I knew that somehow word had already gotten out that we spilt up.
I walked up to a random girl fiddling on her phone to ask if Meghan had came through her.
"Hi." I said to her. When she looked up and saw me she almost screamed." If you don't mind me asking, have you seen Ashton's sister come through here after the show?" I asked.
"Uh yeah. She seemed to be in a hurry but stopped it answer one girl's question." She then proceeded to point out which girl Meghan talked to.
"If you don't mind me asking, what did you ask Ashton's sister when she came through?" I asked her once she taken enough photos of me.
"I asked her if you guys were still together and she began crying before telling me no. After that she left." She explained. I thanked her and went back inside. I knew there was nothing I could say or do for Meghan to fix all of this but I had to get used to the fact that she and I were done.
"Hey, are you okay?" Ashton asked, coming up to me.
"I just lost the best girlfriend I'm ever going to get and the worst part is, after this I leave for a tour where Arzaylea is going to be popping up in the news as my new girlfriend and every time Meghan sees it, she's going to get hurt all over again." I explained.
"Nope. John fired her." Ashton stated." After you left, she left for good."
"At least there's that." I muttered." How did this get so screwed up? And why aren't you beating me up right now?" I asked him.
"Well for one thing Bridget already did," he said before gesturing to my possibly broken nose." And because I know the truth. You didn't want to hurt her and you intended to tell her or get out of it. It wasn't your fault that it blew up in your face. Could you have done something to avoid this? Yes, but you tried and that all that matters."
"Really?"
"No." Ashton said before punching me hard in the arm." Okay now we're cool."
"I feel like by the end of the night I'm going to need a full body cast because I'm sure Michael and Calum are going to take their hits at me." I said." But I just can't get over the fact of how hard Bridget punches. For such a tiny girl she's got a wicked throw."
"If Michael asks, tell him he punched harder than Bridget. We both know he won't but just in case."
Meghan's POV:
The drive back home was quiet. Bridget went with Izzy, leaving me alone in my car. It was dead silent and the only thing I could hear was my own thoughts.
When I got back to the house, I sat in the driveway pressing my head against the steering wheel.
When did this get so messy and complicated? If I hadn't found out now, what would've happened? Would Luke slept with her? Fallen in love with her?
I had to stop thinking about it because the mere thought of it made me begin to cry.
I sat in the car and cried harder than I ever have before. The tears just kept flooding out of my eyes the longer I sat in the truck. Eventually i got out and went Inside. I tried to dry my eyes and make it seem like everything was fine in order to get by them without questions.
"I'm home." I called when I walked in the door.
"Hey, how was the concert?" Jackjack asked when I walked in. Jack turned in his chair and looked at me with sad eyes, already knowing how it went down.
"It was fine." I replied.
"Are you and Luke Okay? I know being away again will-" I cut Sammy off.
"It's not a problem anymore." I told him." We didn't say goodbye for the time being, instead we broke up." I said. The three jumped up from their seats and simultaneously yelled,"What?!"
"Luke has been seeing another girl. Although he claims she was a publicity stunt, there's pictures of him and her kissing or hanging out at the beach. If he claims he doesn't have feelings for her, then he's putting a lot into it." I told them." So he and I broke up, also no I don't want to talk about and no you don't have to take me to the airport to say goodbye." I said heading for the stairs.
"Are you sure? You've had a rough night." Jack asked.
"No. It's not that big a deal; it's just me and a guy I loved breaking up. Why would that be a big deal?" I asked sarcastically before beginning to cry again.
Jack walked over to me and wrapped me in a hug.
"It's gonna be okay." He told me.
"Can I Say now that I didn't really like Luke from the beginning. Something about him didn't seem right." Sammy said.
When jack let go, I went up the stairs to my room and when I opened the door I immediately started ripping posters of the band off the wall. Pictures, gifts, clothes, everything of Luke was taken down and thrown into the back of my closet to be burned.
I went to bed that night curled up inside Luke's Santa Cruz sweatshirt, listening to their new album and crying. I didn't know what else to do now that he and I were over. Izzy and Bridget texted me a few times but I never got back to them. All they texts sounded alike."Are you okay" "need to vent?" "You deserve better"
Their constant texting didn't make me feel any better and neither did the boys coming in to check on me. They never said anything but they'd take a quick scan of the room, mumble something, and leave.
I locked the door an hour later and prepared myself for a hard weekend and another week to follow with kids from my school hearing about what happened.
I just hope that wherever Luke is going after tonight, he is absolutely miserable.
Luke's POV:
The whole plane ride to Japan I cried. The other three slept while I stared out at the night sky with tears flooding out of my eyes.
I spent a lot of time going through pictures of her and I wishing to go back to these moments.
I went to sleep thinking about how hurt she feels right and how much of it is my fault. Unlike any other problem I've faced in the past few months, there was no way to forget it or fix it.
As much as I wanted to blame this on John or Arzaylea, this was my fault.
This was all my fault