~Claire~
I woke up disoriented and sore, not really sure where I was. Then I noticed Ashton who had one arm wrapped around my shoulders and the other behind his head. I sat up gently so I didn't disturb Ash before pulling on one of his shirts and a pair of his boxers and trudging out into the living room.
On my way there I saw Mikey in the kitchen.
"Hey kiddo," he said, ruffling my hair. I shoved him playfully. "I'm not a little kid."
"Oh she has sex with Ashton one time and she thinks she's a grown up," Michael said I rolled my eyes at him until what he said hit me. I had sex with Ashton.
My eyes widened and suddenly there wasn't enough air in the room.
"Claire? What's wrong?" Michael asked me, directing me to sit at the kitchen table.
"Oh my God," I said, burying my face in my hands.
"What?" Mikey asked, pulling my hands away from my face.
"I was a virgin before yesterday," I whimpered. "What if he got what he wanted and decides to break up with me?"
"Ash isn't like that," Michael reassured me but panic flooded my mind. What if he thought I wasn't good and broke up with me? Or only went out with me to get me in bed?
Michael pulled me in for a hug. "Everything's gonna be fine. If Ashton breaks up with you, I'll kick his arse, plain and simple. You're like my little sister Claire, so don't worry about it. I love you okay?" He kissed the top of my head and I nodded, my face buried in his chest.
"I love you too," I mumbled.
~Ashton~
I woke up and found my bed empty. The first thought that went through my head was that Claire only used me for sex, but I quickly dismissed it. I knew Claire. She wasn't like that.
When I got out of bed and headed towards the living room I heard voices in the kitchen and stopped. I peeked around the corner and saw Mikey hugging Claire.
"I love you okay?" he said, kissing the top of Claire's head.
"I love you too," she replied, shattering my heart. Tears filled my eyes but I blinked them away and went back to my room, getting dressed. I couldn't stay here. I had to go see Niall.
When I walked out to leave, I saw Mikey and Claire on the couch. She had her head on his shoulder, not really paying attention to whatever he was watching.
"Hi," she said, smiling warmly at me. That smile usually made me so happy, but right now it filled me with heartbreak.
"Um, I have to go," I muttered quickly, grabbing my car keys and running out of the front door. I got in my car and drove away, the tears falling freely now. I couldn't believe it. Claire didn't even want me. She loved Mikey, and he loved her too. I was filled with a mixture of heartbreak, dread, betrayal and anger. Claire was supposed to be mine, not his.
I pulled up at my friend Niall's house and quickly knocked on the door.
"Hey Ash-what's wrong?" Niall asked immediately when he opened the door.
"Can I c-come in?" I asked. Niall nodded and led me into the living room.
"Tell me everything," he commanded. So I did. I told him about having the biggest crush on Claire and finally getting her to be my girlfriend and being so happy. I told him about how we had sex last night and this morning she told Mikey she loved him and he said he loved her too.
"It just hurts," I whimpered. Niall got up and returned a few minutes later with a bunch of pizza rolls, a box of tissues, some blankets and some video games.
"Let's just chill, yeah?" he said, setting all of the stuff down. "Get your mind off of her. She's not worth it anyway if she can't see what an amazing person you are." I nodded and Niall smiled before covering me with a blanket and handing me a tray of pizza rolls. He let me pick a video game (FIFA of course) and we played.
While we were playing, Niall snuggled up under the blanket next to me, which wasn't weird. Niall just liked to cuddle and we all accepted it. But pretty soon he started getting really close and I was slightly uncomfortable, but I let him be because it was nice to have someone who wanted to sit that close to me, since apparently Claire didn't. She'd rather sit like that with Mikey.
"Ash?" Niall asked after a few hours of playing FIFA.
"Yeah?" I replied, looking at him. Niall sighed, sat up straighter and kissed me. I froze, not really sure if I should kiss back or not. I kissed back for a moment and then pulled back. Niall flushed and looked down while I sat there with my mouth hanging open, not sure how to respond. Then I bolted out of the house.
~Claire~
After Ashton blew me off and didn't answer my texts, Mikey took me home. He cranked the AC and brought me a bunch of blankets and packs of cookies, cuddling with me under all of the blankets and letting me stuff my face with cookies and cry while he looked for a movie on Netflix. He put on some action movie I really didn't care about and just held me as the trash can in front of us over flowed with tissues and empty cookie containers. When I was down to my last container after five hours (I'd surprisingly only eaten two out of the three packages of chips ahoy), Michael texted Calum.
Asian👯💃👽:
Bring some cookies, milk, pizza and tissues to Claire's house right now.
Rainbow💆💇💅:
Um, okay why?
Asian👯💃👽:
Just do it please. ASAP. Claire's having a serious boy emergency.
Rainbow💆💇💅:
Okay okay jeez. I'll be there soon.
~Michael~
Ten minutes later there was a knock at the front door.
"I got it!" Brielle hollered from somewhere in the house. She jogged past the living room, not even noticing Claire and I in here. She opened the front door and said, "Hey Cal. What are you doing here?"
"Mikey texted me and told me to bring all of this stuff here for Claire."
"We're in here!" I called. Claire wasn't even paying attention. She was staring off into space as tears slid silently down her face. Brielle and Calum came into the living room, Brielle helping Cal with what he was carrying. Calum had on a tee shirt and a pair of sweatpants while Brielle was wearing a pair of shorts and a bra. I could clearly see hickeys all over her, including some sticking out from the bottom of her shorts.
"What happened?" Brielle asked immediately.
"Claire thinks Ashton only used her for sex. I told her he didn't but then he blew her off this morning and hasn't answered any of her texts and has been gone for like five hours," I answered. Claire hugged her knees to her chest and whimpered as more tears fell down her face.
"I'll kill him!" Brielle shouted.
"Kill who?" Luke asked, walking in. Of course. I should've known he'd be here. The evidence was all over Brielle.
"Ashton for breaking Claire's little heart," she replied. Luke frowned. "That's not something he would do."
"I was there," I sighed, wrapping an arm around Claire's shoulders as she leaned on my shoulder again. Just then my phone buzzed.
Ash👌👽🐤 is calling.
I answered and put it on speaker.
"Hello?" I said.
"Mikey, you gotta help me," he cried.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Niall kissed me and-" before he could finish, Claire let out a wail of pain before screaming and crying at the same time.
"What is that?" Ashton asked me.
"Um, that's your former girlfriend," I told him. "I'll talk to you later." I hung up and held Claire while she sobbed.
"It's gonna be okay," I reassured her but she shook her head. "I just want to sleep forever." With that, Claire stood up and stumbled into her room, a blankets hanging loosely around her shoulders.
"Let me get dressed so I can go with you and murder Ash," Brielle said.
So ten minutes later, when Brielle was wearing a shirt that read "Stressed, Depressed But Well Dressed", shorts, a burgundy cardigan, a beanie and some black vans and got Brooklyn to take care of Claire, we were off. When we got home, Brielle stormed in the front door and saw Ashton sitting on the couch, his head in his hands. She walked over, pulled his head up by his hair and smacked him. Luke ran over and pulled her away before she could do any serious damage.
"What was that for?" Ashton asked, his face red from where Brielle smacked him and wet from the tears spilling from his eyes.
"For breaking Claire's heart," she snapped.
"She broke mine!" Ashton snapped back, his bottom lip trembling. Then a new wave of tears overcame him and he was a blubbering mess.
"How?" Luke asked.
"She used me and told Mikey she loved him," he choked out a few minutes later.
"She thought you were using her for sex," I told him. "Besides, Claire and I say we love each other all the time. She's like my little sister."
Ashton cried harder. "God I'm such a fuck up," he sobbed, curling into a ball.
"Why?" Calum asked.
"Cause Niall kissed me and I kissed back and I hurt Claire and I'm just awful," he hiccuped in response. I felt jealousy flare up in my chest for a moment but I ignored it. I'd deal with Niall later.
Brielle sat next to Ashton and pulled him so he sat up, leaning on her and burying his face in her neck, continuing to cry.
"You gotta get Claire back," Calum said, sitting on the other side of Ashton.
"I wouldn't advise that just yet," Brielle said. Calum, Luke and I gave her a strange look so she continued. "Claire doesn't forgive easily when she's hurt, unless she knows you're hurting a lot more. For example, a few years back we got into a huge argument because after my boyfriend and I broke up, I got drunk and kissed her, after denying countless times that I had a thing for her. I ran off and tried to kill myself, and woke up to her screaming at me in the hospital for being stupid, hysterically crying. Now, I'm not encouraging you to try and kill yourself, because that's bad. But give her time. Then apologise. I'm sure she'll take you back."
Ashton gave her a look of pure pain. "How much time?"
"I don't know," Brielle said truthfully. "You fucked up bad."