The next morning I woke up to screaming.
Beyond confused, I shuffled out of the room, careful not to wake Destiny or Calum and made my way out to the hall where I saw a furious looking Harry chewing out Niall who was standing in nothing but his boxers, with Ellie behind him, covered only by the sheet she had wrapped around herself.
“Ed is my friend!” Harry shouted, “You’re such an ass hole Niall!”
“I was drunk!” Niall cried.
“I don’t know about you but when I’m drunk my brain doesn’t fall out of my ass!” Harry spat, “You knew what you were doing!”
“Don’t yell at him,” Ellie sighed, “It was my fault.”
“She was gonna make me do it in my pants the way she was touching me!” Niall spat.
“Oh, good, very gentleman like of you Niall!” Harry shouted, “Throw her under the bus!”
“It’s her fault!”
“No!” I spat, “It’s both of your fault! You both fucked up!”
Deciding that this was not something I wanted to get in the middle of, I slipped on my tennis shoes and a sweatshirt before making my way down to the lobby for coffee.
Finding it more or less empty since it was pretty much the ass crack of dawn, I poured myself a cup and had just finished sugar and crème and was going to go back up to my room when I saw Ed, hunched over a mug of coffee sitting at a table in the corner of the room.
Figuring the polite thing to do was say high I shuffled over.
“Hey Ashton,” he sighed without even looking up.
“Hi.” I mumbled.
“You can sit,” he replied.
Nodding I sat down opposite him, and for the first time noticed that his eyes were puffy and red.
“Are you alright?” I questioned.
“Are you alright is such a bullshit question.” Ed muttered, “Like you go to the grocery store and they ask how are you, and you have to say fine, it doesn’t even have meaning anymore, it’s like you’re expected to say fine. Can you imagine running into the grocery store, the lady asks how you are and you reply with horrible, my dog just died, my son doesn’t talk to me, my arthritis is acting up again, my husband left me last night and I slipped on spilled milk in the dairy aisle and now my hip is acting up again.”
“Um, yeah,” I mumbled.
“Nobody cares anymore.” He sighed, “We’re all just people watching the other people watching us.”
“That’s good.” I informed him, “Not that no one cares anymore but the way you said it, it would make a good song.”
“Already been done.” He sighed, “Jack Johnson, People Watching.”
“Oh,” I mumbled, “Well, are you… are you okay, for real?”
Smiling, Ed shook his head, “No, I’m terrible, thank you for asking.”
Biting my lip I hesitated for a moment before asking, “Do you…. Do you want to talk about it?”
Ed’s eyes widened in surprise, as he sat there just staring at his coffee for a moment before answering, “I never saw him as a threat, until she disappeared with him to have sex of course. I mean it’s not like I was looking for a promise or commitment, but it was never just fun and I thought she was different.”
“I’m sorry,” I sighed.
Nodding, he stirred his coffee, “She fucked with my love man.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, “Is there something I can do?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, “Do you have a pen?”
“Um, no.” I said slowly.
“Never mind,” he sighed, pulling a pencil out of his pocket and starting to write feverishly on a napkin, muttering under his breath, not stopping until the entire thing was covered in tiny, messy handwriting.”
“Is that…. A song?”
“Maybe,” he shrugged, “You never know.”
“Do you hate him?” I questioned.
“Who?” he asked, “Niall?”
I nodded.
“No,” he sighed, “Look at me and look at him, I’m not surprised, doesn’t make it hurt any less though.”
“It’s her loss.” I said slowly, “You’re a really great guy.”
“So are you Ashton.” He replied, “It’s not every day you find a guy willing to have a heart to heart with you at seven am.”
“Yeah, how are you up this early, weren’t you out drinking?”
“I went up early,” he answered, “My Mom, she’s cat sitting for me and wanting to face time me.”
Nodding, I watched as he took a sip of his coffee then rose to his feet.
“Where are you going?” I questioned.
“To eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and write a song.” He called over his shoulder, shuffling away with his hands in his pockets.
I watched him go before standing up myself and going back to my room where I found Destiny and Calum on the couch watching Sponge Bob.
“Is that coffee?” Destiny yawned.
Sitting down next to her I kissed her on the temple before handing it to her.
“Thank you,” she said happily.
“How early did you get up?” Calum yawned.
“Like six thirty.” I replied, “Niall and Harry woke me up.”
“Yeah, I heard that.” Destiny said, “What were they arguing about.”
Sighing, I filled them in.
“Damn,” Calum muttered.
“What a bitch.” Destiny mumbled, “If I wanted to screw Calum I’d break up with you first.”
“Gee thank sweetie.” I said sarcastically.
“I’m kidding.” She laughed, kissing my cheek.
“Ugh, stop with the PDA.” Calum muttered.
“Aww, is someone jelly?” destiny taunted, turning so she was leaning on me and placing her feet on Calum’s lap.
“Yes actually,” he snapped, “That coffee smells amazing give it here.”
“No!” Destiny cried, holding it over her head, “It’s mine!”
“It’s actually mine.” I answered taking it back and taking a sip.
“No it’s not it’s free.” Calum grumbled.
“I paid for it.” I replied, “They made me pay extra if I wanted to be able to drink the free ratchet watered down coffee.”
“It was free.”
“I paid for it!”
“No.”
“I did pay for it!”
“No you didn’t.”
“I did pay for it!”
“No!”
“I paid for the coffee!”
“Ashton I hate to break it to you,” Destiny giggled, “But it’s free coffee, if you paid for it I’m praying for you.”
“Shut down!” Calum laughed, climbing over Destiny and snatching the coffee from me.
“Ass,” I muttered.
Sticking his tongue out, he downed the entire cup as the door swung open revealing a very angry looking Michael.
“Someone woke up Happy!” Destiny cooed.
“Look at this!” Michael spat shoving his phone in my face.
Yawning I looked at his phone however the whole thing just looked like a blurry mess to me so I slipped on my glasses, and realized I was looking at the vamps EP on itunes.
“Why am I looking at this exactly?’ I questioned.
“Read the songs that little thieving shits!” he shouted.
“Keep your mouth closed mate.” Calum grumbled.
“Yeah Mikey, try brushing your teeth before screaming in people’s faces.” Destiny added.
“Just read it.” He spat.
Looking back at the phone I read the songs.
Midnight Memories
She looks so Perfect
And Somebody to you.
“What the hell?” Calum cried, “Two covers and our song!”
“How did they get the son we wrote!” I demanded.
“Oh my God,” Michael muttered.
“What?” I asked.
Michael looked at me, “Jess.”
I'm sorry this was so short.
I'll write more. <3