I've Got This Friend ( c.h )

Chapter 23

"This is your room, right across the hall from mine." Ashton showed me through the house and towards the bedrooms.

"And far away from Calum's," I mumbled under my breath so that Ashton wouldn't be able to hear me. I should've expected it though because I'm sure that Calum asked for it to be like that.

"You know, just in case you have any more nightmares I don't want to be far away."

"Thank you Ashton." I opened the bedroom door and Ashton followed me in, watching me place my suitcase on my bed.

It was actually an insanely nice room. It had a big queen sized bed, a window that looked over the hills of Hollywood, a dresser, two night stands and a walk in closet. There was a full sized mirror and hangers which meant that my clothes could hang freely instead of being continuously folded. It was all very contemporary and clean. I don't know how these four teenage boys got stuck in a million dollar LA mansion, but I'm just glad that I was here too.

"How did you boys even get stuck in this nice house. I would never leave you idiots in a place this nice..." Ash rolled his eyes and then laid down on my bed, taking a deep breath.

"I don't know, but it's all insane. Like, this whole tour thing has been surreal. Pey, I'm living my dream with my best friends and my wonderful little sister." I guess he was too drunk to remember the conversation we had the other night where he basically told me that I was a shityt person because of the Calum situation. I'll talk to him about that later though.

I didn't think that it would bother me so much not actually having a space to call mine while I was away from home, but that was before I actually was given a space to call mine during said tour time.

You don't realize that it feels good to actually know that you can unpack your suitcase and hang up your belongings because you have a closet and you aren't leaving in two or three days.

I dug around my suitcase and used the hangers that were in the house to hang a few shirts and some pants that had been crumpled into a ball during one of my stressful "what am I going to wear today" breakdowns during the last few days. I don't know why, but I felt like I had to be more presentable and cute looking because the fans knew that Calum was sad and I felt like it was my fault and I swear they knew.

Ashton broke the silence and yawned loudly, almost scaring me. I don't blame him though. It was three in the morning because the boys decided they wanted to get here as soon as possible and we checked out of the hotel right after the last show of the tour party and moved in.

"Tired?"

"Eh, not really." He placed his hands behind his head, flexing his muscles in the process. "Do you mind if I hang out with you here? I think you're the only one who is awake now besides the lovebirds."

I nodded, "that's fine. I wanted to talk to you anyways." I informed him and his eye brows rose.

"Oh no, sounds important." Ashton sat up and turned his body to face me.

"Eh, I guess it is."

"Oh no, are you breaking up with me?" Ash joked with me, "I thought we had something good going on. You can't just drop me after five years Pey. I love you." In normal circumstances, I would've usually found this hilarious. In this case, I was only able to muster up a weak laugh and that was only because I wanted to humor Ashton. "Sorry." He apologized once he realized that something wasn't right.

"No, it's fine."

"I know when you're lying." He bluntly stated. "Let's talk."

"Let me just finish unpacking and then we can talk." He just nodded and went back to laying down on the bed.

I hung up the remaining pieces of my clothing until I made it to the bottom of my suitcase where all the clothes that I had stolen from Calum remained. I just stared at them for a moment before grabbing them and placing them in my closet like they were my own.

"You still kept all that stuff."

"What stuff?"

"Calum's stuff." He pointed towards the pile of clothing in my suitcase from Calum.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"I dont know. It just surprises me. I thought he would've taken it back or you would've given it back..." Ashton's voice got softer as he spoke.

"I never thought of that." I admitted. "Should I?"

"No. Don't worry about it." The silence between us grew until it took over the entire room.

"How is Calum?"

"He's doing good." Like Ashton could tell when I was lying, I could tell when he was lying.

"Really?"

"If you don't believe me then why don't you talk to him?"

"Because we aren't talking right now."

"I know that, but you two are going to have to start talking again soon because you will be living in the same house for the next month and you two can't just avoid each other when you'll have to eat breakfast, lunch, and most likely dinner together every day."

"Umm..."

"You know I'm right." I did know he was right.

"He probably doesn't want to talk to me anyways." I made up an excuse.

"I bet you he does."

"Does he?"

"I don't know." I hated when Ashton did this. I absolutely hated it and I hated him.

"Seriously Ashton?"

"Seriously, just talk to him."

"He doesn't want to talk to me. He hates me."

"He could never hate you. He's too much in love with you to hate you."

"That's why he hates me."

Ashton didn't reply.

"Do you remember what happened the other night? Last night to be exact."

"The final show?"

"No, the night before tonight dumbass." I rolled my eyes.

"I went out with Calum and Luke."

"Yeah, but do you remember what happened when you got back to the hotel?"

"Nope." He replied without hesitation, "all I know is that I woke up in bed. Why?"

"Well, Luke brought you back drunk and you woke me up at four in the morning and told me that you were pissed at me."

"Why would I say that?"

"Ash, you know why you would say that. Remember, drunk statements are sober thoughts."

"Don't be so deep and tell me why I said that so I don't say anything to fuck up our relationship." Ashton hissed.

"You said I needed to grow a pair of balls and fix everything between us because you were tired of our shit."

"Sounds like something a drunk me would say." He agreed.

"So, do you want to talk about that?"

"No." Ashton surprised me. "I mean, I've been telling you the same thing that's along those lines daily. Sure, I say it in a nicer manner but you and Calum do have to make up at some point and we both know it." Ashton yawned. "I'm going to go to bed and let you think things over. If you wanna talk, I'm across the hall." He sat up and pushed himself off of my mattress.

"I wouldn't even know where to start." I admitted.

"Try being friends again." Ashton stated before he left the room, closing the door behind him.