stay | ashton irwin

7

Ashton

I held her as she cried into my shirt. Calum had explained everything to her, how he tried but it didn't work out. He did everything he could, the odds just weren't in his favor. Blair cried for ten minutes, inconsolable. Once she had started to calm down, she instantly went into a panic attack, trying to talk but didn't make any sense.

"Blair, darling, you need to breathe," I reminded her.

"I can't," she stuttered, "I can't take care of them,"

"You don't have to alone," Luke promised, "you can stay with us," She didn't respond to anything Luke said, just buried her face into my shirt again.

"Michael is packing their bags and taking Tommy and Max back to our place," Calum quietly said. "We should get going soon,"

"Agreed," Luke nodded.

"Blair, how about we head out?" I asked, rubbing her back. She nodded, letting her grip on me loosen. I let Luke and Calum gather our stuff as I brought Blair out to my car to drive home. The ride was silent, only her sniffles heard as she looked out the window.

"How do I tell my brothers?" she finally broke that silence.

I sighed as I thought for a moment, "There's never an easy way to, you just have to be honest," I told her. "We can help you, this is a hard time," She just nodded, wiping her eyes and looking back out the window. "Why don't we tell them tomorrow? You can rest tonight,"

"Ok," she agreed. Eventually we made it back and I led her inside and upstairs to one of the guest rooms.

"Are you hungry? I can grab you a snack,"

"No thanks," she shook her head.

"My room is right across from yours. If you need anything just come and get me or one of the guys, I'll label their doors,"

"What about my brothers?"

"They'll be a couple doors down, we'll get them settled in so you can rest,"

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," I reassured her. She trusted me and went to bed as I went to the other guest room to set up the bed before Michael came home. I quickly threw on some sheets and got some pillows, then heard the front door open. I could hear Michael tell the two to be quiet as one of them was shouting with excitement.

"Hey guys," I grinned as I came down to see them in the kitchen. Three bookbags were on the ground as Michael was showing the two what was in the pantry.

"Hi," one of them chirped as the other waved.

"Tommy's in Pokemon, Max is in Spiderman," Michael told me.

"Cause I like Pokemon and he liked Spiderman," Tommy informed me.

"Well that's easy enough to remember," I grinned. "Are you two hungry?"

"Mac and cheese," Tommy jumped up and down, followed by Max jumping up and down.

"I'm on it," Michael grabbed a box of Kraft mac and cheese, then went into the kitchen to begin to cook.

"Where's Blair?" Max asked.

"She's upstairs sleeping, you'll get to see her tomorrow," I told him.

"Who will put us to bed?"

"We will," Michael chirped. "And we'll tell super cool stories,"

"Yeah, yeah," the two spoke at the same time, nodding their heads in sync.