dirty little secret // ashton irwin fanfic

chapter thirteen

We were sitting in the hospital waiting room, anxiously awaiting any news about Jamie's condition. Claire had called 911 before I even made it to the dressing room. I had ridden in the ambulance with Jamie, holding his hand the whole way there. He was pale, paler than usual, which scared me. We had been waiting for hours, and we were leaving for the next city tomorrow afternoon. Claire spoke with management and they allowed us to leave a little later, but we still weren't sure what was going to happen.

"Jessica Hunt?" A doctor asked, looking up from his clipboard and quickly scanning the room.

"That's me!" I jumped up, anxiously wringing my hands together.

"You're with Jamie Caine?"

I nodded, walking closer.

"He has alcohol poisoning."

My heart dropped. Jamie would never do this to himself. Jamie was a good guy, he knew what was at stake and-

"We have to keep him here overnight, and maybe a little bit longer than that if his condition worsens."

I stepped back, shocked. How much alcohol would he have needed to consume in order to get alcohol poisoning? What was wrong with Jamie... He'd never been a heavy drinker, not even in high school. Thinking back, I had only seen Jamie slightly drunk a few times, and nothing worse than that.

"Jess." Claire's voice nudged me out of my thoughts. I snapped back to reality, looking back at the doctor.

"He won't be able to play for at least two weeks," the doctor stated calmly. I felt my heart shatter for Jamie. When he realized what he's done, he would be heartbroken. This meant everything to him... At least I thought it did.

"That sounds fine," I replied robotically. "Anything else?"

The doctor looked over his clipboard one more time before shaking his head. "No, but you can go see him now if you like. One at a time so you don't overexcite him, the kid just had his stomach pumped."

"Jess, you go first," West nudged me, gesturing toward the hall where Jamie's room was located. "Claire and I will talk to his family and talk about getting them here to stay with him."

"You mean we aren't?" I asked, surprised. I wasn't about to leave Jamie like this, who knew what he was going through at this point? He needed us.

West and Claire glanced at each other before West calmly put his large hand on my shoulder. "We have a job, Jess. We have to finish it."

I shook his hand off of me before quickly turning on my heels down to Jamie's room. I slowly entered the small, plain space, before Jamie's face came into view. It was still pale as snow, and his eyes were sunken. His eyes were glued to the TV which happened to be playing Keeping up with the Kardashians, and I laughed when I noticed. His eyes darted toward me, and a small smile stressed across his face.

"Hey Jess," he greeted me.

I felt the tears well up in my eyes as I sat down next to his bed. "Hey." I grabbed his hand, interlocking our fingers and stroking the back of it softly with my thumb.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his wide eyes glancing downward, as if he were afraid of what I might have to say.

"What happened?" I asked.

He paused, looking out the window. "I can't tell you."

I cupped the side of his face with my free hand and pulled it towards me, forcing him to look at me. "We used to tell each other everything, why can't you tell me now?"

"It would ruin everything!" He snapped, his voice cracking. "You don't understand, and you won't."

I felt the tears coming so I stood up and left without saying another word. I walked past West and Claire, who asked where I was going but I ignored them. I caught a cab outside the hospital and called Ashton on my way. It took three rings before he picked up.

"Jess? Is everything okay?"

"No," I managed to squeak out before bursting into tears. I saw the taxi driver glance back at me strangely, but I ignored him. His opinion didn't matter to me.

"Where are you?"

"On my way back," I choked out between sobs.

"I'll meet you by your bus, okay?"

I sniffled before mumbling an uh-huh and hanging up. I spent the rest of the fifteen minute car ride trying to compose my thoughts. What was happening to Jamie that was so bad that it would ruin everything? Why couldn't he tell me? Why was I so upset?

The driver pulled into the lot and I quickly paid him and got out, basically sprinting to our bus. I quickly found the bus, but no Ashton. I walked around to the other side and still saw no sight of him. Suddenly I heard muffled yelling in the distance. I walked back to the other side of the bus to see where it was coming from.

"Seriously? You're still hanging out with her?" A blonde girl yelled as she turned the corner. I then realized it was Holly (AN// also btw not associated with Bryana I made her up forever ago before i even knew who Bryana was), the girl from the club. Ashton came walking behind her, obviously pissed off. I quickly ducked behind the bus, trying to stay out of sight so I could successfully eavesdrop. Shitty, I know.

"Holly, I think you're forgetting that we aren't actually together so I can technically do what I fucking want," Ashton replied, an edge in his voice.

"Ashton, we're supposed to be dating," Holly explained, groaning. "How do you think people will react when they find out you're cheating on me?"

"Maybe I'll just break up with you then!" Ashton yelled. I heard Holly gasp, and I heard soft footsteps begin to walk away from me. Thank God, otherwise she would have seen me and had even more of a reason to hate me. I heard Ashtons heavy footsteps coming closer, and I quickly scrambled up and pulled out my phone to pretend that I was just about to text him. 

"Hey," Ashton said, as he turned a corner and bumped into me. "What's up? Did you hear anything about Jamie?"

I then remembered the reason why I was there, and felt like an asshole for forgetting.