The Jerks Next Door || Ashton Irwin [5 Seconds Of Summer]

Chapter 18 | New Life

Ashley POV

3 Months Later

Al and I had gone about business as usual since the Take Me Home concert, our daily routines never changing, apart from now making constant plans with Jodie, Kate, and Jake. Once we'd found out that Kate had moved to LA, we had been frantic, making sure to see each other extremely often in an attempt to make up for lost time.

Calum had called Al once, three days after the concert. They had also texted once or twice before that, but the call was the selling point. They had had a really long conversation, from what Al told me, but he never called back, and as the number was restricted when he called, she wasn't able to call him back. She was heartbroken at first and I was gentle with her for the following week, until I was finally fed up and firmly told her to get up and pull herself together; he wasn't worth her tears if he was going to play with her heart.

My advice worked for a while, although I could tell she was still hurt; she tried to hide it, but I knew my friend and I could tell she was slowly tearing apart. Now, she had reached breaking point. She had apparently been secretly scouring the internet to see if Calum was ever seen with a girl, and pouring through the magazines to learn about his relationship status, until she had finally found something. And it hadn't been good news, as she had probably known deep down it wouldn't be.

I was driving home from work, privately tutoring students at my school. When I came home, I saw her curled up on her bed, asleep, with visible tear tracks across her cheeks, and puffy, red eyes. I didn't know what had happened, but I knew that now was not the time to ask, so I just removed the laptop from her bed and pulled the covers over her.

I left the room, still carrying her laptop in my arms. I plopped myself down on the couch in the living room, put the laptop on my lap, and opened it to see none other than a picture of Calum Hood kissing a quite busty brunette. The heading of the small article read "Calum Hood of 5 Seconds of Summer Seen Kissing Mystery Girl." The subheading read "Bassist of our favorite new Aussie band seen with Mystery Girl. Who is Mystery Girl and what does Calum have to say about this?" I read through the article, mentally cursing the entire time. I saw then how much Calum actually cared about a girl like Al's feelings - enough to lead her on then abandon her. And this girl looked like nothing more than a friend with benefits.

I closed the laptop and put it gently on the table, regarding it as a monster that would lash out as soon as I tore my eyes away from it. I quietly walked back upstairs and peeked my head into Al's bedroom. I saw her shift her position on the bed, then squirm and rub her swollen eyes in an attempt to rub the sleep from her face. I walked back downstairs and made some hot chocolate for the both of us. I put marshmallows on Al's and whipped cream on mine to suit both of our preferences.

I sat on the kitchen table and waited for her to come downstairs so we could drink our hot chocolate together. She came downstairs looking as if she got hit by a truck, but I couldn't care less. I motioned to the chair and she sat down in it, picking up her hot chocolate gingerly. For a minute, we were both silent, only sipping from our mugs.

In a small voice, she said, "You read the...."

I simply nodded.

She gulped. "Listen, I-"

I silenced her by putting my hand up. "I don't want to hear it. He's a jerk and I shouldn't have trusted him." I laughed a sarcastic laugh that wasn't like me at all. "I find it ironic that Ashton thought that I was a player when his supposed 'best friend' is the real player."

She grimaced as she took a particularly large gulp of the hot chocolate and the scalding liquid burned her throat.

"Listen to me," I reassured her, "he's not worth your time. He's just another celebrity who doesn't care about anyone but himself. I-" I stopped as I saw tears in her eyes. "What do you want me to do?" I asked gently.