Barely Breathing//Ethis

72||

Ethan's point of view:

I quietly get out of bed making sure not to wake Chris, I pull he covers back over him and close his door behind me.

I need to talk to Jakob.

I walk down the hallway and knock on his door, getting an immediate reply. I push the door open and see Jakob sitting cross legged in the middle of his bed.

"I've come to make peace" I start, holding my hands up in defence

"No, I'm sorry." He replies making room for me to sit on the bed "I really shouldn't have said any of what I did."

"It's fine, none of it bothered me apart from the keeping secrets part. How could you possibly know what it's like to-"

"To be screaming, crying, powerless and begging for it to end? Yeah, I know a lot more about it than you would think." He cuts me off

"What? How?" I ask confused and intrigued now

"Used to get beat up a lot," he shrugs like its nothing "I know it's not exactly the same circumstances but I understand more than you think I do"

"You never told us that" I meet his eyes to which he looks away

"Never seemed that important, it wasn't anything you needed to know. I moved schools anyway so it's okay." He sighs

"You only moved schools a few months ago."

"Exactly"

"So you were lying to us about the bruises being from soccer?" I ask just to make sure I have a grasp on this new information

He nods.

"And you to us, about the nervousness whenever we were backstage on The X Factor?" He questions

This time I nod.

"I guess we all have secrets that we think no one wants to hear."

"Friends?" He asks with a slight smile

"For life." I pull him in for an awkward hug

I stand up from his bed and close his door behind me as I exit his room.

I walk into Chris' room to see him still sound asleep just as I left him.

"Chris," I whisper, running my hand through his messy hair "Baby wake up"

"No" his voice is raspy and deep, he reaches out and grabs my arm pulling me down "I want to stay here" he says as I land on top of him, I roll my eyes but stay there anyway

"We can't stay here all day" I tell him running a hand through his hair again

"We've done it before, why not do it again?" He raises an eyebrow

"You know I can feel it right?"

"Then you know what to do next" his eyes become darker now

My stomach drops and I frown, no, no way.

I push myself up and move off him but he moves closer to me again. He tries to kiss me but I grab his shoulders and push him away.

"Chris, don't." I warn trying to keep my voice firm, I stand up and walk out of his room without another word.

I jog down the hallway and into Jakob's room, without knocking this time. I close the door behind me and lean against it with my hands resting on the back of my neck

"Can I just stay here for a few minutes, please?" I ask exhaling loudly

"Sure whatever" Jakob replies sounding uninterested and going back to whatever he was doing

"Chris is just trying to.. I don't know" I sigh shaking my head not really having a clear grasp on what just happened.

"What happened?" Jakob asks looking up and sounding interested

"He tried to take things further, it made me uncomfortable so I left." I close my eyes and take a deep breath

"Are you okay?" He asks slowly

"I don't know, I don't know anything anymore." I admit

"Come here" he says opening his arms, I walk over to him and gratefully accept the warm hug, that's one thing I like about Jakob, he gives really warm hugs.

"I'm sorry I never have time for you anymore, I really do appreciate you so much." I say over his shoulder

"I understand, it's okay. You've had a lot going on recently, I'm always here for you just remember that."

"Same goes for you" I smile pulling away from the hug, he nods smiling too.

"I'm just fixing up some things for one of our songs on the EP" he tells me looking back at his laptop screen

There's a silence for a few minutes and my mind drifts back to what he told me earlier. He used to get beat up a lot? How could someone as kind and friendly as Jakob ever be picked on?

"How often is a lot?" I blurt out

He stops typing and his eyes look up to meet mine.

"Everyday." He mumbles going back to typing

"Do you want to talk about it?" I continue, I really need something, anything to talk about that will keep my mind off what just happened with Chris.

"What's there to talk about? Stuttering singer was an easy target" he says, this time he doesn't tear his gaze away from the screen.

"Why did you keep it from us?" I ask moving forward and glancing at his screen also

"Same reason you did, scared." He says starting to give me shorter and shorter replies, telling me he doesn't want to talk about this any further

"So um, what are you working on?" I ask leaning in a little further and changing the subject

"Good enough, I'm adding the back up vocals and a few other stuff to make it sound more upbeat, make people want to listen you know?" He tells me as he drags something onto the screen and putting it into the software.

"Oh cool, I've been trying to perfect my parts for Honest but it's not quite getting there. Can you help me?" I ask looking at him as he concentrates, I had never really payed attention before but Jakob is actually very attractive.

"Sure" he nods picking up his guitar.