***READ UPDATED VERSION NOT THIS VERSION of Love Squared

Chapter5~Ashlynn

"Ashlynn? Ashhhhlynn... Ashie?"

I felt a cold, wet cloth on my forehead, and heard Hunter's sweet voice in my ear.

My eyes sprang open.

"Hunt? What happened? Where are we?" I unintentionally mimicked my question from earlier, only this time it wasn't a joke. The last thing I remembered was standing in the bathroom and then everything went black.

"Oh good. You're awake." A wave of relief washed over his face. "You fainted when we were in the bathroom. Then, I carried you into the dressing room. Oh, and I texted Shawn, and Rachael's not mad about the whole 'leaving during sound check' thing. They fixed your mic and tested it out and I told them that I'd help you."

"Ok that's good. Thanks."

I glanced at my surroundings. I was lying on a cool, black leather couch and he was crouched beside me, his hand on my shoulder. The room was pretty large. There was a full-length mirror in one corner and a vanity across the room from it. There was a rack of brightly colored clothes pushed up against an orangey-cream colored wall.

"Ash, do you know what happened? Are you sick?" Hunter's soft voice snapped me back.

"Uhhhh...I don't think so. I just forgot to eat breakfast I guess." My head had hurt too badly for me to get out of bed that morning.

"What about lunch?" He furrowed his perfect brows.

I checked the time on my phone. Somehow, I didn't even realize it was almost four. I looked back up at him and spoke. "In all honesty, I thought it was 11:00 in the morning."

He gave me a look of doubt.

"It's true! I did!"

"Well, it's no wonder you fainted. You need to eat something."

"I'm not that hungry..." I still felt a bit dizzy and the last thing I wanted was an upset stomach on top of everything.

He ignored me. "I found some lemonade in the mini fridge." He gestured towards a small, black box partially hidden by the clothes rack. "You're getting some food from the green room once you feel well enough to walk." It sounded like an order rather than a suggestion.

"Ok, ok..." I realized how thirsty I was and happily accepted the bottle of lemonade he was holding.

After gulping down half of the bottle of sugary liquid, I paused, remembering more details from before I blacked out.

"Hunt?"

"Yea?"

"What did you want to ask me? Like, before I passed out."

He ran his fingers though his hair almost as if it would help him comb back through his memory.

"Erm...well... I was wondering... How do you feel about Marissa?"

'What did he just ask me?' I thought. I had no clue how to respond, since he could see through my lying and I couldn't possibly tell him the truth.

"Well... Um... She seems to really like you."

"Do you like her as a person?"

"Why are you asking me these questions?" I added a fake giggle at the end of the sentence.

"I don't trust anyone's opinions more than yours. You're a great judge of character. I just want to know in case I'm wasting my time." He was practically piercing though me with his sharp gaze.

I never told anyone, but one time, about three weeks ago, I saw Marissa holding hands with some guy I didn't recognize outside of one of our venues. Being as protective over my band mates as I was, I decided to spy on them to see what was going on. I overheard her say to him, "Don't worry, I'll break it off with Hunter as soon as I can. I just need to find the right time and reason for the breakup. Trust me, I MUCH rather be with you. He's a slob and careless and pretty dumb, too." I could still hear her saying those words because each one cut into me like a dagger. I was trying to figure out the right time to tell him about it. If I was being cheated on, I would hope that someone would tell me. But still, this was not going to be easy. I knew that if I didn't say anything then, I never would. So with that, I made up my mind. I took a deep breath and met his eyes.

"Hunter, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a bit now. I...uh... caught Marissa cheating on you."

I waited for the truth to sink in. Instead, he just laughed. And when I didn't join in, he stopped.

"You're kidding, right?"

"I'm so sorry, Hunt. I really wish I was." I lied about that part. "I saw her holding hands with another guy. She said that she would rather be with him and that she was trying to find a way to break it off with you."

"Ashlynn, when did you hear her say this?"

"About three weeks ago...?" I could see the anger boiling up inside of him, but I never anticipated what would happen next.

"Why didn't you tell me right away?!" He yelled as he stood up.

Tears were streaming down my face. I had never seen him so angry and especially not with me. It was really upsetting. "I...I really wanted to. I just didn't know when or how. Don't be mad I-"

"WELL, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU WERE BEING CHEATED ON AND I KNEW BUT DIDN'T TELL YOU?"

"I wo-"

"NO. Don't talk to me." He walked over to the door and exited the room, making sure to slam it.

'What just happened?' I thought. 'One second he's sweet, caring Hunter and the next he's angry and I could barely recognize him.' I wiped the tears off of my cheeks for the second time that day and checked my phone again. It was 4:04 and I was late for dinner. I quickly stood up and grabbed onto the couch when my head started to spin. Once it stopped, I ran out of the room and went down a couple of hallways until I realized I had no idea where I was. To my relief, Shawn came out of one of the doors.

"Oh, hey, Ash. I was just gonna go find you and Hunter." He looked around me. "Where is he? I thought he was with you."

I felt the tears start to prick at my eyes at the sound of his name. I cleared my throat, hoping that it would keep me from crying again.

"He was...But I uh...don't know where he is now." I managed to croak out as a single tear slid down my cheek.

"Ash, come here." He pulled me into a hug and all I could think about was how much better Hunter's hugs were.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Shawn asked, pulling away slightly.

"Well..." I choked out. "He asked me how I felt about his girlfriend and I told him that I caught her cheating on him, which is the truth. He got so mad at me for not telling him right away that he started yelling. And he NEVER yells. He probably hates me now."

"Oh, Ash. No one could ever hate you. You are such an amazing person!! He took out his anger at Marissa on you. You did nothing wrong. I still don't approve that he yelled at you though. That was inappropriate." He brushed a strand of dark blonde hair from my face. Something that I used to wish Hunter would do. 'But not anymore.' I thought to myself. 'He'll never trust me again. I guess I'll have to find someone else. But there's no one else like Hunter. He's not like other guys. He's different-a good different.' Finally, I decided that I had to get over him since I would never have a chance with him again.

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(A/N)
Heyyyyyyy, thanks for reading, guys!!

It gets so much more interesting I swear... there may or may not be a love SQUARE (cuz triangles are SOOOOO overused ;p) so please stay tuned!! The drama is about to roll in...

Have a nice day!! Love y'all!! 😘
~T