Aftermath // 5SOS Fanfic // Ashton Irwin

Visitors

Claire's POV: I ring the doorbell again wondering why Ashton and Michael aren't answering. He told me to come over and here I am. So why is the door closed?

Finally it opens. But Ashton's not the one who opened it. Neither is Michael. It's a tan, black haired boy who I've never seen before.

"Calum, wait!" Ash comes running up behind him. He throws his hands up in defeat when he sees me.

"Why is a girl at your door?" the boy apparently named Calum whispers not so quietly.

"Calum, this is Claire."

"Should I go or..." I start.

"No it's fine," Ashton answers, clearly annoyed. I follow him inside.

I catch up to walk beside him. "Sorry, but who is Calum exactly?" I ask, softly.

"He's an old friend. I was hoping he wouldn't be around by the time you got here."

"Why?"

"Oh I see!" Calum cries from behind us. "You guys are a thing!"

"That's why," Ashton sighs.

"Well, she's definitely a change for you, Ashton!"

"Calum-"

"I mean, remember the blonde? She was-"

"Calum!" Ashton yells, anger all over his face. Calum flinches away, but he has a smug smile on his face.

I look Calum in the eye. "I know Ashton could do better than me, but after only a minute, I can tell anyone could do better than you."

Calum breaks into a boyish grin and shakes his head. "Touche, redhead." Then he turns to Ashton. "Good choice, mate."

What a confusing person.

"Claire! I didn't know you were coming over!" Michael runs up and gives me a hug. He's like the brother I always wanted. I feel like he's the kind of person who would tell me anything. He wouldn't lie to me. I wish I was like that.

We all sit in the studio. I sit with Ash on the couch, leaning against him and playing with his hands. "I like your hair, Mike." He apparantly dyed it green last night.

"Really? It's not too bright, is it?"

"Honestly, if you're going to dye your hair green I think brighter is better," I laugh. "So, Calum, where are you from?"

"California," he answers simply.

"What brings you here?"

"An airplane," he says, sarcastically.

"I mean-"

"Do you want to get out of here?" Ashton interrupts.

"I don't really-"

"Come on!" He stands, pulling me up with him. "I'll go find my keys, okay?"

"Um, okay."

Calum is just looking at me with this expression I can't quite place. Pity? But why would he pity me?

"He hasn't told you." It's not a question. It's just a statement. I'd like to say he has told me, but I have no idea what Calum is talking about. I mean, Ashton has told me a lot.

"Told me what?"

Calum just shakes his head. "Sorry we got off on the wrong foot."

"It's fine."

"So we're good?"

"Sure."

He's not half bad.

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Ashton's POV:

We walk out to my car, and get in. Claire glances down at her phone, and her face goes completely white. "Claire? Babe, are you okay?"

"What? Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine. Marie needs me at home. Sorry. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay. Is she okay?"

"Yeah. I just totally forgot her sister is in town, so we have to deep clean the house. You know how it is."

"Right, well I'll see you later then." I lean in to give her a quick peck on the cheek,but she jumps out of the car and practically sprints to her front door without even looking back at me. Normally I can't tell when she's lying, but there's no way she's that nervous about a text saying Marie needs help cleaning the house. Why would she lie to me?

But you're lying to her. I push the thought from my mind and remind myself that hiding the truth and lying are two completely different things. At least, I think they are.

I know that the moment I step back in the house I'll get a comment about not telling her, so I sneak in the back door and into my room and onto my bed.

I wake up a couple hours hours later to my phone ringing.

"Michael? Why are you calling me? I'm in my room."

"What? I thought you were at Claire's!"

"No, she went home, because- wait. Why did you think I was at her house? Earlier I said we were planning to drive around."

"Well I saw her and someone else sitting on her roof, so I figured that was you."

I hang up the phone and run to my window. No one's on the roof now. I try not to overreact as I head out the front door and across the lawn. Maybe it's Marie's sister. But I don't think Michael would misake a 25 year old girl for me.

I ring the doorbell and wait, shifting my weight from foot to foot.

The person is not Claire or Marie or Marie's sister, unless she's a super tall blond guy.

Claire jumps out from behind him. "Ashton! Um, this is Luke."

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Over a hundred reads now! You guys are too great! Sorry this update took so long! I'll try to keep the chapters coming faster.

If you want, you can read my other fanfic called Broken :) It's not finished, but it's close. Writing two fanfics at the same time is harder than I thought.

Love you guys!

M.C.G.