"Charlotte? Charlotte! Ashton?"
"We're in here!" I called out, in answer to Luke's frantic shouting as I stared down at Charlotte unsure of what to do or what to say to stop the tears which were rapidly rolling down her cheeks.
However I didn't have long to think because a split second later there was a loud gasp from behind me and the next thing I knew Luke was stepping over me and into the bathtub, picking Charlotte up gently, avoiding her hand and placing her on his lap.
"Hey!" He cried gently, wrapping his long arms around her tiny torso tightly, "It's okay, it's alright Charlie."
"No..... It.... I-isn't!" She stuttered through her sobs, "It's ruined it's all ruined!"
"What's ruined, nothing is ruined!" Luke soothed quickly, his voice and touch gentle and Calming yet his eyes wide with panic.
"Everyone hates me!" She sobbed, her chest heaving so much I actually feared for her health.
"No, don't say that," Luke sighed, "No one hates you why would you even think th....."
"I failed all my classes so my parents hate me!" She sobbed, "They think I'm a disappointment and a waste of space, everyone at school hates me, I don't have any friends anymore they all left me and then I thought I had you all but you hate me too!"
"I don't hate you!" Luke cried, holding her out at arms length so they were looking each other in the eyes, "And neither does Michael or Ashton, isn't that right Ashton?"
"Of course I don't hate you." I said gently.
"Calum does!" She hiccuped then started crying again harder, "Why, would he do that to me!"
"Forget him, he's a dick." I replied.
"No he isn't!" She defended, "We used to be best friends I don't know what I did wrong!"
"What?" I questioned.
Charlotte opened her mouth to reply however cut herself off by breaking down completely, burying her face in her hands.
"Shit," Luke whispered, "What do I do? Where's my Mom?"
"She went to Target." I replied.
"Without me? What am I supposed to do?" Luke panicked, "Is this normal? This isn't normal is it! Charlotte, Charlotte baby shhh it's ok I've got you I won't let anyone hurt you anymore okay? I'll like, hit them, I will. Unless it's a girl, then maybe I'll just yell at them, well not yell but like, scold you know, cause you can't hit or yell at girls. But I promise it'll be okay.... Um...... Shit, Ashton help me, what do I do?"
"I don't know," I admitted, "Um, get help, for her hand, that looks bad. I'll go find someone, you just wait with her."
Nodding, and trying to bounce and rock slightly as if he were attempting to sooth a fussy baby instead of a seventeen year old girl midst mental breakdown, Luke watched as I rose to my feet and ran out of the room.
Unsure of what to do or where to go, I looked around the hallway but finding it empty crossed back to our room.
Bursting through the door I was surprised to find Calum sitting on the couch with his face buried in his hands and Michael sitting beside him, biting his thumb nail looking entirely unsure of what to do.
"Ashton?" Calum said looking up, as the door closed behind me, his puppy like brown eyes filled with tears, "Where.... Where is Charlie?"
"Crying her eyes out." I snapped, looking around for my phone to call who knows who.
"Shit," Calum whispered, "Is.... Is she okay?"
"No." I grumbled.
"Damn it," Calum muttered.
"I don't know why you're sympathetic now," I snapped, "You were an absolute ass to her! She thinks you hate her."
"I don't!"
"Well you can't tell by the way you treated her!"
"I don't know what happened?" He groaned.
"I do." Michael laughed, "You broke Lukey's girlfriend friend zoned chick thingy."
"No, he snapped, "Before that."
"What?" I questioned.
"Charlotte used to be Calum and I's bestie." Michael replied casually, "She and him live next door to each other."
"Seriously?" I demanded.
"Yup," Michael replied, "Her family came over for a barbecue, she dropped her my little pony in the pool, fell in trying to get it and would have drowned if old CalPal over here didn't save the day."
"I'm confused." I sighed, "What happened?"
"Nothing much," Michael shrugged, "We just.... Kind of, you know...."
"Completely ditched her for Luke." Calum whispered.
"Yeah," Michael said slowly, "I mean we tried to include her, she was in the band for a while but then Niall said no chicks allowed and so.... Well, yeah, we kicked her out of the band."
"You guys are ass holes." I muttered.
"How were we supposed to know she got bullied?" Michael snapped.
"What?" I cried.
"Shit, I should've kept that bit to myself." He muttered.
"You just abandoned her and let her get bullied?" I shouted.
"We didn't know!" Calum cried, "I mean, none of us were very cool back then so I guess we..... I don't know. We ignored it."
"You guys make me sick." I spat.
Calum sniffed and looked down at his hands.
"Can.... Can I go talk to her?" He whispered.
"I don't get what you do," I sighed, "But I'm going with you and if you say one more mean thing I swear to God I'll punch you."
Wincing, He nodded and rose to his feet.
"What about me?" Michael questioned.
"You call Liz." I sighed, "Tell her to get like band aides and stuff."
Nodding, Michael reached for his phone as I led Calum across the hall to Charlotte's room however froze at the sight of her and Luke sat on her bed.
His back was pressed against the headboard, with how long legs out in front of him, with Charlotte lay between them, her head on his lap as he gently braided and I braided strands of her hair, while softy singing Superman, at least that's what I'm guessing it's called since that's what it was about.
"Seriously man, Joe Brooks? You are so cheesy." Calum laughed.
Startled Luke looked up, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Calum.
"Shut up!" He whispered, "She just fell asleep."
Crossing over to them I looked down at Charlotte and the roll of toilet paper Luke had wrapped around her hand.
"She's cute when she sleeps isn't she?" He mumbled, "She looks so perfect it hurts, I'm like warm but have goosebumps, is that normal?"
"I don't know." I admitted, "I've never felt that before."
Biting his lip Luke looked down at Charlotte and brushed a few stray strands of her hair from her face.
"How am I supposed to apologize now?" Calum groaned, "She's sleeping."
"I think I have an idea." Luke said slowly.
{•_•}
A/n
This was short I know but I'll try to update again later. 😘
Sorry this chapter was short, it was mainly just Luke being a cute little shit. 🙈
