All I Need ✘ [Hemmings] (On Hold)

fourteen: All I Need to Know.

"Everyone keeps talking to me about Luke; how his heart is broken, how he's hurting," I whisper. "But what about me, Calum?"

Calum shakes his head, leaning off the door frame. "He is hurting, more than you," he argues.

I shake my head. "Calum, just talk to Ashton," I beg, like he's going to own up to anything.

"I did," he says, wiping a hand over his face.

I don't say anything for a minute. "What did he say?" I finally whisper, fiddling with my shaking hands. It seems Luke wasted no time telling all his friends what happened, when I still haven't told anyone.

Calum shakes his head. "It doesn't matter - he told me all I need to know."

I return my gaze to my lap, staring at my jeans, willing myself not to cry in front of Calum.

"You don't know what alone feels like," I whisper. "You don't know crying until you're sick, just as messed up as the next guy, and having nobody believe you," I hiss.

Calum doesn't say anything for a minute, and I start to think I've silenced him.

Even when he does leave, I remain staring at the door for a little while longer, hoping that maybe Luke would burst through the door - and this time, he would believe me.

Only a few minutes later does another knock on my door sound. As much as I want it to be Luke, when I open the door, it's only Michelle.

"Oh my God, Abby!" she shrieks, taking in my appearance with wide-eyes. "What happened?"

"Luke," I mutter, walking away from my friend and collapsing back on the couch.

I hear the door click shut softly behind me and the couch droops slightly when Michelle sits down. "Do you want me to get anything?" she asks.

I shake my head, closing my eyes against the cool leather.

Michelle only sighs. "I'll be back in a few minutes," she says, not bothering to tell me where she's going; I don't ask, either.

It takes me only a few minutes to drift into sleep. However, I'm woken up by the door slamming and Michelle yelling for me to get up.

After groaning for a few long minutes, I roll back over to face her. She waves two tubs of ice cream in my face before taking a seat next to me and setting the box of tissues on the coffee table.

"I know you probably don't want to hear this right now, but what happened?" she asks, opening her tub of ice cream and shoving a spoonful in her mouth.

I sit up, fixing my gaze on everything but her. "Luke broke up with me," I tell her, opening my own tub of ice cream and taking the other spoon from her grasp.

She sighs. "Damn it." I don't say anything. "Another question I really shouldn't ask, but why?"

I don't say anything, in fact, I freeze all together. If I tell Michelle what really happened, she might hate Ashton. He's really not a bad guy.

"He stopped liking me, I guess," I lie.

Michelle purses her lips. "He was an asshole anyway," she says, shoveling another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

I only nod my head.

Michelle gives me another sympathetic look before grabbing my laptop from the kitchen counter and returning it next to me. Deciding there's nothing else to do, I flip open the lid. Twitter flashes across the screen, mentions of Luke and I popping up before Michelle or I do can do anything about it. She fumbles for the Chromebook, but I pull it away from her before she can do anything, and click on a link that takes me to Sugarscape's site.

Michelle continues to fight me for it long after the video starts, and in a panic, I rush into my bathroom, locking the door behind me. My friend pounds on the door, trying to persuade me to turn off the video and come outside. Instead of doing what's best, I turn the volume up higher to drown her out.

"How are you doing, Luke?" fan scream, all of them fighting to get closer to him.

The blonde boy snorts. "Great," he responds, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

The girls around him don't say anything for a couple of seconds, all of them whispering to themselves. I hear bits and pieces of what they're saying, things about what could be the matter with him and what they can do to help.

A couple of seconds later, when the screams and pleads for attention resume, the camera focuses back on Luke, where he's started walking away from the crowd. Fans go in a fit of madness to try to get him to come back, but all of their attempts fail.

Luckily, a few seconds later, Michael appears and the girls go crazy again. The girl who's filming - and in the front of the group - yells for him and, miraculously, he comes.

"Do you know what's wrong with Luke?" she asks.

Michael shakes his head. "Girl issues," he tells her. "He'll be okay soon, thanks." With that, he heads over to a different section of the crowd, giving hugs and pictures to whoever is close enough.

The video ends shortly after that and one of the website's reporters appears, trying to connect me to what Michael said about Luke. She shows all the pictures of Luke and I since we met, and mentions how we haven't been seen together in the past three days. Then, she discloses the fact that sources saw Luke and I fighting outside of the restaurant, and ends the discussion with a smile, almost like she's cheering that Luke and I are over.

I heave a sigh when I'm finished watching and close all the tabs. By now, Michelle's stopped knocking on the door and instead is focusing on begging. I wipe my eyes before opening the door, and Michelle glares at me.

"What the hell, Abby?" she says, her tone a mixture between exasperation and sorrow.

I shrug my shoulders before heading back into the living room and collapsing back on the couch, grabbing my tub of ice cream a few seconds later.

When I look up, Michelle stands in the doorway, her purse strung over her shoulder. "I think I'm going to go," she says.

I nod my head. "Okay."

"See you later," she says.

I don't say anything.

***

ahaha this used to be 2,000 words of trAsh until I fixed it but oops now it's only 1,000 words