little lies (an e.d. fanfiction)

✭ chapter 59

song for chapter: light me up by ingrid michaelson + play on repeat!!

claire's pov

i looked at my five friends who were all standing in the doorway with a small, weak looking smile.

"are you sure you don't want to come?" lily asks once again out of concern, "you don't have to stay."

i shake my head at her words, "no, it's okay. he needs me and i want to be there for him," i say to her before pausing and looking down, feeling bad for not going with them, "i'm sorry," i whisper.

"claire, it's okay. no one's mad," jade says with a small laugh, trying to make me feel better and release the tension that was clearly clouding over me, "do what you need to do."

i look up at her and the other four girls who were still standing in the doorframe, and i nod my head.

"what about your stuff?" lily asks, knowing that my overnight bag is still sitting at her house, "do you want me to drop the girls off real quick and then run you back over your bag?" she politely offers.

i shake my head, declining, "no, it's okay. ethan will just give me a change of clothes," i say with a shrug, "you can just send the bag home with jade tomorrow."

both jade and lily nod, perfectly fine with the idea. before anyone can say anything else, a manly voice interrupts.

"we need your help," grayson says as he comes up from behind me, tapping my shoulder to get my attention. grayson tilts his head up and over to jack and cameron, letting me know that it was them two he was referring to as "we".

i swallow and nod, "i'll be there in a second," i say to him which he hesitantly nods to, letting me say a goodbye to my friends.

"alright, well i got to go," i say while looking at my friends apologetically, " i'll text you guys in the morning."

they nod and start to walk out, knowing that the guys need me.

"bye, claire," the girls say together as i give them a small smile back, gripping my hand onto the front door to close it shut once they're completely out.

i lock the door with a deep sigh and turn around to see the three large guys standing on the stairs, waiting for me.

i grab my phone from my back pocket to sneak a quick glance at the time before joining them, stunned to see that it's already past three in the morning.

i tuck my phone back away and walk through the now dark and empty house, navigating my way up the stairs.

i step on a red solo cup or two, seeing small glimmering puddles of alcohol on the floor from the party. usually grayson stays up and cleans the whole house by himself, but ethan isn't doing well right now and he'd much rather help his brother over anything.

"is he in his room?" i ask grayson, knowing that when i was up there before dismissing my friends that he was throwing up in the bathtub.

grayson nods, "yeah, finally," he pauses as i'm now fully up the stairs and right in front of them three, "but he refuses to eat and drink anything until he sees you."

i looked at jack who was holding a cracker box and cameron who was holding a few water bottles, seeing that all of the items looks completely full and unopened.

i inhale sharply, "alright, well i'll see what i can do," i say to the boys, reaching out both of my hands for jack and cameron to hand over the crackers and water.

"you guys can go downstairs and start cleaning up the house if you want," i say before walking over to ethan's room, knowing that grayson was probably annoyed that he hasn't gotten to start cleaning yet.