Not What I Expected

“But I want to do it myself,” I said to Luke as I jumped out of the car and walked in to my work. He mumbled under his breath and I closed the door to the car.
“Sweetheart, you’re not well yet,” he told med as he jumped out of the car as well.
“I am good enough to tell my boss that I won’t be able to work for a while, I don’t want to tell him that over the phone,” I told him and he nodded. He walked up to me and took my hand in his.

I walked in with steady steps in to the store and Steph gasped as she saw me.

“What have happened to you? Oh my God Ashley, are you alright?” She half screamed as she saw me, my face was bruised and my arm was wrapped in bandage.
“I had a little problem with my ex-boyfriend, but it is alright now. Are Brian here?” I asked her and she nodded at me and I walked in to the staff room, with Luke right next to me.

He looked worried when he saw me, every little punch and slap had made its mark in my face. I looked horrible, and since I had just walked out from the hospital I had no chance to hide it.

“What have happened to you?” He asked me and looked at Luke as if would have been him that had done this to me.
“I got kidnapped by my ex-boyfriend and assaulted,” I told him and he just looked at me, “and I was going to ask you if it is okay for me to take the rest of the week of so that I can follow Luke to Australia.”
“Of course, no problem, when do you think that you’ll be back?” He asked me and looked a little more relaxed.
“As planned, I just need these days off since I have a minor crack in my arm and can’t lift heavy things,” I shrugged like it was nothing and I heard Luke sighing at me.
“Are you sure that you don’t need any more time of?” he asked me and I shook my head.

When Brian had granted me some extra time of I thanked him and both I and Luke walked out to the car again and drove to my place. When we arrived there the others sat in the living room, talking to my mother.

“Hey sweetheart, how did it go?” My mother asked me and I smiled at her.
“It was no problem, he granted me some extra time off and I can fly to Australia today,” I said to her and she tried to smile a bit but failed, she didn’t want me to go. But she knew that I needed to get far away from here.
“When does the flight depart?” My mother asked Michael.
“7PM,” he said and I looked at my phone, it was 1PM now and I had a lot of time to pack my things for the trip.

I walked in to my room and Luke stayed in the living room with the others. I took out a suitcase and placed it on my bed and looked through my wardrobe to find all the things that I needed. I ended up filling it with almost everything I owned, and I would only be away for a week and a half. As I closed the suitcase Luke entered my room. He held up a bag from makeup store.

“The guys bought this for you,” he told me, “it’s for the bruises.”
“Awe, aren’t that sweet of them” I said and looked in the bag. I applied the make up on my skin and the bruises disappeared without any problems, “I was afraid that my makeup wouldn’t cover it, and a bruised girlfriend and media isn’t such a good combo.”
“Don’t worry about the media,” Luke said and smiled at me. He walked up to me and put his arms gently around my waist and kissed my lips as careful as he could.
“I won’t break,” I told him and I could feel him smiling at my lips as he kissed me a little harder.

I got changed from the clothes my mother had brought me to the hospital, I put on a pair of skinny jeans with holes in the knees and then a plain black t-shirt. Then I chose to wear the sweatshirt I got from Luke so that I could hide the bandage around my arms. As I tried to put on the sweatshirt I felt how sore my ribs were. After the kicks I was surprised that only two were broken. The doctors had taped them so the pain was minimum, a thing that I really appreciated.

“Are you ready to leave?” Luke asked me and I nodded. I had filled a backpack with things I wanted in my hand luggage and threw the black backpack over my shoulders, then I carefully put down the suitcase and rolled it out in the hallway.

I said goodbye to my family, especially to Sophie. I would miss her a lot even if she always stepped on my nerves, she would always be my sister.

We took a cab to the airport since we were too many to fit in my parents’ car. I looked out the window and Luke had an arm around my shoulders. All the guys talked and laughed about something I didn’t listen to, I was just glad to leave this town and state behind me for a while. I was surprised that I felt good after the horrible things that had happened, but I tried to be happy. Knowing that I soon would spend a week and a half with Luke and his family in Australia.

Luke had agreed to let me stay at a hotel the first couple of days. I didn’t want to jump at his family, I just wanted some time off. And I hadn’t met them yet, so it would feel weird to just live there from the start, but I promised him that I would stay at the hotel for just some days.

As the clock ticked we arrived at the airport with time over to do whatever we felt like doing. But we decided to just check in our luggage and walk over to the gate.

We arrived at the gate an hour before our flight departed and we found a café nearby. So we placed ourselves there and ordered a cup of hot beverage each, I chose a cup of hot chocolate. The topics of out chats went from one thing to another and we sat there until we almost had to run to the gate to catch the flight.

I was placed next to Ashton and Luke, and then to our left Michael and Calum sat.

It took fifteen hours to travel to Sydney and the guys decided that we would meet their friends later that day. I was unsure about being with their friends but agreed to follow them there. But first I went to the hotel, I said goodbye to Luke and the others who were going home to their places, and Luke would pick me up later on. I was perfectly fine with having some time alone in the hotel room.

I checked in to The Grace Hotel and got my keys to my room. I took the elevator up to the fifth floor and walked in to my room. It was pretty small, with a king sized bed and a desk. Over the desk it was a TV. The room was in beige with red details and would work perfectly fine for me the couple of days I would stay in it.

I took a fast shower before I decided to take a nap, the guys would pick me up in a couple of hours so I had enough time. I placed myself in the bed and fell to an instant sleep, I was incredible tired after the long flight and thanks to the boys I hadn’t slept very much.

My alarm went off an hour before Luke would come to the hotel. I got up and opened my suitcase. In it I found a red shirt with black sleeves that I put on with my black jeans. I kept the make-up simple and my hair as usual. After twenty minutes I heard a knock on the door. I walked out of the bedroom and opened the door. Luke stood there and was smiling.

“Are you ready beautiful?” He asked me and I nodded. I walked up to my suitcase again and took out a pair of deep red converse. I put them on and walked up to Luke again.

They had decided to hire a local for tonight, it was only five minutes from my hotel which was nice. So Luke didn’t bother to bring his car. When we walked in to the little room I saw four sofas that was facing each other, they were black and all the guys sat in them plus people I didn’t know. I sat next to Michael and Luke between a light-blonde girl and Calum. The girl hugged him and smiled at him. I saw Michael frown at them. But I just smiled and Michael put his arm around my shoulders.

“Is she your girlfriend?” The girl next to Luke asked Michael.
“No, it’s Luke’s girlfriend,” he small laughed at her and I just smiled.
“Then why do you have your arm around her?” She asked another question.
“Because she is my friend,” Michael sighed at her stupid questions.

Everyone talked with each other, except for me who just sat there quiet, not wanting to interrupt anyone else. But I had my eyes on the girl next to Luke, she was all over him and it annoyed me.

“Why so quiet?” Michael asked me and I shrugged.
“Tired I guess,” I said to him and he handed me a cider from a cooler next to him.
“This will help you,” he smiled and I returned the smile.
“So guys, some spin the bottle?” Ashton asked everyone, some cheered and some sighed. I was one of them who released a sigh, “I’ll start.”

It was a table in front of everyone that the sofas stood around. So he leaned forward and spun a bottle who pointed at Calum. Ashton had placed a stack of cards with questions in front of him and he took up a card.

“Come up with a nickname to the person on your right,” he said and Calum looked at Luke and smiled.
“Tallysmellbutt,” he said and everyone started to laugh at him, “my turn.”

The bottle landed on one of the girls in the group.

The game continued for a while and every now and then my eyes got stuck on the girl next to Luke, she couldn’t keep her hands off him. I saw her ‘accidently’ touch his thigh or screaming out of happiness and embrace him. I wasn’t jealous or so, it was just annoying that she was all over him and my temper at the moment was not to play with. I was sensitive after the assault and cried for the smallest things, I also got mad easy. But I just sighed and rested my head on Michael’s shoulder.

“You want something to drink?” Michael asked me and I shook my head, “is anything wrong?”
“No, I’m fine,” I lied.
“Oh okay,” he said and started to talk to a guy next to him.

I hadn’t really perceived any names of the people around me and I didn’t care either. It was fun to see the guys happy, being with their friends and having a normal life for once. Every time that Luke laughed I got all warm inside, seeing him happy was the best thing ever. It made me smile. The guys had drunk pretty much and I was the only one that hadn’t consumed that much alcohol. But I wasn’t in the mood for drinking. I glanced over to Luke once again, and the girl had her hands on his face, I was about to scream at her when she kissed him. I got speechless.

I got up from my seat and ran out of the local, I heard Michael stumble after me. But I was faster. I ran as fast as my legs managed and was soon at the hotel where I took the stairs up to my room. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I rooted in my bag until I could find what I was looking for. I walked in to my bathroom and placed myself in the shower, the crying made me shook and I turned on the shower, not bothering about taking of my clothes. I cried out loud, not knowing why I was crying so much over a small thing. But I had the feeling that it was the last puzzle piece to destroy me after what had happened with Joey.

As I closed my eyes I saw Joey laughing at me, hitting me. Then I saw Luke kissing that girl, laughing. I screamed out loud as the voices screamed louder in my head. The voices in my head told me that I deserved it and that no one loved me. I couldn’t handle it.

I took out my razor blades from its hiding in the red little box.

Michael stormed in to the bathroom and threw my razorblade away, jumping into the shower. He helped me up and just hugged me. I cried even more and he just stood there with me in his arms. Michael let cry until I had nothing more left. He looked through my arms, seeing that I hadn’t cut myself, except for my hands where I had held the blades so hard that they had cut open some wounds in my hands. He walked out with me to the room and I saw Luke sitting there with a worried expression on his face. My eyes were so heavy that I thought that I would pass out any second. He got up from the bed and embraced me, Michael released me and told Luke something before exiting the room. I started to cry once again, feeling weak for almost falling for the razor blades again.

“Why did you do this?” Luke asked me when I had stopped crying.
“I don’t know,” I sobbed.
“Don’t lie to me. I’m so sorry that Felicia kissed me, I was not expecting that. I’m so sorry for hurting you,” he said and his eyes got all watery, “she means nothing to me.”
“It’s not your fault that I am weak,” I said.
“You’re not weak, you’re the strongest person I know. You’ve been through incredible much the last weeks,” he smiled at me and placed a kiss on my forehead and I nuzzled his neck.

He placed me in the bed under the duvets after he had ripped off my wet clothes. He took of his clothes as well since he held me when I was soaking wet.

“Promise that you’ll think about doing this ever again,” he said and I nodded at him. He put his hands around my face so that he could look me in my eyes as he kissed me, and I know that I was a lucky girl for having this wonderful boyfriend.