Heartbreak Girl

Chapter Everything I Didn't Say

Nathan breaks up with me the next day. I guess it was coming, but I never noticed.

I was in my room, listening to 5 Seconds of Summer, when I saw the screen of my phone light up. "Good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught," I sing softly as I slide across the wooden floor to my desk where I left my phone. I open the text message, and whisper out loud, "Hey, I'm breaking up with you. Hope you don't mind. Nothing much, you just weren't good enough. Have a nice life. Or don't. I don't actually care..."
I drop my phone and slide to the floor, tears pouring down my cheeks.
After about an hour of the pain - or maybe it was just five minutes - Libby enters my room, beaming. Her smile disappears immediately when she sees me. "Oh, Lauren," she breathes. "I knew this would happen." She talks to me, telling me sweet things, but like before - I just want Luke to be here.
"Wait," she says, finally. "Weren't you meant to go over to Luke's house?" I nod. "Do you want me to call him?" Libby asks kindly. I shake my head. But then I realise that if Luke hears that I've been crying, it will upset him. I don't want to do that to him.
"Actually, Libby," I manage to say. "C-Can you call Luke? I..I don't want..." I can't finish. Libby nods. She takes out her phone, and rings Luke.
"Hi, Luke," she says. "Lauren is, um, not feeling well, so could you come over to get her?" She pauses, listening. "She'll be fine," she reassures him. Then she pauses again. "That'd be great, yeah. Okay, thanks. Bye."
Libby hangs up, and looks at me. "He'll be here in five minutes," she tells me. "Do you want be to do anything?" "No," I whisper. "It's okay. Thank you so much, Libby." She smiles sadly. "That's what your twin is for." I nod, and rush into the bathroom.

The doorbell rings. I can hear Libby opening it. I hear Luke and Libby talking. Then Libby yells, "Lauren! Luke's here!" I yell back, my voice wobbling slightly, "Coming!" I fling open the bathroom door and race downstairs.
"H-Hi, Luke," I say. "Hi, Lauren," he smiles. "Come on, the boys are waiting for you!"
I say goodbye to Libby and follow Luke to his car.
"Is it just you and the boys at your house?" I ask. "No, Lina, Lydia and Ella are there too," he replies. Lina is Luke's older sister. She's nice, but she's really popular, unlike me, so I don't talk to her that often.
"Luke?" I say softly. "Yeah?" he says. "Why does Ella hate me?" Luke glances at me. I think he can tell that I'm close to tears. "I don't know," he sighs. "I try so hard to be nice to her, and she...she..." Tears start to fall. "Aw, Lauren, please don't cry!" Luke says desperately. I shudder, and wipe the tears away. The two of us are silent for a moment. Then I decide to tell him. It's Luke, after all. "Nathan broke up with me," I whisper. Luke nearly crashes the car. "Really?" he gasps. I nod. "Oh my God, I knew it, I knew he didn't deserve you, I knew it!" Luke stops the car in his driveway. "He..he texted me..." "He TEXTED you?!" Luke looks at me, shocked. "What he said was awful..." "Can I see it?" Luke asks gently. "Later," I breathe.

We walk into the house. Lina is coming down the stairs in very high heels. "Hi, Lauren!" she greets me. "Those are pretty high," I note, nodding to her shoes. She laughs. "I'm going to a party with some of my friends," she explains. "See you later, little brother! Have fun rehearsing!" She ruffles Luke's hair and looks at me. "I hope they don't play TOO badly!" she jokes, and leaves.
Luke is trying to spike his hair back into its original quiff. "It looks fine, Luke," I sigh.
Ella comes running into the hallway. "Ugh!" she squeaks. "The weirdo is here!" "Shut up, Ella!" Luke snaps. "She's having a really bad day, okay?" Ella's face lights up. "Yay!" she says, jumping up. I bite my lip, willing the tears not to fall. "I hate you!" Ella snarls at me, before running off somewhere.
"Did I hear that Lauren is here and that she's having a really bad day?" Ashton asks, stepping into the hallway. "Yeah, and Ella's making it worse," Luke says, rolling his eyes. "Sometimes I really hate her." "What's wrong, Lauren?" Ashton asks, seeming genuinely concerned. I look at Luke. "Luke, can you...?" Luke nods. He whispers something in Ashton's ear. "That idiot!" Ashton exclaims. "Yeah, I know," Luke agrees. "He's such a b -" "DON'T SWEAR!" Ashton shrieks, making me giggle. "Lauren, I'm so sorry," he says seriously, hugging me. Luke glances away. "I'm gonna go talk to Calum and Michael..." he mutters, going into the sitting room. Ashton takes a piece of red paper that was left at the bottom of the stairs - Ella's, probably - and produces a pen from his pocket. He scribbles something on it. He hands it to me. "Here's my number, if you ever want to talk," he smiles. "Come on, we should probably start rehearsing." I stuff the paper into my pocket and follow Ash. For some reason, I feel like Luke would not like to see it.