Chapter 42

"Madison, we're on." I said quietly. "Mhm, let's go." She walked past me. I caught up with her before Cody could speak to me. "What was that about?" "How much did you hear?" She asked. "You said something about it being a massive mistake and that you shouldn't have done it."

"Oh right." "I figured you meant sleeping with him but now I'm not so convinced." I sighed. "I'm going to let him speak to you first." "But if he doesn't, by tomorrow, you'll tell me?" I looked over at her. She nodded while staring at the ground. "I just want you to know that I love you a lot." She looked at me with a smile forced on her face. "And I'm sorry for not telling you the truth." She added.

I opened my mouth to speak but she cut me off. "Let's go have fun and forget about this." "Okay." I followed her to where we were supposed to be. The rest of the photoshoot seemed to drag. I just wanted to go home so I could talk to Cody about what I'd heard. We finished around five and went home.

We went back to Cody's house because we're having a barbecue there tonight. I went into Cody's bathroom to have a shower. When I came out Cody and Trey were sat on the floor trying to assemble what I'm guessing is a stand that you put a Moses basket on.

"You guys struggling?" I asked. "Don't look so amused." Trey narrowed his eyes at me. I laughed and got some clothes out of Cody's closet. I have a few outfits here. I went back into the bathroom and got changed before drying my hair and then coming back out to find the boys still sat on the floor but with Brad as well.

"Are you serious?!" I laughed at them. "It's so confusing! It didn't even come with instructions." Brad defended. "Where's the box?" I asked and they all pointed to it. I went over and picked it up. "No instructions, huh?" "Nope." "Did you check the back of the box?" I showed them.

"That's not funny." Cody groaned. I laughed and passed him the box before kneeling down next to him. "Look, this clearly goes in here and then you put that on there." I showed them. The three of them watched me put the stand together by myself. "And then you stand it up and it's done." I smiled at my work before getting up.

"Where's my niece?" I dusted off my hands. "Downstairs." Trey said as they all got up as well. I smiled and ran off downstairs. Alli was sat with Ariana on her lap so I sat next to her. "She's the cutest thing ever." Alli said without looking away from her. "I know." I smiled and squeezed Ariana's hand lightly.

"Are the boys done yet?" "I did it for them. They were sat there for at least half an hour trying to do it with no instructions and then I showed them the instructions and did it for them. It took like two minutes to put together." I said which made Mom, Angie and Cara laugh. "Bless them." Mom shook her head with another chuckle.

"In our defence, we didn't see the instructions." Cody said as they came outside. "And you had to get your girlfriend to do it for you?" Alli teased. "Shut up." He laughed. Cody lifted me up and sat on my chair before placing me on his lap. I got up and sat on a different chair.

"Someone's in a bad mood." Trey noticed. "I don't even know what I did." Cody shrugged. I rolled my eyes and went inside. "Are you okay, sweetie?" Angie came in after me. "Yeah." I smiled and nodded. "Are you sure?" "Mhm. Do you need any help with any food?" "You could make a potato salad? The potatoes are already cooked." "Okay." I opened the cupboard for what I'd need.

After a few minutes Cody came inside too. I watched him as he pulled his body onto the counter and then I went back to doing what I was doing. "What did I do?" He asked. I ignored him. "No answer?" Once again, I ignored him.

"Look, I clearly haven't done anything wrong or else you would be shouting at me right now so why take it out on me?" "Because all I do is shout at you." I scoffed. "I didn't mean that, I just mean-" "What were you and Madison talking about? What have you been lying about?" I dropped what I was doing and turned to face him.

Cody just stared at me without saying anything. "See, I'm not shouting." I shrugged. "Okay. I can explain." "Go on then." "Here? Now?" "Why not?" "I don't think it's appropriate to do this now." "How come?" "I'll talk to you about it later." He jumped off the counter.

"Can I use your phone?" I asked. "Why?" "Mine's got no charge." "Uh-" "You got something to hide?" I questioned. "No. Of course not." "Well then can I use your phone?" "It's my phone." "I'm not going to keep it." "I know." "Well then let me use it." "Um, nope." "Cody Simpson, what the hell is going on?" I put my hands on my hips. "Go charge your own phone." He said and walked out.

After dinner I went to Cody's bedroom and called Madison. "Hello?" "Hi. He's acting weird." "What?" "Cody. He wouldn't give me his phone, why not?" "I don't know, Lauren, the things that I know happened months ago." "But what are they?" "Hasn't he told you about it yet?" "No. Can you just tell me?" "In the morning if he hasn't told you then come over and I'll tell you."

"Do you promise?" "Of course." She said. I heard Cody coming up the stairs. "Okay, I need to go he's coming upstairs. Bye." I hung up quickly and turned around to see Cody stood at the door with the Moses basket in his hand. "Who was that?" "Friend." "Which friend?" "One of mine." "Really?" "Mhm." I nodded.

He rolled his eyes and then fixed the basket on the stand. "She's gonna sleep in here until they go home. I'm having a shower." "Okay." Once he'd closed the door, I changed into one of his shirts and got into bed. He wasn't long in the shower and then he got dressed and got into bed too.

The two of us laid in silence with the TV on. I can't say it was the most comfortable situation to be in. "How much did you hear of my conversation with Madison earlier?" He broke the tension. "She told you that she'd made a massive mistake and wished she'd never done it or something like that." "Shit. That's a lot." He mumbled to himself.

"Shouldn't have done what?" I rolled onto my side so I could see him. "Slept with me." "Honestly?" "Yes. She said that she regretted it now more than ever because she's lost her best friend. She also said that she thinks it's unfair how I get to keep you in my life and she doesn't." "And that's the truth?" I wasn't too convinced. I mean it doesn't add up!

"It's almost as if you want there to be something else. It's like you want there to be an argument. You're bored of being happy and want something to go wrong. Just let it go." "You just seem a little soo defensive and a little too comfortable."

"Comfortable?" "Yeah, you lie to me enough that you're comfortable doing it. It makes me question when you're telling the truth and when you're not." "You make me out to be such a bad person." "No idea why." I said sarcastically and rolled over.

"And here we go again. We're running in circles and I'm bored of it!" "Cody, calm down you're going to wake Ariana up." "I know I've messed up. I've done it a few too many times but I love you. I've never stopped." "When then why do you do it again?" "I don't know! I can't help it!" "You need to learn some self control." I warned as I sat up.

"Or else what?" "Or else you'll find yourself alone. I'm not going to be here for you to play your games for the rest of our lives. I'm sorry but as you said, it's tiring, and I'm not prepared to keep running in circles." "What do you want, Lauren? We're both fully aware that we cannot undo the past so why are you still living there?"

"You wanna know the difference between you and I, Cody? You are the one who's made these mistakes, you're the one who can't keept their hands to themselves. I'm the one who has to forgive you each and every time you do it yes somehow you still find a way to get mad and blame it all on me." "I'm not blaming it on you!" He raised his voice.

Before I could say anything Ariana started to cry. I picked her up out of the basket and held her against my body. "It's okay, shh." I whispered as I held her. "I'm going home with Mom." I said and went downstairs. Everyone was still sat outside. Well, all the adults.

I pulled up a chair next to Trey and sat down. "Did she wake up?" He asked as he rearranged the blankets which the baby was wrapped in. "Yeah." "Do you think she's hungry?" "No. We woke her up, it'll be fine." "Okay." He smiled and then went back to what he was doing on his phone.

"How come you've come back down?" Mom asked me. "I wanna come home with you." I said. Trey locked his phone and looked over at me. "What?" "Is everything okay?" He asked quietly. I took a deep breath before nodding. "It's okay." I forced a smile. He reached over and wiped away a tear that I didn't know was rolling down my cheek.

"You want me to go talk to him?" "No. Leave it alone." I sunk into my chair and put my feet up so I could rest Ariana on my thighs and look at her face. She stared back at me with tired eyes. I smiled at her and she attempted to return the gesture which made Trey laugh a little.

"She likes you. I haven't gotten a smile from her yet." He said and gave her his finger to hold. She kicked her legs a little and held him. "Trey, can you go and get her things?" Cara asked him. He looked up and nodded before letting go of Ariana whose mood instantly changed.

"Daddy, come back." I played. Trey laughed and kissed her head. "I'll be back in a minute." He said and went inside resulting in more tears from Ariana. "Someone loves their Daddy." I said as I lifted her and held her against my chest again. "She likes to have lots of people cooing over her." Cara told me. "Which is weird because as a baby, Mom said that I hated that." She said.

"Trey didn't like it either but the two girls loved it. Any attention they could get, they'd suck it up and smile adorably." Mom informed. "She's just like meee." I smiled. After a few minutes Trey came back downstairs and they left with the baby.

"We better get going too." Mom said and got up and started sorting the glasses which were on the table. "Oh, don't worry about it." Angie stopped her. "I'll sort this out." She said. "Are you sure? I can help." Mom offered. "No, you get going and Brad and I will clear up." "As long as you're sure." Mom said. I got up and so did Brad.

Lilly was asleep in Brad's arms so he carried her to the car and buckled her up. "You alright, kiddo?" Brad asked me. "I'm fine." I smiled. "See you tomorrow, yeah?" "I'm not sure, maybe." I shrugged and opened the car door. "Alright well, take care." "Bye." I smiled and got into the car. Mom came outside after a few moments and then we left.

The next day, I went over to Madison's to hear her explanation of the story. I told her that Cody didn't tell me anything so that she wouldn't lie or anything. We're sat in her bedroom right now.

"Cody didn't come over when you'd broken but he came over when you were talking again. He came while you were at school because he needed my help. We just talked. Nothing happened between us. He-" "Why would you say that then?" "He'd already done something bad and he came to me to get my help. He was so desperate and although I felt terrible for lying to you, I didn't want to break him anymore. He was so broken." She looked at the ground.

"What did he do?" "He slept with someone else." "What? When? Who?" "Twice. Once while you were apart and once when you were, um, together." She hesitantly met my eyes. I felt myself get a little shakey. "Okay.." My voice was very weak.

"He said that he had to tell someone. He was begging me not to tell you, I wanted to so much, with all of me, but I couldn't because something in him stopped me. I'd never seen the boy so weak and so desperate. I gave in. I told him that he'd have to tell you that he'd slept with her but he refused. I came up with telling you that the two of us had slept together while you were apart. He agreed but said that I had to tell you so I did. You reacted in the way that we wanted. He was happy. I realized how wrong it was. We lied to you and he was happy with lying to you, I wasn't happy. I realized it even more yesterday."

"But, why would you put our friendship at risk for him?" "I don't know. I just wanted you to know he'd done something bad. I needed him to confess something to you, even if it wasn't completely true. I just needed you to know that you weren't the only person he'd slept with. That was the most important thing for me because it's not fair on you." "It's not." I shook my head.

"I wanted you to know who as well. I think you deserve it. I know you deserve it. But he wouldn't tell you." "Why not?" "You remember Jenna? The girl from Australia?" "Was it her?!" "No. But Cody said that she was very tall and beautiful and you saw her as more attractive than yourself. You were intimidated by her and stopped eating. Cody didn't want that happening again. He was happy with the decision of having me to compare yourself to because we have the same body shape and we look quite similar and we're the same height and everything." "Okay.."

"That's another reason why I agreed to it. I didn't want you to compare yourself to this model a-" "Model?" "She's a model." "She is?" "Yes." "Have I met her?" "I think you've met her but you don't really know her as such." She said, I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Did he sleep with her before we broke up or after we'd gotten back together?" "Before you broke up." "Wow.." "Yeah so he's been lying to you for quite a while." "Can you tell me who she is now?" "I want him to tell you." "Do you think that if I tell him I know he'll tell me?" "You can try it." She shrugged.

So I did, I went over to Cody's. No one else was in so I went straight into the house to find Cody in the kitchen. "Hi." He said with a mouthful of food. I tried not to laugh at him but he was too cute. "I need to talk to you." I said and went further into the kitchen. "Okay, you want some food?" "No." "Alright, what's up?" "I went over to Madison's today." "I'm happy for you? What do you want me to say?"

"Is there anything you wanna tell me before I carry on?" "I don't think so." He shrugged. "We were talking about what I'd heard you guys talking about in her dressing room." "Oh." "Mmm, is there anything you wanna confess to now?" "What did she tell you?" "Everything but the girls name." "And you came here for me to tell you that?" "Mhm." I nodded.

"Alright. I can do that." He nodded. "But first, where do we go from here?" "I go home and you stay here." I shrugged. "I mean, where does our relationship go?" "What relationship?" "Huh?" He choked. "You heard me. A relationship sits on honesty and trust. Clearly you cannot be honest so I cannot trust you." "You can't just do that." "But I'm going to." I smiled.

"Why are you so happy?" "I'm being brave. It kinda gets me through each day. Now, who's this chick?" "She's a model. I met her early 2013 and we were talking as like just friends but then while you were busy one night we met up with each other and got drunk. I think from then everything changed and after a few weeks of texting we, kinda, you know?" He looked unbelievably uncomfortable.

"You slept together." "Yeah.." "While we were together. And lied about it like it was nothing." "I'm sorry." "And then you made my best friend tell me it was herself?" "I did that too, yeah." "Do you realize how slefish you are?" "I know. But I love you. It proves that I'll do anything to protect you." "But you also cheated on me three times, maybe even more, and each time I had to find out for myself. I don't know why I ever believed a single word that came from your mouth." I shook my head.

"Please, can we work through it?" "No, Cody! That was okay the first time. You pushed it a lot with the second and now? There's no chance. I'm done with this." "I'm not done." I ignored him and walked towards the door. Cody caught my wrist and pulled me towards him.

"I love you so much and you love me too. You can't just walk away like it's nothing." "Watch me." "I'm begging you, baby, please." "Don't call me baby. I'm not your baby." "Please. Think about Lilly or To-" "Don't even think of using my little sister against me! When she gets old enough I'm going to tell her all about who you really are and we'll see how much she loves you when she realizes that you're the reason for some of the scars on my body."

"I'm so sorry." He looked at the floor but still refused to let go of my wrist. "Sorry isn't good enough, Cody." I pulled my hand free from his grip. "You can't leave." "I have to." I opened the front door. "Please?" He begged. "Don't make this harder than it has to be." "I'm not ready for this, Lauren." "You need to let go, Cody. It's time to let go." "I'm never letting go."

The End

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So that was the last chapter obviously but I'm starting a new story. I've just posted the first chapter tonight so could you please check it out? And of course, tell a friend to tell a friend (: