I Gave It All

Claudia's POV~~

I was jolted awake by a loud rumble of thunder. I sat up, my heart racing.

"Holy shit." I whispered to myself. I looked around the room and my eyes landed on Jake. But Jake wasn't there. I stood up and slipped on a pair of slippers. I looked at the clock. It was only twelve thirty, and it was pretty dark in the house. I exited our room and I silently tip toed into the living room. A light was on in the kitchen, so I walked in to see Jake sitting at the table, his head in his hands. I walked over and gently placed my hand on his shoulder. He jumped and then looked over at me. It was then that I noticed he was crying. He had tears running down his cheeks, and his whole face was red.

"Jakey, what happened?" I asked quietly as I sat next to him. I gripped his hand tightly under the table.

"It's nothing.. just a nightmare." He said.

"You wanna talk about it?" I asked. Jake sighed and jumped right into telling me, something I could never do.

"In my dream, it started out pretty well.. per say. I... I.. I can't fucking do this!" He yelled as he stood up. He pushed the chair into the table, hurting my hand in the process.

"Fucking hell Jake!" I said as I pulled my hand away from the chair and the table. I started rubbing it to ease the pain away, but it wasn't working.

"Fuck!" I whispered as I let a couple tears fall. Jake's random act of violence scared me a bit.

"Oh my God baby! Are you okay? I'm so sorry!! I didn't mean to hurt you!" Jake said as he rushed over to me. I shrunk away from him. I stood up and pushed past him and into our room. I put a jacket on and I put some pajama pants on, taking slower than I had intended because of my hand. Jake was standing in the doorway.

"Claudia!" he yelled after me as I pushed past him again. I grabbed my car keys and headed out to my car. The pain in my hand started to go away as I got in my car. I had no clue why I was leaving, but I did know that I didn't want to be around Jake right now. I started the car and pulled out of the driveway. I took off down the road in the direction of Austin's place, the first person to pop into my head at the moment, which was weird.

When I got there, I pulled up on the curb and killed the ignition. I got out of my car and headed up to the door. I knocked and it took a while for someone to actually open the door.

"Hey Claudia." Aaron said.

"Hi Aaron." I said.

"What are you doing here? It's almost one in the morning." He said with a yawn.

"Something happened and I felt like I needed to leave for a bit." I said.

"Alright. It's just Austin and I here, but he's asleep. Come on in." Aaron said. He stepped aside and I walked in with a quiet thanks.

"So, do you mind telling me what happened?" He asked as we entered the living room. I sat down and sighed.

"Well, I woke up at twelve thirty and noticed a light on in the kitchen, so I went into the kitchen and saw Jake sitting at the table. I had noticed he was crying, so I asked him why. He said he had a nightmare, but he wasn't able to tell me, so he got frustrated and he injured my hand between the table and chair." I said.

"So you just left? Like that?"

"Yeah." I said, now realizing how stupid it was to leave.

"Wait, you guys didn't break up, right?" Aaron asked.

"No. No we didn't, don't worry. I don't know what I would do without Jake. He's my everything." I said. Aaron nodded and smiled.

Austin's POV~~

I heard movement from downstairs, so I silently walked down the stairs. I heard two voices, one was definitely Aaron's, the other one was female. I stood behind the wall in the hall that leads into the living room and I listened.

"So you just left? Like that?" I heard Aaron ask.

"Yeah." The female said.

"Wait, you guys didn't break up, right?" Aaron asked.

"No. No we didn't, don't worry. I don't know what I would do without Jake. He's my everything." She said. I soon realized, after I put two and two together, that the voice belonged to Claudia Alderman, the very girl who turned me down for Jacob Pitts. But why was she here? They clearly didn't break up, but something bad had to happen for her to just leave in the middle of the night and come here. But why here? Why this specific house? What made my house so special?

Footsteps coming towards me shook me from my thoughts. I frantically ran upstairs, hoping they hadn't heard or seen me.

Claudia's POV~~

After talking with Aaron for a bit, I decided it was best to head home. As I started up my car, I sighed, thinking about how Jake would react to me leaving like that.

I pulled back into the driveway of Ashley's house and I killed the engine. I got out and noticed all the lights were still on in the house. I walked up to the door and slowly turned the knob, opening it cautiously. I walked in and gently closed the door behind me.

"Where were you?" A very pissed off Jake asked.

"I just took a drive, alright? I wasn't gone for very long." I said as I made my way to the living room. Everyone was up now, and they looked confused. I sat in the armchair and Jake stood in front of me.

"Don't lie to me, Claudia." He said.

"I'm not lying Jake." I said, even though I definitely was lying.

"Just tell me where you were. That's all in asking!" Jake said.

"Fine! You want to know?"

"Yeah I do!"

"I was at Austin's, okay?!" I yelled, emotions coursing through me. Jake looked at me angrily, and he stormed out of the room. We all heard a door slam, and then it was complete silence. All the guys knew that Austin has feelings for me, and going to his house was a risky action. I slumped back into the chair with my arms crossed. I looked at all the guys, not including Jake, and tears swelled up in my eyes. I unfolded my arms and wiped away a stray tear. I looked down into my lap and sniffled, letting myself cry like the little bitch I am. I felt a pair of warm arms wrap around me. I looked up into CC' s face and hugged him tightly.

"You wanna sleep in my room tonight?" CC asked quietly.

"Please." I said. CC nodded and let go of me. He kissed my forehead and helped me up off the chair. I followed him into his room and we both got under the covers. I curled up into a ball and I cried myself to sleep, aware of the fact that CC could probably hear me.

Notes