MUKE short stories

want you back ✦ 04

4 - only you ✦

Once upon a time, we had it all.
Somewhere down the line we went and lost it.

Did I let go of your hand for a castle made of sand?

✦✦✦

Less than half an hour after being reunited, Michael and Calum were already singing Good Charlotte songs in the car.

Alex was in the back smiling at the two idiots.

"Mikey," She said when the song was over. "We told you how our honeymoon went but what about you? What did you do without your best friend and your favorite coworker?"

"Yeah, Michael." Calum agreed. "Please tell me you went to FIFA night."

Michael looked at Alex in the review mirror, only making her laugh.

"I didn't go," He admitted, earning a slap on the shoulder.

"Michael! So, you're telling me you didn't see anyone but your coworkers for the past three weeks?"

He rolled his eyes. The architect knew he had to break the news to Calum but he didn't know how.

"What? Your friends suck at FIFA, and they don't want to play HALO or COD. If you have to know I saw my family and Ashton. I went to lunch with Noah after work. I was watering your plants. And I got a roommate."

The newlyweds didn't say anything for a good second.

"Did I hear this right or are my ears still clogged from the plane?" Alex asked.

Michael shook his head but kept his eyes on the road. "You told me to think about renting the loft and I did."

"Okay? Do we know the person? It's not Ashton, is it?"

Ashton and Michael tried living together once but it didn't turn out great. They were both artists but their artistry didn't go hand in hand.

"It's Luke," Michael answered like it was the most random fact he'd ever shared with his best friend.

He could feel Calum's stare on him.

"Luke who?" Asked Alex. "Wait. Not the dancer?"

Neither of the men humored her with a reply.

After more than ten minutes of silence, when they were almost at the Hood family house, Calum finally spoke up.

"Do you know what you're doing, Michael?"

"Calum, I love you but please don't make a big deal out of this."

"I'm trying not to," He agreed. "But I think it might be."

"Luke was my best friend for years, he just returned to Sydney and he's not on speaking terms with his family. They don't even know he's here. The least I can do is offer him a place to stay until he gets his life together."

"You don't owe him that," The Maori man argued. "He was also your boyfriend. And he broke your heart."

"That was almost ten years ago, Noah and I broke up, and we're not just civil with each other. We see each other at work and off work all the time. I promise you, it's not a big deal."