thin white lines | l. hemmings

12

"I'm not wearing the jacket," Luke said with a sneer after taking one look at the outfit Quinn had picked out for him and then tossing the jacket next to her.

"It'll look dumb without it!" She picked the denim back up and held it out to him, hoping he would change his mind that quickly but at the same time knowing he wouldn't. She figured it was worth a shot. 

He grabbed the rest of the outfit and left her with the jacket while he changed in the bathroom. Quinn rolled her eyes and put it away. "Do you know where Delaney is?" She asked him through the door. 

"No. I think in with Michael and Calum probably," he said in a low tone. Quinn heard him zip up just before opening the door with furrowed brows. "Why?"

"I just haven't seen her tonight. I was just gonna ask her if she wanted to get ready with me later and then we could go together." She shrugged and gathered what she had brought to Luke's dressing room, ready to go to Michael's next. 

"For the party?" 

"No for school," she said and shook her head. "Yes, for the party."

"I think Michael said she's coming with us," he said, ignoring her sarcasm and following her out the door, earning a confused stare from her in the dimly lit hallway. 

"I'll still offer. I don't want to go alone. You know, I think it's a little weird how protective he is of his cousin. I don't even know my cousins."

"Yeah, well he's weird," Luke said truthfully, still following her down the hallway and into the next door that had Michael's name on it, but Michael seemed to be the only one not in there. Ashton and Delaney sat on a plain black sofa and both kept their eyes strictly pinned to Calum even as Quinn pulled in her rack of clothing with one noticeably squeaky wheel. 

As she rolled it to the side of the room, Luke paid closer attention to Calum, who stood in the middle of the room with an uncomfortably full beer bottle gripped tightly in his fist. "There's no way it works, Cal," Ashton said, shaking his head but still smiling in the anticipation of it. 

"Would you just give me a second? It works," he said, dropping his hand and the bottle to his side for a second before bringing it back up to his hip. He took his other hand and quickly forced it onto the top of the bottle, which somehow caused the bottom half to break off and sent water (luckily, he had refilled the empty bottle with water) crashing down to the ground with it. "I told you, mate!" He shouted immediately while everyone stayed still, surprised that it actually worked.  

"Okay, well, the way you described it confused me," Ashton shot back while Delaney giggled and got up to greet Quinn. 

"Where's Mikey?" Luke cut into the conversation as they collectively ignored the broken glass on the floor.

"I dunno, I think in the next room," Calum shrugged and pointed to the wall, taking Delaney's place on the couch. 

"This is his dressing room," Quinn said, knitting her brows together as she tried to figure out why he was the only one in another dressing room when they were gathered in his. 

"Yeah, what is he even doing in there?" Delaney added. 

"Getting dressed, I think," Ashton said. 

"I hate this band," Quinn added, lightly hitting her forehead against the wall. "I have such a nice outfit picked out for him too and he's gonna come in here wearing all black I know he is."

"What do you have for me?" Ashton nodded at the clothes. Quinn retracted herself from the wall and grabbed a combination of hangers while barely paying attention. She threw the clothes at him while still facing away from him, now looking through the clothes she had for Calum, doing the same by throwing the clothes to him but now turning to face Delaney.