bouquet of roses | cashton

chapter 2

that pic sums up calum's personality in this story tbh

this is unedited sorry
--

"you assholes. i don't really care when its food you send me, but really? herpes? i hate you guys." calum mumbled, throwing himself on top of michael and luke, who sat on his bed playing fifa. "i hate you guys so, so much."

michael snorted, stroking calum's hair as he paused the game. "you love us. don't even deny it."

and calum couldn't even deny it. in fact, he could never hate the two even if he tried. sure, luke knew how to throw a person off and manipulate them to get what he wanted; and sure, michael was an immature, narcissistic asshole who had a way with words, no matter how idiotic he could come off as. they were geniuses, and together, they were unstoppable.

to this day, calum still wonders how he could ever be best friends with the two. for crying out loud, michael hated luke since their freshman year! it had been just calum and michael, who were best friends since elementary, when luke moved in down the street from calum. and how was calum supposed to know that michael would get jealous when his mom decided to invite the hemmings over for dinner and not allow calum to invite his friend. for nearly six months, the fighting between luke and michael became more and more intense. honestly, it was silly for michael to be upset at calum, but instead all calum could do is be a sarcastic jerk back and suggest, "why don't you make out with him to release the hate and tension?"

most importantly, how could calum have forgotten that his best friend tended to be over dramatic and took things too serious? he found that out the hard way on the last day of freshman year, when michael had ditched soccer, snatched luke away from his volleyball practice, and kissed him as hard as he could in the locker room. if it weren't for calum running into the locker room to take a piss mid-practice, those two would have never been separated!

from that day forward, it was official. they were three best friends, they all had too much money, and they were all inseparable. especially luke and michael; though they had never announced they were together, it became a sort of unspoken fact. still, he always wondered how someone as obnoxious as michael would ever connect so perfectly with the intensely shy luke. well, people do say opposites attract. it didn't bother calum that his two best friends had an even closer connection between each other that he could never match up with, but he refused to admit he ever felt lonely.

with luke and michael came a strange new... nuissance, as calum called it.

it happened for the first time on january 24th of sophomore year, aka calum's 16th birthday. luke was in the hospital with the flu, michael was watching luke in the hospital, and calum was grounded for throwing a party the weekend before. his parents were out with their friends that night, leaving calum by himself. it was around 7:45, if he remembered, when there was a loud knock on the door. on the porch stood a small girl from pizza hut, holding a heart shaped pepperoni pizza and a note in the middle that neatly read "sorry we couldn't come over. happy birthday. xx -muke". calum grabbed the pizza, but as he leaned forward, she did too, pecking him on the lips. "u-um, sorry. the delivery instructions were for me to... do that..." and she scurried off.

yup, calum was positive he was gay after that.

since then, calum slowly became less and less surprised every time he'd open the door to find a strange employee from a completely random business standing at his front door, messing up his name and giving him gifts with embarrassing notes. at this point, it didn't phase him, especially now that he knew michael and luke inside and out.

sighing, calum shifted so he was sitting in between luke and michael, sighing a second time and even a third time until michael paused the game again. "seriously calum, what's up? upset that you upset that hot guy from the floral shop and he probably hates you now? looks like you won't get to smash h-"

"michael gordon clifford!" luke interrupted, face red.

"sorry, sorry! i loooove it when you say my name like that, but i was kidding!" michael put his hands up in defense before laughing again. "really though, i don't think i've seen you so upset over a gift."

"i'm not upset." calum huffed, looking away as he mumbled his next sentence. "... i just feel bad i didn't read the guy's name tag."

"your loss, calum. i've never seen someone so enthuasiastic about flowers. you made yourself look pretty stupid." michael calmed down at the explanation, and luke just shrugged it off, as usual.

luke's last comment earned a groan from calum, who put his head in his hands. luke just patted his shoulder to comfort him, while michael stood up and jabbed a finger into calum's forehead. "a-ha! you think he's hot! i always knew you were into princess-y boys, but i didn't think it'd be that girly!" michael cackled and calum instantly shot up. "shut the fuck up, michael! yeah, that guy was hot, but he sure as hell was annoying!" he seethed, standing instantly as he balled his fists. it took him only a moment to calm down, and when he did, michael placed his hands on either sides of calum's shoulders.

"listen, cal. we're not saying you gotta walk right up to him and ask him to date you if you see him again, but you can't pretend you weren't attracted to him in the least bit!" though he didn't want to admit it, michael was right. avoiding eye contact, calum nodded slowly in agreement. michael smiled widely, pulling the kiwi boy into a bone crushing hug which luke joined in moments later.

"i know what can make you feel better." calum could practically feel michael's smile turn into a smirk as he pulled away. it was calum's least favorite thing ever, and boy was he dreading the mess.

"let's go dye my hair!"

--

WOW I'M SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN A WHILE.

i'm not even sure how many people even read this, but if you are i hope you're not losing interest! (yet)

i mean its my first fanfic so i'm not expecting it to be that good, but yknow..

i'm gonna try to do a couple more updates this week, mainly because i feel like writing SO MUCH lately! which also means i may be starting another fic very soon! it'll be malum, ahaha.

on a completely random note, MICHAEL'S HAIR IS BLUE I LOVE IT! but next chapter he will have red hair and depending on how i feel, he'll have red for the entire fic or just until the last few chapters.

this chapter was kind of a filler in a way, but i promise ashton will be back in the story very soon! i imagine each chapter will be skipping a few days or even a week, but i'll make note of how much time has passed in each chapter.

soo i hope you're enjoying! i'd love it if some people would comment?? like tell me if you like the story even if its still in the beginning stages? much love! xx