The Space Between a Rock and a Hard Place- 5SOS

Chapter Eleven

The Love Club- Lorde

No Vacancy- OneRepublic / Amir (this is just a good french/english song for vibes lol)

Calum Hood:

We're in Montreal. It's a French city in Canada, and our last stop on tour before we finally return home.

We've got a few days here, so we're taking the night to celebrate Ash and Luke's birthdays. Ashton's was about a week ago, but Luke's was today, and we hadn't gotten a chance to do anything until now. Also, with Luke turning 19, we were all legal to drink here. I've never actually drank before, but the other boys were pretty excited about it. Personally, I'm a bit nervous. I'll try to monitor myself.

We arrive at the club downtown, a variety of languages and accents flying about the air of the busy party scene flowing into the building. A few fans catch us outside, but with the older crowds, we should be relatively unbothered for the night.

"Oh, yeah, this is gonna be great guys!" Michael exclaims as we show our IDs giving us entry to LEDs and alcohol. The music is making the whole place pulse already and I'm still sober. People are everywhere: dancing, sitting, drinking, kissing...

This was going to be a night to remember... or not, we'll see where it takes us.

The boys eagerly head straight to the bar, making their picks for their first tastes of alcohol.

"Shots?" Mike asks, and Ashton agrees, sealing our fate. I've heard they're bad. Well, I guess, strong, I don't know yet, but I'm about to find out. The bartender pours us four, and we glance at each other before throwing it back in one motion.

We all simultaneously choke down the drink as we are hit with the strength of it. Wow, okay.

Michael hollers, signaling for another round. I don't think I can do this again. Luke and I are still processing the first, but Ashton and Michael push us for the second. Here we go, then.

I make the same face I did as the first, as I down my second shot, but it's not as bad as the first.

"Okay, that's enough for now," I state, stopping Michael from going further.

"C'mon, Cal, you're no fun! This is life, enjoy it!" Mike shoots back at me.

"You guys want a beer then?" Ash suggests, directed at Luke and me, who take the opportunity to go a bit slower than the other pair. He leads and gets the next selection of drinks for the group.

Soon enough, Michael and Ashton are drunk enough to cover for the lot of us, but Luke and I are also two beers down, finally relaxing into the environment. I mean, we're celebrating, I guess I can let down my guard for a few hours.

Luke and I watch Mike and Ashton on the dance floor. There is nothing that those two could do to make us stand out even more here. It's a sophisticated club in the french area of Canada, and here are two young adults in a punk rock band waving their arms around drunk dancing like immature children.

"Sometimes I wish I could pretend I didn't know you idiots," I say, Luke laughing at my remark.

"Let's party, guys! You only get to party on your nineteenth in Canada once, Luke!" Ashton says, waving the bandana that was once on his head, as he swaggers toward us, unbelievably wasted.

"In a bit, Ash, don't think I'm as gone as you are yet," Luke responds, taking a large sip of his beer, suggesting that we'll hit the same rock bottom Ash and Mike have gone to. I already feel out of it, just waiting a bit longer to join the chaos, surely we're going to get kicked out then.

"Aww, come on already, birthday boy," Mike adds.

"You guys are children," I say, taking a sip of my drink now.

"Oh, we're fuckin' hammered, man" Mike laughs my insult off, leaving the bar with Ashton.

"I can't believe we let them drag us into this," Luke says, "this is a whole new level of them,"

"Oh, trust me, I can't think straight at all right now, tomorrow morning is gonna be rough,"

"Ash and Mike aren't gonna remember a thing-"

"They'll be good by tomorrow night though, right?" I ask as we continue to watch the boy's behavior. I feel like I'm babysitting adults.

"Uhm, yeah, or at least mostly back," Luke answers.

We keep observing the boys from a distance, both of us finally finishing our third beer. I've lost track of their count by now.

"Yow want to go join them, Cal? Might as well at this rate,"

My brain takes a moment to process the question.

"I think I'm in love with Aviana."

"You what?" Luke asks, freezing his actions and giving me a shocked expression.

Wait- what.

Shit.

"I didn't mean that, oh gosh, uhm, I just really miss her and like my family, too, and I know it hasn't been that long..." I'm trying to cover myself, my thoughts spiraling out of control.

"Woah, Cal, it's all good, it's okay if you do, that's just not what I asked you," he answers.

I rub my eyes, I'm so tired now, "Don't tell anyone, please, I'm nervous about it, I don't really know what's happening,"

"C'mon, Calum, let's go join the other boys, I won't say a thing. I think you really need a break, so just let yourself go already,"

And he was right. I just needed to forget about the world around me for a second.

"Happy Birthday, Luke, let's go get ourselves kicked out of here," I say and laugh, as we make our way over to Mike and Ash, hollering at us in return.

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It's boutta get GOOD guys... *insert side eyes emoji lmao*

Thank you so muchhhhhh :)