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calum didn't want to leave the hospital, but he was worried he'd cause more problems. he didn't trust ricky, but since he was technically more responsible for the girls than calum, he let it slide. but he wasn't gonna back down. the second he got to his car he sent ariana a text.
from cal- let me know when you make it home, i wanna come see you and make sure you're alright. i'll call you later angel
she didn't respond right away, but he continued on back to his apartment. by the time he arrived, he noticed a big black tahoe truck, which means the boys were all waiting for him inside. when they ride together, that's the car they all use. calum just groaned as he walked inside and prepared himself for the worst.
"look, before you guys yell at me, they needed my help alright." calum said as he opened the door. but instead of the guys waiting with angry faces, their faces were glued to the tv. "uh, what's going on?" no one responded, so when calum joined them in the living room to see what was on, he realized what had them in a trance.
"5 second of summer bass player calum hood, was seen this afternoon taking two well known sex workers to the emergency room. the girls, who go by aries and nova, were seen with multiple bruises on their bodies. it's even been said that one of the girls is suffering from internal injuries, more to come as this story continues."
calum was just as big eyed as the boys. "you have got some serious explaining to do." ashton said.
"why are they all bruised up?"
"what the fuck is an internal injury?"
"did she finally suck your dick?" all the guys looked at roy with a disappointed look. "it doesn't hurt to ask." he said in defense. "i went to see ariana and she was hurt. i wasn't going to just leave her there, i had to do something-"
"and because you "had to do something" everyone knows about your little side piece." michael said. calum just rolled his eyes as he took the bottle of alcohol of roy and downed it himself. "what if i was saving that-"
"don't act like you don't have more." calum said annoyed. "do you realize how bad this is for us cal. we've been trying to clean up our image for the last two years, this is not gonna work for us." luke reminded him. they've been trying to go from stereotypical rockstars with groupies following them all around, to nice gentlemen who empower women. it wasn't always true, but they could fake it well enough for interviews.
"look, if she didn't need help, i wouldn't have taken her but she needed help. she was throwing up blood, i wasn't going to leave her, and if you're gonna be mad at me for that then be mad. but i'm not apologizing for helping my friend."
"i thought she was your girlfriend?" roy teased. calum took the second bottle roy had and dumped it on his head. "come on man, i just took a shower." roy complained. calum just ignored all of the guys and went to his room. he locked the door and just jumped back into bed.
________
ariana and nova got out of the hospital around ten at night. they took an uber home and just tried to get themselves together. "how's your throat?" nova asked. ariana was just eating out of a tub of ice cream to help with the burning. she just shrugged her shoulders.
"has either one of them called?"
"cal." ariana said softly. nova just rolled her eyes as she pulled ariana's phone from her hand. "come on nova give that back." she croaked. "please call me ari, i miss you so much." nova teased, trying her hardest to mock calum's thick australian accent. "that's not funny. did he really say he misses me?" she asked, her eyes as big as the moon. nova threw her back the phone, causing ariana to just give her the stink eye as there wasn't any message at all, other than the one he sent earlier. "should i text him back, just so he knows i'm okay?" ariana asked.
"you heard what ricky said. you know he can do way worse than this if you try and push him. just cut your losses and leave him alone. besides, he's probably one of those jerk rockstars that just sleeps around and knocks you up, then pays for your abortion bill and never calls you back to see how you're doing." nova said. "that's not true, he's sweet and kind. he took us both to the hospital after we begged him not to-"
"and look where that got us? threatened, yet again." nova just sighed as she sat down next to her best friend and held her hands tightly as she looked into her eyes. "babe, trust me. i can see it in your cuter little eyes that you are going to take this way too far. you always fall hard for these types of guys, this isn't the first time that you have talked about a guy you just met like this. i'm not saying he's a bad guy, although he is best friends with roy," the girls both broke into a fit of laughter. "but you need to realize that not every guy you meet is gonna be the one-"
"i never said he was the one. i'm just saying that maybe, we should give him a chance. he doesn't seem like a bad guy, and i'll never know unless i try." nova face palmed herself in annoyance. "okay, ignore everything i said. but unless you want another trip to the e.r without your special new friend being in there with you, i suggest you leave him alone, before ricky forces him out of your life." ariana just wrapped herself up in a the blanket she had and sighed. nova kissed her forehead and stroked her hair softly. "i'm so tired of being alone. i just want to be happy."
"i know babe. but we still have a couple years left of this stupid contract before we can get away from that monster. but until then, i promise to give you as much love and affection as possible. try and get some rest, dr bonner is supposed to be coming in the morning." nova gave her one more forehead kiss before she went into her room and went to sleep for the night while ariana stayed up watching some of her favorite musicals to ease her nerves.
by 3 am she had made it through wicked, funny girl and annie. she kept checking her phone to see if calum would call, but he didn't. she started to think that nova was right about him not caring, but she also had to remind herself that it was 3:45 in the morning and most people would probably be asleep. just as she was about to head to bed herself, she heard a light knock at the door. she was scared that a drunk and drug induced ricky was at her door trying to get a piece of the pie. it wasn't uncommon for him to come by and take advantage of the two girls, especially ariana. she took a deep breath before walking to the door and checking out the peephole, and was shocked to see calum standing at her door.
she opened it slowly, not sure if it was real. "calum, what are you doing here?" she said softly. she was still inside, so she couldn't see some of the people with cameras that had followed calum into the building, though he knew they were there. "i came to see you." before she could say anything, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. she didn't pull away, not even for a second. her hands wrapped around his neck, as the blanket she had wrapped around her fell to the ground, and was now standing on her tippy toes to reach him.
"i can't believe you came back." ariana said as she pulled away breathless. calum just smiled as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "can i stay with you tonight? i didn't want to leave you in the hospital, but your boss just seemed so agitated with me there. i wanna be here with you." ariana felt like her dreams were finally coming true. never has she ever had someone want to be with her, let alone would fight back against ricky just to come and see her. "i'd love that. i can't lie, nova won't be happy to see you." she admitted.
"we can worry about that when she catches us." calum picked up the blanket and went inside with ariana's hand in hand as they walked back to ariana's bedroom. the couple climbed in bed and snuggled up together under the heated blanket, calum's arms wrapped around ariana, and her small frame laying against his chest.
