Only You (Punk Michael Clifford)

Seven

I spend the rest of weekend at Calum's, not even bothering to go back home until Sunday. Luke occasionally hangs out with us but spends most of his time with Brandi. 

"So, what do you think about Rachel?" Luke asks me as the three of us sit in Calum's room. Calum looks up from his guitar that he was randomly strumming. 

"I don't know, I don't really know her...Why?" I ask back.

"I was just wondering damn," he says back a little harshly. I didn't think that I had a tone but I guess I did. "Brandi says that she never shuts up about you."

"Really?" I ask. "That's weird," I say when I realize I probably sounded a little too eager. 

"Sounds like she has a little crush on you," Calum says with a smile. 

"I doubt it. Like I said, we barely even know each other."

"You should take her on a date," Calum says as he continues to play random chords.

"Nah, I don't really do dates," I say and flip over on his bed to stare at the ceiling.

"Why not?" Luke asks.

"I just don't, okay?" I say sternly. 

"Alright, I'm going to Brandi's," he says before exiting the room. 

Calum and I chill the rest of the night. We talk mostly about music, but I can't stop thinking about Rachel. I attempt to do everything that I can to forget about her, but nothing really helps.

"Mike?" I hear Calum say and I turn my attention back on him. 

"Yeah?" I ask.

"I've been talking to you for like five minutes," he laughs. "Did you hear anything that I said?"

"Sorry man, I must have zoned out. What were you saying?" I ask.

"Nothing of importance. What's on your mind?" He asks.

Rachel. "Nothing," I lie.

"It has to be something," he laughs. "You seem distracted by something."

"Just thinking about some stuff."

"Here, this will help," he says and hands me his guitar. I hesitate, but he insists once again when I don't take it right away.

I take it and hold it in my arms. It was a nice guitar. I start strumming random chords as Calum goes on to talk about some girl in one of his classes that he finds attractive. As I listen, I begin to strum a couple of patterns along with a song that I wrote. 

"What is that?" Calum asks. I hadn't even noticed that he stopped talking and was listening.

"What?" I ask.

"What were you just playing?" He asks again.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just some random chords and such," I lie again.

"Doesn't sound like nothing. You're pretty good, you know that?" He says. "You should come play with me and Luke sometime. I bet we could write some killer songs."

"Dude, I hate Luke. He hates me too and we both know it. And I don't write songs," I say the last part quietly. 

"Luke doesn't hate you..." He says quietly as well.

"Shut up. Yeah he does," I say and can't help but laugh.

"Yeah, okay," he laughs too. "But just give it a try. Maybe you and Luke will bond through it."

I sigh. I did enjoy playing music and playing by myself was getting kind of old. Besides, I didn't have to share my music with the guys; all I had to do was show up and play a little guitar with them. It's not like we're actually gonna make anything good anyways, we're just three guys. 

"Fine," I sigh. "Next time we chill we can play around with some guitars."

"Awesome. And I play bass, so you and Luke can play guitars. There, you already have something in common," he laughs. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

We decide on our little "band practice" for Monday, but first we had to get through school. 

"Hey guys," Brandi says cheerfully as her and Rachel walk up to Calum's locker where Luke and I are standing. Luke wraps one arm around Brandi and lightly kisses her lips. Rachel stands awkwardly beside them and moves a little closer to me. I can't help but stare, she looked really pretty today. When I realize that it's probably noticeable, I turn my attention back to Calum as he grabs his books from his locker. 

"Morning," I hear Rachel say quietly. I almost say something back, but realize that I need to distance myself from her. I didn't need her having a crush on me if she actually did. She wouldn't continue to like me if I didn't talk to her, so that's what I would do. 

"Come on Calum," I say when he shuts his locker. I accidentally glance at her and see her confused face as I walk away quickly. I can't feel bad, I'm doing this for her own good.