Fame ☆ Cashton AU

Chapter Nine: Late-Night Conversations and New Homes

"Michael?"

After a few rings, Michael picked up his phone.

"Who is this?" Michael asked, seeming a little bit rude from the tone in his voice.

"It's Calum Hood," Calum explained nervously, "the guy you talked to at the club a few hours ago. I was with Bella."

"Ah, okay," Michael said, "Sorry about that. I didn't recognize your voice, so I had no idea who was calling."

"It's fine," Calum replied with a sigh.

"I'm going to try to ask you this in the nicest way possible - was there a certain reason why you were calling? Or did you just want to talk?" Michael asked, hoping that he wasn't coming across as rude.

"A little bit of both, to be honest," Calum explained, "There's just... It's just that... something happened and I need to get it off my chest. I need to tell someone before I go crazy."

"You can talk to me about anything. I'll listen," Michael said, "Rant away."

"Okay."

Calum took a deep breath and began to speak.

"So, you know Ashton Irwin, right?" Calum began, "Wait, what kind of question is that? Of course you know who he is. He's a freaking celebrity. Anyways, I went to one of Ashton's concerts in London with my friend - well now ex-friend - Luke. We got into an argument and ended up not going to the concert together. I met Bella while in line for Ashton's meet and greet and then we met up again before the doors opened to the venue. She offered to take me to the concert since neither of us had someone to go with, and I agreed. Then it got late. I didn't want to have to deal with seeing Luke at the hotel room he had spent so much money on for the vacation in London we were supposed to go on together as well. I explained that to Bella and she let me stay at her house for the rest of my vacation here. Then she took me to the nightclub where I met you and where she got very, very drunk."

"Sounds a lot like Bella," Michael replied with a chuckle, before realizing he interrupted what Calum was saying, "Sorry, continue."

"Anyways, I took Bella back to her house and then she kissed me. For some reason, I kissed back. Now I have no idea what I'm supposed to do," Calum explained.

"So, let me get this straight. You kissed Bella," Michael said.

"Yeah," Calum admitted with a feeling of embarrassment, "I swear I don't know why, though. I will never understand why I even did it in the first place."

"Do you like her? Even a little bit?" Michael asked.

"No, I don't like her," Calum told him sternly, "She was just giving me compliments and next thing you know we were kissing."

"Also, what's with you and this Luke kid? Was he your boyfriend or something?" Michael asked curiously.

"No way," Calum answered, laughing a little, "He's as straight as straight can be. Where as I don't really want to worry about my identity for a while. I'm just waiting for the right person to come along."

"What are you going to do about the Bella situation?" Michael asked.

"I don't know," Calum said, trying not to cry, "You know her much better than I do. I was asking you for advice because, well, I have no one else to ask."

"I'm flattered that you've trusted me, despite meeting me only about two hours ago. However, I'm honestly not sure about what to do in this particular situation," Michael replied, "Sorry, buddy."

"It's fine," Calum mumbled, biting his lip, "it's fine."

"I will tell you this, though. If you aren't comfortable with being around Bella or staying at her house, you can stay with me. I know that's kind of strange, but I just want you to be comfortable, happy and safe. Do whatever you need to do to feel like that," Michael told him.

He made yet another rash decision.

"Sure, that'd be nice," Calum said with a smile.

"Great!" Michael exclaimed, "I'll be at Bella's house in a few minutes. Taking care of Drunk Bella is not fun. After that's all figured out, I'll get you settled in to my place. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," Calum said in agreement before hanging up the phone.

He definitely wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.

Author's Note: Hey! I don't know what to say haha whoops.

Thoughts on Calum being confused about the Bella situation?

Him calling Michael for help?

Michael offering to help and let Calum stay with him?

-Meg :-)