All The Mistakes I've Made

Part five

"Fucking ties, man." Ashton said, pulling his phone out of his pocket to take a picture of his atrocious attempt to tie his tie around his neck.

"Maybe if you weren't so busy tweeting it,"Calum began, walking over to fix Ashton's tie for him, "you would be able to focus on tying it correctly."

"First of all, its Instagram, not Twitter."Ashton argued, not letting his eyes leave his phone. "Second, I think I'm just overall tie challenged. I can barely tie my shoes, honestly. I always try to find them with zippers."

"Practice makes perfect."Calum said, deeply focused on getting the older boy's tie perfect.

"Thanks, babe." Ashton said when he finished, and the two giggly boys bro-hugged.

"Honestly disgusting."Luke commented from the table across the room from them, already dressed in his nice shirt and tie for their photo shoot that day. He had directed it to Michael, hoping to make him laugh at how both adorable and repulsive Calum and Ashton were being, but the red head only responded with a "mhm". He didn't even bother to look up from his phone., and unfortunately, Luke wasn't surprised. This was how Michael had been acting since they got in the car this morning, and Luke had been too nervous to ask what was so interesting on that phone of his that tore him away from reality.

The day following their big confessions to each other had been like any other day. Michael had acted like nothing had changed between them, which both relieved and disappointed the blond. He felt like he had laid himself out in front of Michael, and he had done the same for Luke -yet he was acting as if it didn't happen at all. He probably thinks that's what I want, Luke knew, so he tried not to let himself get too worked up. Michael was just trying to do what made Luke happy.

They had flown to LA that day, and spent most of their day fucking around in the hotels, either playing video games or watching movies or just laying around talking. It was a nice break from everything, and Luke had missed this laid-back time with his three best friends. But today, they were doing a photo shoot dressed in ties and nice shirts in the middle of nowhere California. Luke had missed what the photo shoot was for because he was too busy stalking Michael's old instagram pictures -he wasn't proud, but at least he was honest -and now he was too afraid to ask.

Michael groaned and dropped his phone on the table, startling Luke. "What's wrong?"

"My phone fucking died."Michael rubbed his eyes. "The reception in this place is awful, it used all my battery just searching for the little service it had."

"I'm sorry."It was all Luke could think to say.

"Can I use yours?"Michael asked, a hopeful smile growing on his face.

"What for, anyways?" Luke plucked up enough courage to ask. "You've been glued to it since you woke up this morning."

"I'm DMing Taylor."Michael said excitingly.

Luke's heart was, for the millionth time this week, being crushed under the weight of Michael's words. He hated himself for giving Michael this power over him -over his happiness. It was really unfair how the smallest things Michael did or say could change Luke's mood for hours, or even days.

And Luke was tired of not doing anything about it.

"I mean, I have shitty reception too..."Luke said, choosing his words carefully. "I don't want you wasting my battery too."

"Oh..."Michael said, not necessarily mad."That's understandable. Can I at least message her that I have to go?"

Luke thought about it for a minute. He really should let him. If it was anyone else, he would. But even though Michael had said a few days ago that he knew he didn't have a chance with her, Luke still had a feeling Michael hadn't given up completely yet.