Hold On To Me ☾cake au

16

Hours passed and neither of the boys have slept a wink; they were completely lost in each other. They laid face to face, entangled together in every way two people can be entangled. Luke looked all over Calum's face with admiration.

"What is this, Cal?" He spoke, barely above a whisper.

"What is what?"

Luke lifted his and Calum's intertwined hands into view, "this."

A small smile appeared on Calum's face momentarily, "I've been asking myself the same question for two months," he said truthfully, then climbed over Luke so that his legs were at the younger boy's sides while Calum hovered closely over Luke's pink face. "I don't know what you're doing to me, Luke. I can't control myself around you."

Luke brought his hands to Calum's naked butt and squeezed, causing Calum to let out a light moan and fall closer to Luke's face. "Then don't," Luke whispered as Calum crashed his lips against the blonde's.

•••

Luke left Calum's house early that morning, before the sun came up, to avoid Calum's parents and sister from seeing them. He climbed halfway out of the window and Calum kissed him sweetly before Luke crawled the branch to his own bedroom.

Luke took nearly an hour in the shower, standing under the steaming water and thinking about everything. He could still feel Calum touching him all over and he pressed his hands against the shower wall to balance himself.

He was happy he and Calum finally communicated but he still didn't want to go to school. Luke was scared to see how Calum would treat him when he saw him in the hallways or in class. Neither Calum nor Luke knew what they wanted to make out of their whole situation; they didn't even know what the situation was. Luke just knew he couldn't live without Calum for even a day without driving himself insane, and it was literally deadly for Calum to be away from Luke since he was mentally unable to remain sober if he couldn't touch him. 

Calum contemplated staying home from school. He didn't want to see the football team or anyone but Luke, so what was the point? It scared Calum to death how he felt about his best friend. In Calum's head, he couldn't be gay. He didn't want to be, and every time he got the urge to kiss Luke until their lips were numb, he wanted to scream and cry for someone to tell him what was wrong with him.

Luke wasn't worrying about the possibility of him being gay or bisexual anymore or whatever he may be. He just knew how he felt about Calum and that's all he needed or cared about so he thought, why should anything else matter?

Eight o'clock eventually came and Luke's hatred for high school didn't go away even if he was talking to Calum again. Luke slugged out of his car and dragged his feet to where Calum stood surrounded by his posse. Back to normal, I guess, Luke thought.

Luke timidly tapped Calum's shoulder from behind him, making the older boy turn around and a smile appear on his face at the sight of Luke. Luke was happy Calum wasn't treating him different or acting strange as Luke's eyes became bright with adoration.

Calum was originally planning on keeping his composure when the time came to see Luke again but that all flew out the window when Calum began tapping his foot against the ground and not so patiently waiting for Luke to arrive at the school. Calum hadn't seen the younger boy since Luke left his bedroom that morning and all Calum could think of was him.

"Hi," Calum greeted Luke, trying to hold back the strong urge that was eating away at him to take hold of Luke's face and crash their lips together.

"Are you tired?" Luke asked sweetly.

"No, not at all."

Luke nodded in response and looked blankly into the group in front of them while he stood awkwardly next to Calum. Luke had to fight his brain telling him not to take his eyes off of the older boy next to him. To take in his obviously exhausted appearance (despite what Calum said) of messy hair, puffy lips, and a loose sweater. The sight looked like a masterpiece to Luke and being this close of a proximity to Calum but not touching was killing him.

Calum was getting antsy as well and hooked his pinky with Luke's without looking down. He held back a smile as he heard Luke's soft sigh from next to him. Calum knew doing this in front of everyone was risky but he figured the group was so closely packed that no one would notice.

He assumed he was right when the bell rang and the group dispersed. He swiftly unhooked his finger from Luke's and walked with him to their first class. Calum stopped Luke with a hand on his arm before he could walk through the door.

"Can I come over later," Calum asked, "like after football practice?"

Luke nodded, "yeah, sure."

The two went their own ways into the classroom, Luke taking his seat near the window and Calum all the way in the back. It was difficult for Calum to focus on anything the physics teacher was saying with Luke in his direct line of vision but he eagerly waited out the day.

Luke went home after school, as he always did, while Calum took the long walk across the campus to the boys' locker rooms. Calum's last class of the day was the farthest from the dressing rooms so, inside, he was greeted by the usual sight of guys already dressed in airy shorts and t shirts. Some exiting the room, others getting their last things in order before meeting coach out on the football field who Calum had to beg to not ban him for the first half of the season.

Calum quickly changed into his football shorts, a dry fit shirt, and football cleats before meeting the rest of the team on the field. He stood sneakily behind the team while coach Jacobs was giving instructions but Calum could swear that man had bionic senses as he halted his speaking and directed his attention towards Calum who was doing a poor job of hiding behind one of the bigger players on the team.

"Late again, Hood," Coach Jacobs stated.

"Sorry, coach, you know my class is all the way across the school-"

"If Brian can make it here from the drama room on time, then you can make it from your math class," coach Jacobs cut Calum off, pointing to Brian, the team's goalie. "You're the captain of the team, Calum. If you keep slacking and acting off, how you've been, that'll change. Don't think I've forgotten about how you behaved in class the other day."

"Sorry, coach."

"Yeah, I know you are." Jacobs shook his head and chuckled, "everyone, five laps around the field," he ordered and blew the black whistle that hung around his neck.

•••

Practice ended and Calum showered and changed into normal clothes within ten minutes. He was always the last one to practice and the first one to leave but this time, he was leaving quickly to see Luke. Before he could exit the locker rooms to his car, a hand stopped him and he turned around to be met with Joshua drying his thick hair with a towel.

"Why're you in such a rush?" Josh asked innocently.

"I always leave this early," Calum said truthfully, but he understood what Josh meant. Calum was evidently being a little more eager in his actions today. "See you tomorrow," Calum tried to leave but he was once again stopped.

"Can I ask you something? And I swear I'm not trying to be rude or anything, if you are, 'cause you're my friend and everything-"

"Get to the point, Josh," Calum rushed.

Joshua sighed and hesitantly let out his question, "are you and Luke like- are you... a thing?"

Calum's eyes widened as he straightened his back, trying to brush off the question as if it was nothing, "is that a serious question? Of course not. Luke and I are just really comfortable around each other. I've known him forever, you know that."

"It's just 'cause I saw you two kind of holding hands this morning before class when we were all talking so I wasn't sure..." Josh trailed off.

"You're seeing things, man. We were all standing really close."

"Yeah, you're right. Good thing, too. We can't have a fag on the team, right, Cal?" Joshua chuckled and nudged Calum's arm playfully.

Calum's heart shattered in his chest and he wasn't sure what to say so he just nodded and left the locker room. He blinked back tears as he hastily opened his car door. He wasn't sure why he was crying or why Joshua's comment hurt him so much. There's no reason to be hurt by it, Calum thought. Why do I care? I don't care.

Calum shook the thoughts from his head and gained his composure as he pulled out of the school parking lot.