Strike (Cake) [Completed] (#Wattys2017)

Epilogue: What I Like About You

                 

They sprinted, all four of them, as fast as they could three blocks down from Feldmann Hall to the little supermarket on campus, jackets flying back from their bodies.

            "You were supposed to watch the time, Luke!" Ashton shouted, and a group of students gave them weird looks as they ran past.

            "Sorry, my eyes were elsewhere!" Luke shouted back.

            Calum glanced up at him and smiled.

            It was twenty minutes until they went on stage at the fundraiser, and they still had to get over there and change their clothes. Problem was, the frosting from the cake they'd eaten at the debate reception had stained all their teeth blue. Before Ashton had punched him in the shoulder, Michael had said it looked like they'd all sucked off a Smurf.

            And so they were running, and then slowing, and Calum was holding the door to the market open and Michael was running to the aisle where they kept toothbrushes and Ashton was pulling a pair of twenties from his wallet and throwing them at the guy behind the register. Luke went back to the door and held it again, shouting a "Thanks!" at the cashier as the others ran back out and Michael doled out the toothbrushes and they all stuck them in their pockets.

            They started down the sidewalk again, back the way they'd come. Ashton's hat flew off his head. Michael was behind him, caught it mid-run, and shoved it back on.

            "Fuck," Ashton said. "That was a moment. I wish we could stop and I could—"

            "Don't even think about it," Michael said, and pulled him along.

            "Thank God the hall's close," Calum said.

            "Thank God they set up for us," Luke replied.

            In another few minutes they were past Feldmann, turning a corner, and running through the back doors of Armstrong Hall.

            "Be right there," Luke breathed out, and he went backstage to grab a bag he'd brought in the day before and then went and met the others in the bathroom. He threw the bag down onto the floor and unzipped it, and there were all the clothes they needed.

            "Who thought to have us pack again?" Ashton asked, squeezing toothpaste onto his brush and handing the tube off to Michael.

            "Calum," Luke said.

            "An hour in between? I had a feeling something like this would happen," Calum said.

            Luke snorted, and they all started to brush their teeth together, giving each other foamy, excited smiles.

            A student opened the door to the bathroom and raised an eyebrow at them. "What the fuck are you guys doing?"

            "Pete!" Calum said, trying not to spit. He rinsed his mouth quickly from the water fountain, tossed his toothbrush in the trash, and ran over and hugged him. "You came!"

            Peter scoffed. "Course I did. Front row, dude. Not that there are rows tonight—they took out the seats. Don't you guys have like five minutes?"

            "We're working on it," Calum said. He turned to the others, who were looking weirded out about brushing their teeth in front of a stranger. "Guys, this is my best friend, Peter. We do football together."

            "Hey," Peter said, and stuck his hand out to Ashton, then Michael, then— "Luke Hemmings. AKA Calum's Debate teacher. AKA Calum's boyfriend?"