Love Triangle | calum hood and luke hemmings

3: Tension

CARTERS POV

I wake up to the sun shining in my face. I look at my phone and see it's 9:17. I walk to the kitchen to find my mom wiping off the counter. She sees me and says, "Good morning, honey."

"Hi, Mom," I reply. 

"I made pancakes. Want any?" she offers.

"Sure," I say. She brings over a plate with two pancakes and syrup. "Thanks," I say.

"So," she starts. "How was your date yesterday?" she asks.

I laugh. "Just wonderful," I say sarcastically. 

She raises her eyebrows to question.

"Turns out, the guy I went on a date with asked me out before his best friend could, even though he knew his best friend had a crush on me," I tell her.

She cringes. "Oooo."

"Ya."

"Alright. I've gotta head to work so I'll see you tonight," she tells me. "Adam's at daycare already."

"You're working on Saturday again?" I whine.

"I'm sorry, honey," she says. "I'll be back in time for dinner." Then she leaves.

I sigh, not knowing what to do with myself when I get a text. It's from Calum.

From Calum: our date ysterday didnt go as planned. let me make it up to u?

I ponder this.

To Calum: depends on whether Luke knows about what happened yesterday

From Calum: he does. I talked to him last night. were all good. 

To Calum: so he's perfectly fine with u taking me on another date???

From Calum: well... we decided let the best man win

To Calum: so now I'm part of a competition?

I wasn't mad. I was just joking around, but Calum had it coming.

From Calum: no that's not what im saying

To Calum: im jk. where do u want to meet

From Calum: my house?  whenever

To Calum: sure

I set my phone down and finish my breakfast. After that, I change and grab my car keys. I hop in my car and drive to Calum's. I park and then knock on his door. He opens it and smiles. 

"Hey" he says.

"Hi," I reply

"Come in," he says.

"So I was thinking we could maybe watch a movie or something?" he offers. 

"You really like your movies, don't ya?" I tease.

"You know it," he replies. Today he's wearing a black muscle tank with another pair of black skinny jeans, and again, he's hot. He leads me to the living room. I sit on the couch while he goes to the TV. His x-box catches my eye.

"You have an x-box?" I ask.

"Oh, ya," he replies. "You play?"

"Hell ya," I say. "I could kick your ass in COD."

He laughs. "You're on." He grabs two controllers and hands one to me. 

"Ready to get creamed?" he asks.

"In your dreams," I retort.

The game comes on, and after 5 minutes, I've already won the game.

"Hah! Take that!" I squeal. "Told you I could kick your ass."  

"Rematch?" he pleads. 

I roll my eyes. "Fine." 

We are halfway through the second game, and I'm winning by a lot. 

I kill him and Calum says, "Bull shit. Give me that controller."

"No way," I say. "We've gotta finish the game."

He looks at me teasingly. "Hand over the controller," he says, trying to hide his shame of being beat by a girl and the hint of a smile that plays on his lips. 

"Nope," I say, smiling. He lunges at me, reaching for the controller, but I'm too good at keep away. We're both laughing, and then Calum finally gets the controller. He stops laughing, realizing that our bodies are close. Calum's hovering over me, his face only a few inches away from mine. We stare at each other for a long time before Calum leans in and closes the gap. The moment our lips touch, electricity courses through me. Calum's hand soon comes up to caress my face, and my hands go to the back of his neck. I'm intoxicated by him. I run my fingers through his hair as his hands run down my sides. Finally, we pull apart both needing to catch our breath. He sits up, and so do I. His phone buzzes and he reaches to look at it.  

"Shit," he mutters. 

"What is it?" I ask.

"I totally forgot. We had band rehearsal today, and I'm late," he says, standing up to find his shoes. 

"Oh," I say, bummed he has to go. 

"You could come with if you wanted," he suggests.

"Sure," I say and smile.

We get in his car and drive to Ashton's house. Calum jumps out of the car and speed-walks to the side garage door, dragging me by the hand behind him. He opens it, and enters. There sits the rest of the band, waiting for him.

"Jesus, Cal. We've been waiting for like, an hour," Ashton says.

"Looks like he was too busy gettin' some." Michael smirks. I blush and look at Calum. His hair is all messed up, thanks to my fingers. Calum sees me looking up at his hair, and he reaches to fix it. It's only then that I notice Luke sitting on a small couch. I smile at him, but his eyes look at mine and Calum's hands interlocked and his eyes show sadness. I suddenly feel guilty, and I drop Calum's hand.

"Anyways," Ashton says, "let's get going." The boys all stand and find their instruments. I sit on the small couch Luke was on before and wait for them to begin. They start out strong. Then Calum starts to sing.

"Back in high school, 

we used to take it slow.

Red lipstick on and high heel stilettos.

Had a job downtown working the servo.

Had me waiting in line, couldn't even let go.

'Cuz I never wanna be that guy,

who doesn't even get a taste.

No more having to chase

to win that prize."

Then Luke takes over.

"You're just a little bit out of my limit.

It's been two years now, haven't even seen the best of me.

And in my mind now, I've been over this a thousand times.

It's almost over,

Let's start over."

They end the song and I smile. "That was really good, guys."

"Thanks," Luke and Calum say at the exact same time. They look at each other, and tension rises. They both have been fighting for my attention, but I still can't decide between them. Oh boy. This is gonna be hard.