Closer - c.h. Sequel to Promises

10

"Michael, stop apologizing. Please?" Michael wouldn't stop blubbering on about how sorry he was. That he was just fed up. Calum assured him that he would have done the exact same thing, if Michael was him and he were Michael. Calum had not yet moved from his place on the couch since Macey checked him. It was now about noon and Luke and Ashton had made their way to the girl's apartment. Everyone was sitting around Calum, anxiously. 

Everyone was worried except Macey. She hung back in the kitchen, making snacks and such. She knew he would be okay. He has a strong heart, she knows that, even without her medical training.

"What do we do now? Should we all go into hiding?" Ashton spoke up for the first time in a while.

"I mean, I will. But why should you stay inside?" Calum asks, looking around at the other boys.

"Because if we go out into public without you, until your face looks more normal, people will talk. The press would be all over it, probably saying the band broke up." Luke says, worriedly.

"Even if Cal did go out- nobody would recognize him." Luke chuckled now.

"How bad is it? I haven't moved since I got put here last night." Calum sighs, regretting any word he ever said negatively about Macey that led up to this moment. He felt like the biggest fool on earth. He also knew, that everyone else thought he was the biggest fool on earth. 

Sybil had run and gotten Calum a mirror so that he could see the damage done.

"Well shit. I look like a marshmallow. I gross red and purple marshmallow."He laughed now, seeing how raw his skin and face looked.

"Mike, good thing you weren't angry enough to punch his teeth out." Ashton laughed now, Michael only smiled. He still felt extremely guilty about the incident.

"So how long until you get better?" Michael asked now.

"Ask Macey, she's the doctor." Calum smiled in Macey's direction. She was still in the kitchen, but now she was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sitting on the counter top.

"You're a doctor?!" Luke's eyes widened as did all the other boys'.

"Oh no, I'm just premed." She laughed, swallowing her sandwich quickly.

"Oh, okay." Luke mumbled, slightly discouraged feeling.

"But, he'll be fine in about 2 weeks. I mean the bruises should clear up by then too but his brain should be good. I think though, that we should take Cal in to a hospital before then." She took another bite from her sandwich, cringing at what would be said next.

"What!? Why?!"

"No hospitals!"

"The press!"

"Macey what are you thinking!?" 

All the boys immediately jumped down her throat.

"Look," She said hopping off the counter and walking to the living room, " Do you want to keep your fantasy everything's alright happy banding time life, or do you want Calum to die from swelling of the brain." She asked them, clenching her fists.

All the boys looked down at the ground and Sybil looked up at Macey, proud that she stood her ground.

"Your choice. But being that I don't have a Cat-scan machine hidden in the closet, I can't help you. So either wait until he starts bleeding out his nose and ears and he can't think and dies, or go in the next few days. Once again I'll say your choice. But I've done all I can do." She tells them firmly. She doesn't want their band to be destroyed but she also doesn't want Calum's life to be the price for fame.

"I'll go to the hospital." Calum speaks now, looking up at Macey.

"Great! Pick out a baseball hat and some sunglasses because you're going tomorrow. Sybil can take you cause nobody knows her. And like Ash said, nobody's gonna recognize you."