Learning To Fall

five

In another fifteen minutes, Michael pulls into the driveway of his house. Or mansion, I should say. I raise an eyebrow at him when he stops the Jeep. Without saying anything, I get out of the car and begin to help Cal out.

"Hey Ands," He says with a groggy voice, and I can't help but smile.

"Hey Cal, we're at Michael's," I tell him, putting an arm over my shoulder as he slides onto the ground from his seat.

"Can I sleep at Michael's?" Calum asks, his eyes still closed. I look over at Michael, who's unlocked the door, and he nods.

"Yeah Calum, you can sleep here," Michael says, and Calum smiles and nuzzles my neck.

"I'm so sorry about Luke, Andy, I really am," He mumbles, and my heart breaks a little more. Here he was, still apologizing for Luke's mistakes.

"It's okay Calum, it's just you and I now," I mumble, making our way into the house with a drunk Calum slumped over me and a sober Michael following.

>>

I brush the dark hair away from Calum's face and he sighs in his sleep.

"Thanks for this, by the way." I tell Michael, talking about the band shirt and sweat pants Calum was wearing.

"It's no problem, really," Michael answers, and I turn to face him.

"I should get going," I state, wringing my hands and heading for the door.

"Andy, wait," The boy says, and I hear his footsteps behind me as I stop in my tracks. I didn't want him to see the tears in my eyes. The last time something like this had happened was Cecily's birthday party, where Calum got wasted and Luke drove him back to his place. It was there that Luke told me he had feelings for me, and asked me out. Tonight was too much like that night.

"Yeah?" I ask, still not turning around.

"You should stay, it's nearly twelve and there's probably drunk drivers everywhere," Michael says, and I shake my head.

"Rachel will kill me," I simply say. I hear him sigh, and can picture him scratching the back of his neck.

"I may have called her while I was outside," He admits, and I turn around to face him. "What? She's my manager too, and I need her number as well," Michael defends, his tone guilty.

"What did she say?" I ask.

"She told me to refuse to drive you back," He laughs in reply. Yep, that sounds like Rachel.

"Well, I have no clothes," I huff, and he rolls his green eyes.

"I have plenty band shirts and sweat pants to go around," Michael answers stubbornly. I sigh and decide to give in. He returns five minutes later with black sweat pants, and a Def Leopard tank top.

"Thanks," I mumble before going to the bathroom to change.

>>

"Okay, what's up?" Michael asks from his side of the couch, and I look up from the movie we were currently watching.

"What?" I question. He gives me the you-know-exactly-what look and I sigh. How could I tell him that I was thing about Luke the whole night? Did he even know the whole story? And if so, did I want to spill my thoughts to a stranger? Yeah, Michael and I had talked before, but was I ready to tell him what was going on in my mind?

"Tell me what's on your mind, Andy, I heard what you told Calum." Michael says, wringing his hands. I sigh before answering.

"It's nothing against you, Michael. I just," There's no going back now. "I'm scared to let anyone else in. I let Luke and Cecily in, and they fucked me up so bad that I can't even trust people. I'm sorry," I admit, my voice cracking near the end. Michael looks at me how everyone looked at me when they heard what happened- with pity in their eyes. "Please don't pity me, Michael." I almost whimper, and I'm ashamed that I'm revealing everything to him. But there was something about him that made me feel safe.

"What'd they do, Ands?" He asks, putting an arm around me.

I lean into him almost naturally. It's not like this was anything new, Calum and I cuddled all of the time. But it felt different with Michael. I push those thoughts away, and take in a breath before telling him, who clearly lied when I asked him if he knew the story earlier.

"We all started out as friends, but with Luke and I it was always different. Soon enough I developed feelings for him, and one night he asked me out. Things were great, until we hit our one year mark. Then, they got weird. Luke would drop me off at Calum's and then leave to go help his mom with something, or he'd remember he needed to get something from his house. One day, Cal and I got into an argument, and of course Luke wasn't there, so I decided to walk to Cecily's. Around this point in the story, I was too blinded by love for Luke to realize how fucked up the situation was. Until I caught them in the act that night. It turns out that during the first year, Luke and Cecily would go behind my back and make fun of me. Then he'd just drop me off at Calum's so they could hook up. And that's the story of how I stopped trusting people." I admit, not noticing my eyes are watering until the first tear falls. I brush it away swiftly, not wanting Michael to see me cry. I look over to see his jaw clenched, and his hands in fists.

"Michael, Mikey, hey," I say, turning towards him and grabbing his arms. I run my hands up and down his pale arms, trying to calm him down. "Look at me." I state, and his gaze falls to my eyes.

The intensity still shocks me, but I don't look away. Instead I do something I haven't willingly done in a while. I put my arms around his neck and pull him in, hugging him close. He responds immediately, his hands coming around my waist and pulling me closer. I lean on his shoulder and allow tears to escape my eyes while he can't see.

"Now it'll be you, me, and Calum," Is all I hear before I fall asleep.