Chapter 37

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I carefully removed Luke's arms around my waist as I rolled out of bed. He groaned, and reached out for me. As soon as he realized I wasn't in bed, he gave up and went back to sleep, soft snores escaping his mouth. I had a photoshoot today, the last one before tour. It was the day after the big incident at the beach, so I was expecting a lot of questions from everybody at work. I quickly made breakfast, putting half of it under foil with a note on top of it. I grabbed the car keys off the counter by the door and drove to the location, climbing out of the car and getting swarmed by Alec, Emmalyn, my boss, Zach, and all my other friends.

"Are you okay?" Zach asked.

"Is Luke okay?" Jake asked. 

"Are both of you okay?" Emmalyn asked.

"Why didn't you call the police on him?" Alec asked me.

"Do you want a day off?" My boss asked. 

"What happened to the worker?" Kile asked. 

"Guys, I'm fine. Luke is fine, Bruised cheek, black eye, split lip and bruised knuckles. Gerad got fired. I didn't call the police on him because it was relatively harmless until the fight.  No, I don't want a day off, I leave in four days." I responded calmly, accepting the outfit I had to put on to model for the first round of photos. They all nodded, and I went into the changing rooms and changed into the short shorts and crop top, exiting the room. I got handed a pair of sunglasses, which I put on my forehead. After posing for a few shots, I changed again, this time into a loose dress. I posed on a car on a spot of the mountain we were shooting on, overlooking the town. As soon as those photos were done, I changed into yet another outfit and posed for those, letting a genuine smile take over my face as I did what I loved to do. By the end of the day, I had changed about 5 times, and was laughing at Alec and Emmalyn's photo shoot. They had to dance, and neither of them were good at dancing. I checked my phone for the first time in a few hours and saw multiple texts from the boys. 

Luke: Brae you should come home

Somethings up with Calum

He's throwing up for some reason

I don't know what to do

Ember is busy

I know your busy but......

Brae please come home. I'm worried about Calum

Ashton: Go home! Calum needs you!

Michael: Something is up with Calum. You should go home early. 

Luke: Why aren't you responding? 

Brae?

Are you ignoring us?

Please come home

Brae: You should've called me! I was modelling! I wasn't looking at my phone. I'll be right there. 

"I've got to go, sorry guys, I won't make it tonight." I said in a rush, gathering my things.

"But you said you could make it like five minutes ago?" Emmalyn said confused.

"Somethings up with Calum and I just now found out. I should've gone to take care of him sooner. Sorry guys." I said, getting in my car and starting it. They waved, and I rushed home, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel at every red light. As soon as I arrived home Luke brought me to where Calum was sitting in the bathroom, his face pale.  He groaned and leaned over the toilet, throwing up again. I rubbed his back, his shirt sticking to his skin because of his sweat. I pulled the bottom of his shirt up, signalling to him to take his shirt off. He took his shirt off and I continued to rub his back, despite the sweat. 

"I should've been here sooner." I muttered under my breath, neither boy hearing me. "Luke can you get a glass of water?" I asked louder, and Luke nodded, getting up and returning a minute later with a cup full of water. Calum leaned into me, and I held the glass to his lips, and he drank the water. I put the empty glass on the counter as I rubbed Calum's back, not saying a word. Calum's eyes closed, and he leaned even more on me, and soon he fell asleep. About ten minutes later, Ember came bursting through the door, concern etched on her face. Her face relaxed when she saw him sleeping on my shoulder, and she smiled at me. She took a photo and tweeted it with the caption: 'My adorable sick boyfriend and his bestie. Love them both lots <3 <3' Calum's head fell off my shoulder and into my lap, but he didn't wake up thankfully. I carefully adjusted my position so he wasn't in a weird position. 

"Thank you for taking care of him." Ember said quietly.

"I only got here about thirty minutes ago." I replied, playing with Calum's hair gently. 

"You skipped your plans for the night to take care of him." She pointed out.

"He'd do the same for me in a heartbeat. If Luke didn't  beat him to it." 

"He would, wouldn't he?" 

"He'd do the same for you." 

"We've only been together for two weeks, Brae. You've been best friends for..."

"1 and 3/4 of a year." I finished. 

"But the events that happened to you-"

"Yeah, they made us stronger. But that doesn't mean he'd value his plans over you like he values me over his plans. It's not really about how long he's known you. It's about how much he loves you. And Ember he loves you so much." I said, keeping my voice quiet still. 

"Thank you. For that." 

"Not a problem, Em. Not a problem. You look stressed. Go home, get some rest. Relax."

"But Cal-" She started.

"He'll be fine. I'll call you if anything major happens to him okay? Promise. Take care of yourself." She nodded and left, leaving me alone with a sick, sleeping Calum. 

+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+ Two Hours Later

Calum groaned, his eyes opening. 

"How you feeling Cal?" I asked, and I got a groan in response. 

"I think I got food poisoning." He mumbled, closing his eyes again. 

"Maybe." I agreed, continuing to play with his hair to comfort him. I heard crying come from another room, and I frowned.

"You should go see who's crying." Calum mumbled. 

"I'll be right back Cal." I said, getting up and walking over to where the crying was coming from. I found Luke in the living room, his head in his hands and his whole body shaking with sobs as his phone was on the ground across from him, the screen shattered. I walked over to his phone and saw twitter open, hate filling the entire mention section. I frowned, since I thought he ignored the hate. I left his phone where it was, walking over to him. I wrapped my arms around his torso and hugged him, and he stood up, leaning into me. I slowly lead him to the bathroom, sitting down next to Calum, who's eyes were closed again. Luke cried into my shoulder, and Calum moved so his head was in my lap again. I started to sing softly, my aim to get them to both fall asleep. After about three songs, their soft snores filled the room. I smiled to myself, loving every moment of this. Most of my favorite memories were where I was just cuddling with my best friend or husband, or even better, both of them. While if they fall asleep it gets boring for me, knowing that they're relaxed makes up for it, since they have the stressful life with touring and performing on top of writing and recording new songs for the fans. I hummed quietly to myself, thinking about everything. 

ACK I HOPE YOU LIKED THIS. 

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