"It's Not Love If It Hurts" //5sos

/35/

  They were supposed to be getting ready to go out with Annie and Calum, to celebrate their relationship being approved. Instead, Luke was sitting on the floor next to a crying Ashton, gesturing to Mikey to call them and call it off.

  It wasn't too unusual. They all got like that sometimes- their job was stressful, and they got a lot of hate from it. They were so lucky for everything to have turned out the way it did, even if there were some major downsides. Usually they were able to see past the downsides- but today, Ashton had been swept up in it again.

  Luke sat next to him, rubbing his back, murmuring encouraging words from time to time. Mikey slid into the hallway, calling Calum.

  "Luke?" A girls voice, Annie, answered on the other line.

  "No, it's Mikey." He responded. You could hear Annie catch her breath on the other line, but Michael tried to ignore it. "I'm borrowing Luke's phone. Is Calum around?"

  Annie hesitated before answering. "Erm, no, he's in the shower. Can I take a message?"

  "Just tell him that we have to cancel our plans tonight. It's Ashton."

  "Ashton?"

  Mikey sighed, running his hand through his hair agitatedly. "Yeah, he's fine, just tell Calum he's fine but we have to cancel our plans because he isn't fine tonight, okay?"

  Annie swallowed hard, uncomfortable. "Yeah, sure, okay."

  The lime disconnected, and Annie set down Calum's phone. What was wrong with Ashton?

***********************************

  "I was fine. I didn't even care." Ashton lemented, his face blotchy and red from crying. "And then my aunt called."

  Luke and Michael were on either side, comforting him. This happened more than it probably should, and they all rotated being the comforter and the comfortee.

  Ashton laughed. "It wasn't supposed to be a big deal. But she had heard about the band, and called to ask me when I was getting a real job."

  He chuckled, like it was a joke, but he didn't find it funny. None of them did. They all knew they wouldn't be popular forever- before too long, they'd be old news. Who knew what they would do after that.

  It was not half an hour later when someone opened the door, walking inside without knocking. The boys muted the TV, looking into the hallway apprehensivly. Calum strided  in, his hair still wet and his clothes sticking to his body. He walked over. without saying anything, and shoved Luke aside, sitting next to Ashton and hugging him. Ashton immediately hugged him back, gripping his friend tightly as if afraid he'd disappear on them.

  Calum moving out had effected all of them more than they would like to admit. The house felt empty with only three people living in it, and the boys were constantly forgetting that he was gone. Luke would sneak into Calum's room some nights just to find an empty bed, and remembering Calum was gone. Ashton always made way more waffles than he needed to, and Michael was constantly asking the others were Calum was. They all kept forgetting, and now that Calum was there, they were afraid he'd dissappear again.

  Sure they saw each other just about every day. But seeing each other at a job, regardless of how fun it is, would never be the same as living with someone.

  And now that Calum was here, Ashton was afraid to let him go. He did, eventually, wanting to get a chance to talk to him.

  "You're here." He said, a little obviously.

  Calum smiled weakly. "Annie said you weren't doing fine, and I came over as quick as I could."

  Mikey kept on glancing in the hallway. "Where is she anyways?"

  Calum's smile dissipated. "She's at home. She's an adult, you know, and can handle being on her own."

  That was a lie. Annie didn't seem to be the best at handling things, and it wasn't a good idea to leave her home alone for too long. Sure she'd been alright the past few days, but who knew how long that would last. She stayed home alone most days anyways- but nights were always way worse for her. After all, she'd never been assulted midday.

  But when Calum said that, Ashton felt a sinking feeling in his chest. It wasn't because of Annie- he was nervous about that too, but that's not what upset him. What upset him was how Calum had said 'home' so easily.
It felt as though he had moved on from them, as though his home was no longer in this house with his three best friends- as if now, it were in that other house, with his girlfriend. Ashton felt as though he needed to say goodbye to his friend, and he wasn't ready.

  "She can handle herself for one day. 24 hours, what with work, isn't going to be that long."

  It was as if an electric shock had ran through the room, making Ashton, Luke and Michael bolt up. "24 hours?!"

  Calum nodded, as though it was obvious. "I'll stay here tonight. That is, if you haven't changed my room into a gaming room."

  No one even joked about it. At that moment, Michael couldn't jumped in with a "we should've done that!" or they could make joking plans to demolish his room, but they didn't even joke about it. That room would always be Calum's, as long as they lived there, and as far as they were conserned, them four sitting together in there house would always be more of a home that the place Calum had with Annie. This was there home- this was wear they belonged.

  This was where the four of them belonged.

A/N: This book shouldn't end anytime soon. I have big plans.