We Were Young

Changing

  Calum and Luke sat together, eating lunch silently, watching the snow fall outside.
"So, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," Calum said suddenly.
"What is it?" Luke asked, taking a bite of his pasta.
"Well, you're not with anyone else right now, right? I mean I was with Miranda, but are you with anyone else?"
"Calum, you know I'm not," he replied, "what's this about?" Calum coughed and took a drink of water, looking down at the table. "Babe? You okay?"
"Yeah, it's just... I was uh, wondering if maybe you would want to... start being... uh.. well." Luke smiled at how cute Calum was, fumbling over his words. "Exclusive?"
"Exclusive? As in, you date me, I date you, and no one else?" He looked up, meeting the blond boy's eyes and nodded his head. Luke looked down, his mind swarming with millions of thoughts. Calum had never been the exclusive type of person, he's never wanted to settle down with just one person. This was pretty serious.
"We don't have to, sorry... It was stupid-"
"No, Calum. I'd love to."
"Y-you would?" Luke reached over and grabbed the boy's hand.
"Of course I would." Calum smiled and leaned over the table, kissing his boyfriend on the lips. Luke was the first person he's ever felt this way about.
~~~~
Michael stood infront of his class, writing their assignment on the board before taking a seat as they all typed silently. He had 5 missed calls from his father in law, most likely to curse him out.
"Mr. Clifford?" One of his students, asked, coming up to him, holding one of the school laptops.
"Yes, Micah?" He asked, smiling up at the young boy.
"I can't seem to word my conclusion correctly," he said, handing his teacher the computer. He read it and looked up at the boy, helping him work through it. He loved his job, he loved helping his students and watching them graduate. It was the best feeling in the world.

He walked out to his car at the end of the day, seeing his father in law leaning against it. He sighed and held tightly to his bag, approaching cautiously.
"Benedict... can I help you?" He asked awkwardly.
"You've been ignoring my calls..."
"Sorry... I've been a bit busy..."
"I can imagine, between being a school teacher and divorcing my daughter life would be rather busy..." He sighed and looked down.
"I didn't want to hurt her anymore..."
"Anymore?" Michael sighed and leaned against the car, next to his father in law.
"I've been lying to her this entire time... I couldn't do it anymore."
"Lying about what?" Michael scoffed and stared at the ground.
"I didn't love her... I loved someone else."
"What's her name?"
"Luke..." Benedict went silent.
"I see why you would lie... Listen, I'm not mad, I just don't like seeing my daughter hurt."
"I know, I don't either, it's just. I couldn't lie anymore. I care about her, but I just... I dont love her..."
"I understand. Really, I do. Love is love, it's either true or it isnt, there or it's not... I'll talk to Amanda. Hopefully this can all just be fast and easy..." Michael just nodded in response.
"Thanks, Ben," he whispered. He just turned and walked away.
~~~~

  "What's wrong, babe?" Calum asked, sitting next to his boyfriend on the couch and resting his legs over his lap.
"Nothings wrong... I'm just thinking about the case..."
"Hey, you've got to stop that. You need to rest. You'll be back next week and then you'll have all the time in the world, but until then... can't you just take a little time off and shower me with all of your attention?" He pouted. Luke laughed softly and pressed a gentle kiss on Calum's cheek.
"You're right... I need to just take some time off..."
"Exactly... I'm always right." He moved so he was sitting in the blond boy's lap, his arms wrapped around his neck. Luke snaked his arms around the boy's skinny waist and rested his chin on the top of his head. He felt awful, because right now, he couldn't help but wish it was Michael in his arms, instead of Calum But at least he didn't ruin everything with Calum. Everything is wrong with Luke's relationships.

  "Luke! Luke wait!" Michael shouted, running after his best friend after he turned to walk away.
"What?" Luke snapped, turning to face him.
"I just... I want to talk."
"No. I-I don't want to talk to you ever again," he said turning to walk away as tears filled his eyes.
"But why?" Michael asked, reaching for Luke arm.
"You know why!" He shouted, pulling away. "Y-you uses me. You always use me... And I make it so damn easy for you. But not anymore. J-just leave me alone Michael."
"What are you talking about Luke? How did I use you?"
"Y-you know I'm gay... a-and you knew that I-I was in love with you... but you were just lonely. You wanted someone to take away your pain... you don't care about me. You never have."
"That's not fucking true and you know it! Luke, you're my best friend... I care about you more than anyone else, you're always there for me... I-I love you."
"Stop! J-just stop, okay? You don't love me. You don't care about me. The only this you care about is yourself, and that's why you keep me around. Because I care about you, I look out for you... but I can't anymore. Not when you dont even care about me..."
"Luke, please. I-"
"No, Michael! Just leave me alone!" He turned and ran off to his small broken car, glancing over and seeing Michael still standing there, staring after him and sobbing. Luke wiped tears away from his face and started his car, driving to their house. He began packing up all of his things, and he was out before any of his three roommates came home.