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

/139/

  "I said that I would do a live stream at 1, so I'm sorry I'm late, but I just woke up," Annie said, smacking her lips. Last night was a blur- setting up the Christmas tree, being chased by Calum, eating a healthy dinner of chineese takeout, and falling asleep under the Christmas tree in a game of hide and seek. They weren't planning on staying the night, but by the time the boys were ready to go to bed, Annie was already asleep.

  The boys had woken up on time, leaving to go to their interview, and leaving Annie sleeping. She woke up at the stroke of one, blurry-eyed, messy haired, and despite the extra sleep, yawning.

  Fifteen minutes and a quick, quick shower later, and the live show had begun.

  "'Where are you?'" Annie reads from the live chat. "I'm at the boys house. I came over last night to help set up the tree and ended up falling asleep." She carried the laptop over to the living room, showing off the tree. "Oh yeah. It's pretty cool."

  Flipping the camera back around, she smiled. "For the record, the boys are just as... rambunctious.... in real life. When we were trying to put the tree up, Luke and California decided to stop and fence with wrapping paper tubes instead. Then Michael threw a hissy fit, because no one was paying attention to him."

  She read through the chat, realizing her mistake. "I mean... he threw a hissy fit in the best way. I don't know. He sucks." The chat exploded, and Annie laughed. "Abigail Breslin reference, oooh."

  Annie scrolled throught the comments, doing her best to be generally likeable. Some of the questions she ignored- boring ones like "what's your favorite color" and dirty ones like "does Calum really do _____ in bed." Some of the comments were just mean, but they made Annie laugh.

  "Oh, here's a good one," she chuckled. "'How does it feel to be the ugliest girl any celebrity has ever dated?'" She set down the laptop so she could use her hands, wiping invisable tears of joy off her cheeks. "To be the ugliest girl any celebrity has ever dated is such a huge honor. I just... I just... I've been working so hard to be as hideous as possible, so one day, maybe..." she dropped the charade, laughing. "If you got the reference from that one interview, good job. I did that on purpose."

  The livestream was going well. Halfway through, Annie realized she still didn't have breakfast, and announced she would make some while continuing the livestream. Make scrambled eggs! The comments begged. Annie laughed at that too. "Without Calum here to annoy? What's the point?"

  She sat the laptop on the table, going and getting some cereal. Her hair was starting to dry from the shower,but it was still damp.

  Pouring the most sugary cereal she could find in a bowl, Annie looked at the chat. She'd been doing this for a little while, and it was much of the same. "Can I get some deep questions? Like, talking about the boys is funny, but I have a personality  and a life outside of them." She thought back to that first interview she did with the boys. "I hate it when interviewers announce me as 'Calum's girlfriend'. It's too possessive. Like, I'm a person, who happens to be dating Cal." She shook her head, glancing over the questions. "Here's one. 'Are you a feminist?' Yes, definitely. 'What's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you?'" Her smile dropped for a second, replaying some of the scarier events in her life- running away on her eighteenth birthday, not as much as a high school diploma. Being cornered by some of the druggies at school. That one time she was on a ferris wheel when it broke, leaving her stuck near the top until they fixed it.

  "I'll get back to you on that," Annie answered. She pretended that she would have to think about it, when really she knew exactly what her scariest experience was. Being assaulted was the worst thing that ever happened to her. It wasn't just being violated and attacked- the lasting effect hurt more than anything in the moment did. The shock, the PTSD, the idea that because of it, she hurt Calum... that was scarier than any ferris wheel and 18th birthday combined.

  'You look sick', one of the messages on the screen read. Annie felt her face heat up uncomfortably. "Erm, uh 'what is Calum's favorite positio-'" she froze. "I definitely didn't mean to read that question."

  Her phone vibrated in her pocket, making Annie jump. She pulled it out, answering the FaceTime request. "Hey Cal. We were just talking about you."

  "Yeah? What about?"

  Annie turned the phone so the viewers could see him. He was backstage at one of the interviews, Michael snoring softly on his shoulder.

  "Well, it was just brought up. What's your favroite position?"

  "In bed?"

  "I think so."

  "Joha- the handlers are going to kill me. Okay, it's inside out and upside down."

  Annie smirked at him. "How does that work?"

  "Well, first both people do handstands-"

  Annie covered the speaker, trying to contain her laughter. "You pervert."

  "You asked."

  Annie smiled at the screen, wondering how she got so, so lucky. "Why'd you call anyways? Not that I'm complaining."

  He gave a stupid little smile, looking up at Annie through the phone. "I was bored. Wanted to make sure you were okay."

  "He's got a boner," Michael mumbled, his eyes still closed.

  "I do not!"

  "Lie."