Mr. Cinderella (5SOS) {discontinued}

(18) Easy There, Killer

Before I can answer with a 'yes, I do want to be your girlfriend even though technically we haven't actually been on a date or anything yet, but for some reason I'm perfectly okay with that, because it's you', I'm cut off by the sound of floorboards creaking loudly next to us as Calum appears in the hallway outside the living room.  "What the hell is going on here?" 

Almost immediately, the smile slips from Luke's face as he hastily jumps away from me, scrambling into the room when he realises that in moving away from me, he is only moving closer to Calum and his red face.  Further inside the living room, I hear the conversation halt as all eyes are drawn to the uncharacteristically angry boy standing in the doorway, who is shifting his narrowed gaze between Luke and I.  Clearly he's annoyed about what he saw - whatever that may be, me hugging Luke maybe? - not that I have any idea why.  One look at the four other people in the room tells me that they are equally as clueless about Calum's sudden and unpredicted rage as I am.

"W-what do you mean?  What's going on where?"  Feeling the heat rising to my face, I lower my gaze, suddenly finding faking innocence unbearably difficult - which is strange, given that I've only recently been vindicated and freed from my guilt, and, therefore, my need to act innocent.  Now I really am innocent - at least, I had thought I was before seeing the look on Calum's face.  You would have thought I'd broken his bass guitar or something from the way he's staring at me.

Calum rolls his eyes as I look up at him, and I do a double take, taken aback by his audacity.  I wonder where all of this is coming from - the last time Calum was this snappy with me was when I accidentally spilled lemonade all over him in front of some girl he liked back in Australia - but, in my defence, if he didn't want to be embarrassed in front of her, he should have known not to bring me anywhere near the poor girl.  It is also not my fault that I lack hand-eye coordination, or that he had decided to leave his bike conveniently placed in the middle of the ground (not that Cal will ever admit that it was his fault).  Even so, back then I could at least partly understand why he was quite so irritated with me, but right now, I have no clue exactly who he is annoyed with, or what they've done to provoke it.

"Here," he snaps, gesturing from me to Luke.  "Are you using her or something, Hemmings?  Because I swear to God, you may be my best friend, but I will not hesitate to kill you."

There's a brief silence before Ashton, Michael and Kat all burst into laughter.  Even Luke can't help but smile, although I notice that the look of fear that appeared in his eyes when Calum said the word 'kill' still hasn't completely disappeared.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Michael chuckles.  "That is the funniest thing I have heard all day - and trust me, Cal, I have heard a lot of funny things today."  I can't help but think that that last bit is aimed at me, which Mikey confirms as he sends a playful wink in my direction.  My lips can't help but twitch up into a smile (which I attempt to stop by biting my lower lip) - the thought of Calum even slightly hurting anyone is just too far out of my range of imagination, and the seriousness of the tone he said it in only makes it funnier.

Narrowing his eyes at Mikey, Calum must realise the absurdity of what he's just said too, because he eventually alters it.  "Or, y'know, maybe I'll just leave it at a severe injury, because, um, violence is only cool in video games and movies and stuff.  And, also, because I'm a nice guy and not great at cleaning stuff up, homicide may not be the best solution."