pool // hemmings

four

Amelia stood up in alarm when she noticed the three boys standing in the doorway to the kitchen, who shared the same dumbfounded expression as her. She recognised Michael Clifford, who was sporting some particularly dark blue hair today, and Luke Hemmings, whose curls were quite damp and dripping down onto his shoulders, creating wet patches on his t-shirt. There was another boy too, who Amelia recognised but didn't quite know the name of. She knew it started with an A –Aaron, perhaps?

Finally, she recomposed herself and spoke up.

"I-I, we, I m-mean w-we weren't, um", she stumbled, extremely embarrassed to be caught by the three boys. She turned to Calum, who was watching in amusement as she tried to come up with some reason for being here, "I was j-just l-leaving."

This made Calum frown, "hey, no -you still have to teach me that bassline."

Luke, who had been completely silent until this point, spoke, "teach you what?"

Amelia was absolutely mortified, knowing she was absolutely nowhere near cool enough to associate with someone like Calum and his friends. From the slight crease between Luke's eyebrows, and the way Michael's rose, she could tell they were dubious about her presence. She felt slightly foolish for coming here in the first place. Of course, how could she have known that the others would show up? It seemed that Calum hadn't been expecting them either, which caught Amelia even more off guard.

"She was giving me bass lessons" Calum said, distracting Amelia from her thoughts, "what did you think she was doing?"

"Not giving you bass lessons, that's for sure", Michael mumbled under his breath, earning a disproving nudge from the unnamed boy. Calum rolled his eyes.

"Uh, I-I think you've g-got it from h-here, Calum", Amelia said, her voice soft, "I r-really should get g-going."

Calum looked disappointed, but Amelia wanted nothing more than to just get out of there. Amelia was typically a social person, however tended to recoil around people she didn't know too well, especially when it was made known that her company was not wanted.

"Don't let us scare you off, we don't bite", the still unnamed boy spoke. From the warm smile on his face, he appeared to be the nicest out of the three, which gave Amelia some peace of mind.

"Says you", Michael mumbled, "I just so happen to be a cannibal."

The room fell completely silent, everyone staring at Michael with baffled expressions on their faces. The silence seemed to last forever, until Calum broke it with a frustrated sigh.

"Oh my god", he muttered, slapping his hand over his face, "you guys are the absolute fucking worst."

This made Amelia laugh ever so lightly, covering her mouth with her hand so not to bring unwanted attention to herself. Calum turned to her, "seriously -you should stay, they're actually not that bad, I promise."

Amelia pondered for a second. She scanned the faces of the other boys -two of which were smiling, while the other still sported that same crease between his eyebrows. Luke had been pretty quite during the whole exchange, which made Amelia feel uneasy. Nevertheless, she felt a little better knowing that at least Calum wanted her there. She couldn't quite tell if the others were just being polite, or if they too genuinely wanted her to stay.

"I m-mean, I g-guess", she mumbled, causing three of the boys to shout victoriously. Unsurprisingly, Luke remained silent, however his frown was gone and instead replaced with a more neutral expression. Amelia caught what could have been the tiniest smile on his face.

"So, do you wanna watch a movie, or did you guys want to finish with your bass lessons?", no-name asked. Amelia and Calum exchanged glances, knowing that their lessons could continue at a later date.

"I'm up for a movie", Calum shrugged, earning a nod of approval from Amelia. They all went downstairs into the basement, Calum quickly storing away the bass guitars from earlier. Luke and Michael took the couch, while Calum started looking through a shelf of DVDs.

"Hey, Ash, do you want to go get snacks?", Calum asked, looking up at the curly haired boy as he pulled out a selection of DVDs. Amelia was relieved that she could finally put a name to the face, even though she wasn't quite sure if it was a nickname or not. Still, at least she had something.

"Yeah, sure", he nodded, before disappearing up the stairs.

Amelia guessed the boys were close. They must have hung out a lot if they could just show up unannounced like this. The fact that this 'Ash' boy could confidently retrieve snacks without needing to ask where they were or what to get also suggested that they were a close group. A nagging feeling at the back of her mind told Amelia that she was intruding, but she ignored it and reminded herself that they wanted her here. Or at least, Calum did.

"Ashton! Get the extra buttery popcorn!", Michael shouted up the stairs, not looking up from his phone.

Ah, so his name is Ashton, Amelia noted internally.

Amelia always felt anxious in social situations when she wasn't sure of people's names. It was her worst nightmare to call someone by the wrong name in the middle of a conversation. She wasn't sure how she'd be able to handle that kind of embarrassment. Usually she'd just silently wait until someone called them by their name so she could avoid having to ask. For the most part, her method worked, and her dignity could be spared.

Ashton came back downstairs as Calum retreated from the shelf, holding a stack of DVDs. Ashton sat on a nearby bean bag, setting down a bowl of popcorn and a few packets of candy. Michael immediately dived for the popcorn, shoving a handful into his mouth and groaning in approval.

"You truly are a god, Ash", he said through a mouthful of popcorn, before pushing the bowl in Luke's direction, "want some Luke?"

Luke looked at the bowl with a disproving look on his face and shook his head. He gently pushed the bowl away from him, "no thanks."

"Oh that's right, you've got your stupid swimming diet", Michael mocked, causing Luke to roll his eyes.

"When I'm successful, you're going to wish you'd had your own stupid swimming diet", he said matter-of-factly to Michael, who just let out an amused snort.

"Here, Luke", Ashton said, retrieving a few organic granola bars from the pocket of his hoodie and tossing them towards the blonde. Luke caught them with ease, quietly thanking Ashton as he opened one of them up.

Calum sprawled the DVDs out onto the floor in front of the group, displaying a few different movies –most of which Amelia had seen before. He looked up at the group expectantly.

"So, what would we like to watch?"

+

woW i actually updated??? also i kind of hate this but you know it's good enough i guess. also i'm not going to make luke be a dick to amelia, i just wanted him to be shy and quiet and sort of brooding in general so yes don't be worried pals !! he and lia will be nice to each other !! (i wasn't going to say anything but i didn't want them to become pals and then have everyone go 'wait didn't he dislike her?? smh holes in this plot' ya know?)