Breathe Me(Lashton)

T h r ę ę

Written by: cliffordcondoms

"Hey Cal, do you want to go for a walk later today? Maybe that'll help you feel better. It'll like, clear your mind." Luke asks his sleeping friend. Calum's head rested upon Luke's shoulder as soft snores left his lips, making Luke strain his neck to watch his friend. "Damn it. You left me." Luke pouts even though his friend can't see or hear him. He pushes his friends flat fringe away from his forehead where it covered his eyes and kisses his forehead before Luke slips out of where he sat on the couch and gave it to Calum, who happily spread himself on the couch. He grabs a blanket from his room and wraps it around Calum before jumping from the loud beeping of his phone. It was an unknown number and Luke bit his lip anxiously at the thought of who it could be.

"Hello?" He answers quietly into the receiver, not wanting to wake up his friend. He quickly runs to the kitchen and removes his hand from the speaker when he was far enough to talk and not wake Calum up.

"Luke?" The familiar voice asked. "This is Sarah."

"This is he." Luke replies with a smile and successfully suppresses the squeal that threatened to escape his lips.

"I just got off the phone with Ashton. He works tomorrow from seven thirty in the morning till two in the afternoon." She says, her cellphone resting in between her shoulder and cheek as she scooped a spoonful of fruit loops into her mouth. "Just thought I'd let you know. I'm still hoping to see you and your friend."

Luke's fingers fumbled with the pen he pulled out from his supply cabinet in the kitchen. He curses quietly when he glided the pen against his skin with no trace of ink. "Oh, that's great Sarah, thank you!"

"Are you coming tomorrow?" She asks with food in her mouth, making it hard for Luke to hear since he's so focused on getting a functioning pen. "Luke?" Sarah asks after an awkward moment of silence. She pulls the phone away from her ear and notices the call is still going so she sighs and waits for Luke to reply.

"Huh? I'm sorry." Luke grumbles as he licked the pen and made a stripe on the back of his hand. He smiles at the bright red ink and goes to the fridge where he usually keeps his notes hung up with magnets.

"I asked if you were coming tomorrow. Oh, and I was wondering if you were bringing your friend, Calvin, as well." Sarah repeats with a warm smile.

"Yeah... Yeah! Sure, I'll bring him over. Calvin- I mean Calum doesn't really enjoy coffee but we can work something out." Luke says as he wrote down on a sticky note 'Ashton's working hours; 7:30-2:00 pm' in his messy writing.

"Oh sorry." Sarah giggles. "His name is Calum, my bad."

"It's alright. Thank you, Sarah. Is that all?" Luke asks as he bites the end of the pen. He grimaced and spat out the pen from the taste of the ink, making Sarah laugh on the other end.

"Yeah that's it. Are you alright? It sounds like you're dying."

Luke rests his phone on the countertop and rushes for a cup of water, leaving Sarah hanging again.

"Luke." Sarah calls out, stretching out the 'u'. She could hear him gag and the water running in the background, only making her head wonder naughty thoughts about what Luke could possibly be doing.

Luke was too busy rinsing his mouth to notice that his new friend had ended the call until he brought the phone to his ear and heard absolutely nothing. He simply shrugged it off and noticed the cabinet that he used to hide the liquor was opened, making Luke frown at the memory of his friend crying.

Luke grabbed the key that hung out of the keyhole and stuffed it in his pocket. He noticed that Calum had only finished a bottle of vodka, the rest of the liquor bottles were opened with only a drink being taken out of them. Luke feels his heart shattering at the sight when he looks at Calum and then back to the alcohol he tried to hide. He still doesn't understand how Calum found the key since Luke hid it in a random sock in his closet.

Luke decided to not even ask his friend about it, not wanting to pressure Calum anymore or make him feel any worse than he already does. He grabs the bottles of liquor and walks to the sink, emptying them one by one. Luke coughs from the strong smell that soon filled the room, waking Calum up.

"L-Luke? What are you doing?"

Calum's voice startled Luke, making him drop the bottle of alcohol. The glass shattered on the ground, cutting Luke's hand in the process. "Fuck! Luke curses. He leans back against the counter where the other empty bottles rested, knocking them down as well.

"Luke!" Calum called out in concern as he ran over to his bleeding friend. Calum was only wearing a pair of thongs but he didn't care if he cut himself by trying to help his best mate. "Oh god are you alright? Do I need to take you to the hospital? Shit I'll call a cab-"

Luke chuckles through the pain and rests his good hand on Calum's shoulder for assurance. "Cal, I'm fine. It's just a small cut, that's all."

Calum's tense shoulders dropped as he stared at his injured friend. He knew Luke was lying to him. Calum's not blind; he can clearly see that the cut was large. Maybe not deep but it was large, taking up most of his palm. "What were you even doing?"

"I was trying to help you..." Luke admits sadly. He steps aside from the counter to reveal the many empty bottles of alcohol, making Calum's heart race. "I'm sorry, Calum. I don't mean to offend you, I'm just trying to help you."

Calum doesn't reply to Luke. He instead pushed him aside and leaned over the counter only to reveal a full bottle of Jack and Daniels. Luke stared at his friend, afraid of what he could possibly be doing.

Calum inhaled deeply as his trembling hands reached for the neck of the bottle. He grasped it hard as he lifted it up in the air for both boys to see. He tips it slightly, the strong liquid swishing and falling down the drain. "Don't apologize; you're only trying to help."

Calum finally turns around to meet his friend and grabs his injured hand; it was still bleeding but not as much as it was previously. "I should probably clean this up and wrap it for you. You're right; it's just a small cut." Calum offers with a small smile as he grabs the first aid kit from under the sink since they both tend to always slice their fingers when they attempt to cook.

Luke kicks the broken glass out of the way as he walks over to Calum and sets his arm on the counter. "It's alright, Cal. I can wrap it myself-"

"You always take care of me, let me return the favor." Calum insists, already grabbing Luke's hand and cleaning it out by removing any glass that still stuck to his friends hand. Luke only nodded and watched his friend take care of him, totally forgetting about Ashton until he saw the post-it note on the fridge.

"Hey, Cal?" Luke called out as he flinched at the pain, instantly catching Calum's attention. "Tomorrow morning, I'm stopping by at Breathe Me and I was wondering if you could come along?" Calum bites his lip at Luke's preposition. He was about to decline until Luke interrupted. "I also want you to meet someone. She's really nice, what do you say?"

Calum finishes wrapping Luke's hand and sighs deeply as he pinches the bridge of his nose. "I don't like coffee."

"I know." Luke adds sadly. "I'll buy you a donut and some juice or something. Come on! We need to get out more!"

Calum groans as he pulls out the broom. He doesn't really feel like going out early in the morning -especially to go to some lame coffee shop but if it'll make Luke happy, then he's willing to sacrifice his own happiness. "Fine." Calum huffs out and starts cleaning up the shards of glass. "But you owe me a solid."

Luke doesn't suppress his squeals this time as he hugs his shorter friend. "You won't regret it, Cal."

A/N

I'M BAD AT UPDATING OMFG IM SO SORRY KAETLYN