Torn In Three | Malum, Muke, Mashton

Chapter Twenty-four

-Michael's point of view-

After Luke walked in on Ashton and me kissing, everything got pretty awkward in the band again: Luke didn't speak, Calum glared at me most of the time; however Ashton still seemed pretty pleased with himself.

Once we arrived in our hotel, I prepared to lock myself in my room again. Last time was a bit of a learning curve, so before I left I gathered as much food as possible. Life would be much easier if I just didn't leave that room at all, right?

It was only thirteen hours later into my hiding when a voice called from the other side of the door. "Michael, you need to leave at some point." I recognised the voice as Calum's.

"No, I don't."

"Everyone's miserable."

"It'll be even worse if I go out there."

There was a long pause. "There's also a chance things will be fixed," Calum said, sounding hesitant.

I sighed, throwing a pillow towards the door. Fantastic, now I had no pillow. "I'm perfectly happy here."

"Stop thinking of yourself all the time, there's three downcast boys out here who want to fight you, which you deserve. You don't deserve to make us all feel even worse while you just hide - it's not fair"

Calum had a point, to my annoyance. I buried myself under my duvet, attempting to hide from the world. The duvet did a good job of blocking my hearing, so it came as a shock when Calum barged into my room and flipped my mattress upside down: resulting on me lying on the cold ground trapped underneath it. "What-"

"Was that for?" Calum finished my sentence. "You can either get suffocated by your duvet, or be something near a man and face us all." Calum seemed furious with me, which wasn't new, but his tone was enough to get me moving.

"Fine," I huffed.

**

The walk towards the living room was probably one of the hardest walks of my life, considering what I had to face at the end of it. People claim climbing a mountain is difficult. Try walking up to three boys who hate your guts and having to apologise. None of them turned around when I first walked in, but it was Calum who caught their attention. He coughed slightly, earning a glance from Ashton.

"What's he doing out of his room?" Ashton said, genuinely curious.

"I forced him out. This band will go nowhere unless we stop hating him, so we're doing this now." Calum said. Oh right, the band.

"Ew, I don't want to talk to him." Luke finally spoke. His words could have slapped me and it would have hurt less, especially coming from him.

"Ew?" I questioned, turning towards the blonde.

"You heard me," Luke lowered his voice to a whisper, "dick."

I gasped, not used to Luke using profanities like that towards me. "Luke-"

Luke turned around to face me and glared. His eyes looked red and puffy as if he had just been crying. The look on his face was enough to make anyone cry; he finally snapped. "Don't try and talk me back into loving you. It'll take a lot more than an apology, and I don't mean sex."

Lost for words, I stared at the boy for a few long seconds, until Ashton took me out of my daze. "Luke's right, you need to stop being so horny for us all the time." Ashton didn't look as broken as Luke, infact nowhere near, but his words still sunk in.

"Okay," I was lost for words.

"What are you gonna do then, Michael? Will you put effort into our relationship for once or will you just give up and move onto someone else?" Luke sounded impatient.

"Of course I wouldn't give up on us." After I spoke, Ashton rolled his eyes. I was torn, this time not between three boys, but with what I should do about Luke. It would be insulting to get him some half-hearted gift. But what's a good gift? He's a boy, I can't exactly buy him jewellery. It had to be special, and I was determined on winning him back.

"Leave me alone, Michael." Luke said, turning back to his phone. "And you, Ashton."

It was Ashton's turn to gasp. "What did I do?"

"You kissed my boyfriend."

**

Despite only having to pick up the mattress and place it back on the bed, I left my room as it was. What Calum did was irritating, but I found I could pretend my upturned bed was a fort, which was quite fun. It would have been more fun with someone to share it with, but that was the point in what I was doing in my fort. Planning. By five in the morning, I had thought up what I felt was the perfect plan to win Luke back. It was all written down, incase I made a stupid mistake, and I was ready to let it unravel.

Normally I would never be so romantic, but determination and tips from my friends from the bar pushed me.

After rereading my plan and glancing at the clock, I finally emerged from my bedroom. Luke was next door to me, so it wasn't long before I was kneeling infront of his bed and awkwardly watching him sleep.

"Luke?" I whispered.

Luke groaned tiredely. He didn't open his eyes. "What?"

"It's Michael."

Luke flinched. "Fuck off."

"No."

Luke finally opened his eyes, not looking happy at all. "Why are you in my room?"

"We won't be here for long," I said, grinning.

"I'm not leaving."

"But this is my way of winning you back. Please."

Luke hesitated, "no."

I pecked Luke's nose, set on making my plan work. "Just trust me." Luke opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. "Please."

The boy groaned once again, but finally moved out of bed. I smiled, hoping everything would finally piece together after this.