The Runaway 2 - N.H.

[53] What did I do?

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YAYAY UPDATE

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Luke's POV

"Yeah he's here... No Cal and Niall are inside... Yeah he's with me... Okay... I'll tell him... Love you too, Scar... Okay," Braeden speaks into the phone before hanging up and looking at me oddly.

"What?" I ask at her strange expression.

"Do you care if I smoke?" She asks and for a second I'm stunned but wave her off.

"Only if I get one," I mumble and she raises her eyebrows but doesn't say anything. She pulls a pack out of her bag after a few seconds of fumbling, presumably because the pack needs to be hidden from Scarlette. "You allowed to smoke?" I ask as she hands me a stick and lights both of them up.

"I didn't smoke before hand so I'm allowed to... But no Scarlette doesn't know," She says quietly, a smirk evident on her face. I begin to take long drags of the poison and feel it filling my lungs, before I exhale slowly.

"Hmm. So now what?" I ask gesturing inside, where Michael, Niall and Calum sit eating pancakes. She takes an effortless drag of her cigarette, causing me to come to the conclusion that this is definitely not an occasional thing she does.

"He'll go to rehab. Just like me, then maybe he can go back to the band but that can't be decided just yet."

"What?" I almost scream and stand up, almost dropping my smoke.

She let's out a high, bitter laugh, different from her usual one, causing chills to run down my spine. "Wait don't tell me, you thought he'd go to a psychologist once and everything would be all sunshine and lollipops? You poor bastard, he's more fucked up than me."

"Okay, okay. But we can't send him to rehab, it's not practical," I say and she scoffs.

"Practical? I'm sorry his disorder isn't practical enough for you, but you can't pick and choose what happens," she growls and I hate to admit that she's right.

"I can't lose both of you," I whisper, hoping she doesn't here.

"I had to lose all of you, Luke. Be grateful you still have some of them," she whispers back and puts out her smoke. I've suddenly lost my craving for mine so I do the same. Without another word we go back inside.

"I love him," she mumbles as soon as we get through the door.

"Niall?" I ask and she nods, a small smile creeping across her face.

"So much," she whispers and takes a seat next to him in the booth, but he doesn't even acknowledge she's there.

"Mikey, you wanna go home?" Calum whispers.

"Home? What's home, Calum? Because like you said all those months ago, Sydney isn't home without Bee and LA isn't home because it isn't Sydney." He growls his voice croaky and deep. I remember when Cal said that and it hurts just as much hearing now as it did the first time.

I look over to Bee who's eyes are fixed on the stack of pancakes, with several fork marks poked in it.

"I... Let's go to mine then Mikey, for now that's home. Okay?" She whispers and grabs his hand on top the table. He looks up at her, eyes wide and body slumped. He nods slowly and she rubs her other hand over his wrist. "Mikey, I love you. You know that right?" He doesn't say anything, just stares at her.

Braeden's POV

We had to squish into the car on the way back, me on Ashton's lap because for some reason, Niall won't even look at me and I know if I sat on any of the others laps, he'd hate me more. I don't understand why he's angry, is it something I said?

I tell myself that's the least of my worries and look to Michael beside me. He's looking straight ahead, focused on the road ahead. It's late afternoon and the sky has turned to an orangey hue colour. Truly transfixing, I just wish I could enjoy it under better circumstances.

We get back to the room and I silently pray they've all left. To no surprise, we walk into a room full of people laughing.

"Hey," Niall grumbles and - literally - pushes past me to sit with them. That's it.

"What the fuck is your problem?" I scream and he stops dead in his tracks and snaps his head back to stare at me. "You've been an asshole all the day, what did I do?"

"I..."

"Fucking speak!" I scream and Scarlette runs out of her room, they are all looking at us, wide eyed and almost scared.

"Braeden," Scar warns but I put a hand up to silence her.

"Either you tell me or you walk out that door and never, ever come back," I growl, my throat tightening from the inevitable tears that are forming. "Ever," I whisper and shake my head.

"I..." He repeats and I can't help but scoff. "I turn to walk to my room but he stops me. "Wait! I... It's you..." He mumbles and looks to Luke before darting his eyes away.

"What did you say Scarlette, because if you t-" I growl but Niall cuts me off.

"She didn't tell me anything?" He whispers and I can see tears forming in his eyes. "But there is something, right?"

"No I... Fuck," I mutter and tug at the roots of my hair in frustration.

"Bee?" Luke whispers but I can't bring myself to look at him.

"I can't do this I-"

"Talk or I'm walking out, Braeden," Niall counters and I huff before wiping my eyes.

"It's nothing, nothing at a-"

"Braeden stop this," Scarlette whispers and I almost rip her head off.

"How dare you s-"

"What is it, Braeden?" Niall growls and I shoot him a glare.

"None of your damn buisn-"

"She loved Luke," Scarlette says and walk over to her, raising my hand to slap her.