Reality || L.H.

Chapter 5

Luke wraps his arms tightly around my waist when I sit down on the couch beside him, snuggling close to me. I smile as I rest my hands over his, watching as Michael steers the controller to the right. Ashton is laying upside down off of the couch, long fingers expertly flashing over the controller in his hands.

"Fuck you, Michael!" Calum shouts suddenly, scowling fiercely. "Where the fuck did you get that red shell?!"

"It was shoved all the way up your asshole," Mikey throws back as he crosses the finish line to end the race in first place. He laughs as he dodges the pillow Calum chucks at him as the other boy finishes just a second behind him thanks to getting hit with the shell.

"You suck," Cal groans as Ashton finishes up his last lap.

"Stop whining, you big baby, and give me the remote. It's my turn!" Luke lets go of my waist to reach over me for the controller in Calum's hands. I smile as Cal pulls it up out of his reach and Luke's hand flops around in the air. "Give me the remote, Calum!" Luke whines. "You've already had your turn!" When Cal just moves the controller further away, Luke twists to look at me, pouting for effect. "Calum's bullying me, Kat, make him give me the remote." He wraps his arms tightly around me, burying his face in my shoulder.

I smile down at him before looking over at Calum. "Cmon, Cal, give him the remote. It is his turn."

"No! I wanna win one." Tossing a scowl over in Michael's direction, Calum adds, "And I almost did, but Michael ruined it. Asshat."

"Oh my god, fine, you can have my remote." Mikey throws his controller and I catch it nimbly, passing it to Luke who lights up in joy.

"Thank you, Michael!" he says as Ashton presses the button to start the next race. "You're not a complete dickwad like Calum is."

"Hey!" Cal exclaims as he rounds the first corner.

"Thanks, I guess?" Mikey says as he leans back on the couch. I frown as I watch him duck his head and nervously fiddle with the bracelets stacked on his wrist. Biting his lip, he runs a hand through his hair, which is now dyed a bright red. Taking a deep breath, he says, "I think I'm going to ask Liv to be my girlfriend."

"That's great, Mike!" I exclaim, happy for my friends. Liv has been in love with him for forever and I know she's been over the moon about all the time they've been spending together recently.

"Yeah, mate, that's amazing!" Ashton reaches over to pat Michael on the knee, continuing to steer his virtual racer around the track.

Michael smiles, but it looks too anxious to be real. "Do you think she'll say yes?" he asks hesitantly.

"I know she'll say yes," Calum says with a smile as he hurls a red shell at Ashton's racer. The other boy mutters something colorful under his breath that makes Calum's smile grow.

Luke laughs lightly as he passes Calum's avatar. "Yeah, man, she's had a crush on you for forever. To be honest, I don't know why you haven't noticed she was into you until now."

Mikey looks at all four of us in confusion. "Wait. You guys knew that Liv liked me? And you didn't say anything about it?"

Luke shrugs against me, turning away from the screen as he finishes the final lap to put him in first place, just two above Calum, who grits his teeth together. "It was never really our thing to tell. We were all kind of hoping you'd realize it eventually though. That's the thing with this relationship stuff. You never really notice that there's something there until you can't back out very easily." He slings a casual arm around my shoulders, giving me a secret smile that makes me blush furiously.