I Wouldn't Mind // Cake AU [complete]

25: Finding Out in the Hardest Ways

A/N: my music taste is the weirdest thing ever

[Calum.]

The rest of the night was supposed to be a good one, but instead I spent it worrying about Luke. I hadn't told Taylor about what happened, but she must've noticed something was wrong because the minute we got home, she pulled me to her - and Luke's - room and confronted me.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" she hissed, trying to keep her voice low in case Luke heard us, even though he was in the next room.

"I don't know," I shrugged, crossing my arms and leaning against her set if drawers. "It's not really my place."
She rolled my eyes before glaring at me intently, and I knew I was going to crack very soon.

"Okay, sure."

"He... His mum was there and he confronted her," I blurted out, wanting to get this over and done with.

"What?!" she cried out, sitting down backwards on her desk chair. "You're not serious."

"Yeah, I am," I sighed, ruffling my hair a bit.

"What happened?!"

"They just... Clashed heads. She said she just wanted to see how much he's grown, yadda yadda mum stuff basically, but she had to mention his 'problem'."

"That woman," Taylor seethed, glaring at nothing in particular. "I swear to god, I wish I could teach her a lesson."

"I think we should do something about this," I suggested. "Like... Not anything drastic, but just get out of town or something."

She smiled, shaking her head. "You obviously weren't paying attention at-"

A knock on the door interrupted our conversation. I turned around from where I had been leaning against her drawers, reaching out an arm to open the door. Luke was standing there in his pyjamas, looking confused.

"I don't wanna interrupt, but I didn't know what to do so I decided to come here," he admitted shyly, and I grinned, sliding an arm around his waist and pulling him close to me.

"I was just telling Calum about all the things Ashton has planned for this summer," Taylor shrugged, spinning herself a bit on her chair. "He's determined to get Michael to stop looking like a vampire."

"How does he plan to do that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"The beach, duh!" Taylor shrugged, a wide grin on her face.

"I love the beach!" I exclaimed, but Luke seemed a bit more apprehensive.

"Oh, um, yeah, that sounds cool," he nodded, looking down as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

I furrowed my eyebrows, making a mental note to find out why he didn't seem so keen on the idea.

Taylor, however, seemed to know, as she just smiled comfortingly at Luke. "It'll be fun, i promise. It's just us..." she paused to count before continuing, "6, anyways."
I felt him nod, and I smiled. Despite it all, I was looking forward to the summer.
----
[Luke.]

"I'm gonna get a job," I announced, causing both Taylor and Calum to look up at me from their spots on the couch.

Taylor, my ever-so supportive best friend, snorted in response. "Okay, good luck with that."

Similarly, Calum just looked at me with an amused expression. "Alright mate, you go do that."

"No, I'm serious. The other day I noticed the record shop needed help, and I dunno, I want to apply."

"Okay, well, it's worth a shot, right?"

So here I was, 25 minutes later, handing in my job application.

"Great!" The guy at the counter nodded. "We'll let you know in a few days."

"Okay, thank you very much," I smiled before exiting the shop, Taylor trailing behind me.

"You're so gonna get that job," she nodded, swinging her arm around my shoulders as we started aimlessly walking around, passing by shops and commenting on the things we saw. "Hey, it's been a while, hasn't it? Since we've hung out?"

"We went out to lunch a few times," I shrugged. "We live together now Tay, I don't need to see you more then I already do."

"I knoooow," she sighed in exasperation. "But still. It used to always be Luke and Tay, you know? None of this other drama, or none of this Calum business. Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm cool with it. You know I am. But... I don't know. I miss this sometimes."

I nodded. I understood fully well what she was talking about, and frankly I missed it a bit too. "Yeah, so do I."

"Oh well," she shrugged, grinning. "It's funny how things can change, isn't it? Like... You'd think that some people will never, ever change, no matter what. And then they just turn around and surprise you."

I let out a chuckle, nodding. "Yeah, you can say that again."

"Well, actually... Some people change and others don't, I guess," she shrugged, interrupting herself to point out a typo on some sale sign before continuing. "For instance, I'm pretty sure Olivia's as big of a bitch as she ever was."

I nodded, suddenly remembering something. "Did Calum tell you about what Olivia said?"

"What?" Taylor frowned, her confused brown eyes meeting mine. "Who said what?"

"Olivia. She came to our house a few weeks back... The same night Jake and Calum - and Mikey - got into a fight."

"No way," Taylor's jaw dropped. "And then?"

"I dunno!" I shrugged. "Calum talked to her for a decent amount of time but he didn't tell me anything about what they said."

"Hunh... That's really weird."

"All he said that Olivia was warning him about Jake."

Suddenly, Taylor's eyes widened and she smacked herself on the forehead. "I'm so stupid for not making that connection sooner."

"Tay, are you alright?" I asked, looking at her worriedly. No normal human being just smacks their forehead out of the blue. Then again, none of us were exactly 'normal human beings'.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Just surprised I didn't make the realisation sooner. Olivia and Jake dated, way before I dated him. She must have had something to say about him."

"Something helpful? This is Olivia we're talking about..."

"I know," she nodded. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she thought about the situation. "And that's why it's fishy. We've gotta ask Cal what she said."

I nodded in agreement, trying to ignore the bad feeling in my gut.
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A/N: all these chapters are really filler-y bc I'm trying to get to a certain place agskdk

LOVE YA BABES THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT

btw if you guys like one-shots I have a SHIT TON of one-shots that I'll (hopefully) be posting soon :)))