Close As Strangers // c.h.

9

*Ren's POV*

After the girls left I got myself a little something to eat before my aunt came home to start our movie night. I pulled out the leftover Chinese from last night and warmed up some orange chicken with rice and an eggroll.

Kelly and I used to have these movie nights a ton, especially right after my mom passed away.

Boy I miss my mom.

We usually just watch a couple movies back-to-back and eat more popcorn than any human ever should. Honestly on most movie nights we stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning and just talk about life, gossip, or anything that is really bothering us. It really helps my Aunt just like it helps me.

I glance at the clock and realize that it's only 7 o'clock. Kelly won't be back for another 2 hours. I do the math in my head and take notice that it's just past noon in America. I pull out my phone and start typing Cal's number into my phone as if I was going to call him, but I stop myself right before clicking the send button.

I then have the idea to just text him, figuring I would break down if I were to call him :

Hey Cal, I just want to say that I really miss you, more than words can even describe. You are on my mind every second of the day, and I don't know if you still feel that way about me but I know for sure that I still feel that way about you. I just can't get over the fact that you lied to me. You told me that you were only going to be gone for 6 weeks, and you said that you would never forget me, but I feel like you have broken both of those promises. One, it's been 6 months not 6 weeks and I don't really care what you think about you forgetting me, because I know it's true. And it's totally alright. Don't worry about me cause I have already started doing the same thing, I am trying to forget the bad and just remember the good times that we had. And to be honest cal, I hope you stay in the US, I am truly happy for you guys and I'm happy that you get to do something that I love. I will be graduating next year anyway so it won't even matter. I will go off to college and you will stay on tour, and that will be how it is. I really miss you CalPal and I wish things could be different but this is how it has to be. I love you.

I was just about to press send when I stop myself once again. I can't do this, not yet, I can't say goodbye just yet.

I start crying once again, and run up to my room for the only escape I have at this given time. I grab my journal from my desk and jump onto my bed. I carefully open the journal and pick up where I left off. I then realize I skipped over a few months while I was writing. I skimmed over the next section. It was short but one of the best moments since I moved to Sydney; the day that I met Ashton.

Ash was a necessity to the band, so when they told me that they were gaining a drummer, I was ecstatic. A few months ago, Mikey told me that he knew a drummer from Sydney and was looking for advice on if he should ask him to join the band or not. I of course encouraged him to message him over Facebook, and he did. He responded within the same day and agreed to play a gig with them. I then met him a couple days later, and me and him were so close right away, we were like soul mates, but in a friend way. We both think of each other as brother and sister, and that's probably because when I first met him I treated him like a brother. I always poked fun at him. I was so happy when he said yes when Cal asked him to permanently join.

The first day he came over to Michael's house, he seemed a bit weird. He traveled so many miles on his push bike and showed up in an ugly, sweaty purple shirt. He had a drawstring backpack on his back which held a couple drumsticks. I was skeptical when he first started talking to us about the band, but when he played and told the dreams he had for the band, I was in. He was going to provide some stability to the three idiots that didn't know how to get things done. That's also when I realized that this guy is a quality friend/big brother, and I wasn't going to let him go. I was the one that told Cal to get down on his knee and 'propose' to Ashton to ask him to join the band.