Captive || 5sos AU

Unwound

Another week had come and gone and still no sign of Calum. Though Laurie was able to keep him out of her mind for hours at a time now, he would sometimes creep back in and remind her of how her ears yearned for the sound of his voice, and how her body called out for his touch.

Nighttime was an especially dangerous period for Laurie, because as soon as her head hit her pillow and her eyes shut, her mind would stir and Calum would inevitably come up.

To solve this problem Laurie began sleeping with Luke at night, because it seemed that when she was with him everything faded into the background and it was just the two of them, but when Michael noticed he became concerned.

It was movie night again and Laurie sat alone in the living room waiting for the three boys to join her, hopefully with kettle corn. Michael was the first one to walk in and he found a spot on the couch right next to Laurie, making sure to sit close enough that Luke would be unable to squeeze himself between them.

Laurie rolled her eyes.

"Michael, you know Luke's going to sit there. Scoot over." She said, but Michael didn't budge. He eyed her sternly.

"I'm worried about you." He said quietly, trying to avoid being heard by Luke or Ashton.

Laurie's brow furrowed in confusion and she rested a hand on the redhead's knee.

"Don't." She said firmly, and shook her head.

"I've just noticed that you stay the night with Luke now and I really don't want him to take advantage of you. He could wreck you, Laurie." He said, not going to the trouble of hiding his concern for the sake of her happiness.

Laurie chuckled and raised a brow at him humorously.

"Wreck me? That's descriptive, but we don't do those kinds of things." She laughed, obviously not taking Michael's warning seriously.

Michael ran a hand through his hair before letting out another sigh and shaking his head slightly.

"Laurie, I'm being serious. Just be careful with him, okay? A guy like him isn't good for a girl like you." He whispered, but quited himself suddenly as Luke made his way into the room.

Luke looked at Michael curiously and he moved away from Laurie immediately to allow the tall boy to take his usual spot next to her.

"What were you two talking about?" He asked innocently, handing the bowl of popcorn to Laurie and taking just a handful for himself.

Laurie shot an eye to Michael and then back to Luke, who wrapped an arm around her tense body, causing the young girl to melt where she was sitting.

"Nothing." She said casually, gaining a thankful glance from Michael and a shrug from Luke.

She took a handful of popcorn into her mouth and her cheeks swelled like a chipmunk. She had a hard time chewing and her face squished together in deep concentration on the task at hand. Luke looked down at her and laughed. Sometimes he found the things she did so cute, even when she didn't really try.

Ashton walked in with a DVD and popped it in, then took a seat on the floor. It was his turn to pick the movie, and he had chosen some low quality film with Daniel Radcliffe in it. It was supposed to be scary and the guys were totally into it, but halfway through Laurie was bored and decided that she liked him better as Harry Potter.

Her eyes traveled to the floor where Ashton was now laying flat on his stomach. He was a very good looking guy and he seemed friendly, but Laurie began to wonder why the two of them had never really had any substantial conversation.

Laurie rolled her eyes as the music in the background began to intensify and stood up. "I'm going to wash my bowl." She said, and Luke nodded. Laurie couldn't help but notice how attractive he was when he was concentrated, and his face furrowed as the movie unraveled.

He smirked and looked at Laurie. "I thought you were going to wash your bowl." He said, looking the girl up and down and biting at his lip ring.

Laurie felt her face start to burn at the realization that she had been staring at him for a good thirty seconds, and that he had certainly noticed. She scurried into the kitchen and turned the water on, running a quick hand through it before placing the bowl under the faucet.

She cleaned the bowl, and refusing to return to the awful movie playing in the living room, she started playing with the bubbles in the sink. She heard the sound of someone rummaging through the fridge and turned around quickly, praying that they didn't see her embarrassingly childish method of entertainment.

"Having fun?" He said and stepped out of the refrigerator with two bottles of water in his hands, revealing to Laurie the boy who she had seen sitting on the floor.

Laurie chuckled embarrassedly and drained the water in the sink.

"Yeah, I was just uh-"

"Man, that movie sucks." Ashton said, cutting Laurie off, and opened his bottle.

Laurie was grateful that he hadn't asked for an explanation, and even more grateful that he found the movie just as boring as she did. She laughed a little.

"Yeah." She said shyly. "This is the first time I think we've ever talked." She said and walked toward him slowly.

He handed her one of the water bottles in his hands and took a sip from his.

"Yeah, but I've heard a lot about you." He said and leaned against the counter.

Laurie smiled and opened her water bottle.

"Oh, from Luke." She said, flattered that he had mentioned her to his friends. She wondered if they were good things.

"No, Calum. Before he left he..." Ashton trailed off and shook his head. "I shouldn't talk about him, sorry." He finished and looked away from Laurie.

Calum? He talked about her? Why would he talk about her so much to Ashton if she was nothing more than a conquest to him? Laurie had just got Ashton to speak with her and she didn't want to push it, but she felt like she needed to know.

"What did he say about me?" She asked coolly, trying not to sound too interested.

Ashton shook his head again.

"I really don't think I should talk about it. You've got a good thing going with Luke." He said, and bit the inside of his cheek.

Laurie crossed her arms over her chest and dropped her look of innocence for a new look of unadulterated sass.

"Just tell me!" She whispered, now aware that the conversation may not be a good one to be overheard.

Ashton sighed and stepped in closer to Laurie, dropping his voice to an almost inaudible level, and looked her directly in the eye.

"Calum was my best friend, I know him, and I know that he really cared about you." He said, and then straightened up.

"Trust me." He whispered and left the room, leaving Laurie to wonder why in the world Calum had left, and where he had gone. Not to mention her newly forming questions about Luke which had been planted in her mind by Michael less than an hour before.

She had a lot of thinking to do.