Captive || 5sos AU

Clouded

Michael sat in his apartment alone and opened his refrigerator. There wasn't a wide array of food inside, but he felt that if he opened it enough, more would appear. It never did, but he always seemed to migrate back to the fridge as if it would.

Suddenly his cell phone began to buzz violently in his pocket and he took it out. He  didn't recognize the number but he picked up anyway. One of the worst parts of doing music gigs in LA was that you could never miss a call, because you could end up inadvertantly missing an opportunity as well.

"Hello?" He chirped brightly.

"Hey Michael. Can I come over?"

The caller didn't identify herself, but he could tell immediately that the voice belonged to Laurie.

"Sure." He responded before giving the girl his address and hanging up.

Well that was quick. It had only been about an hour since Laurie had dashed away from him at the Panera, and she was already about to return. He could tell by her tone of voice that something was wrong, but he knew better than to ask over the phone when she still had the opportunity to turn around and go home without talking about it.

After throwing the piles of dirty clothes which flooded his living room and bathroom into the washing machine and tidying up the main area, he circled back to the refrigerator. He spent a few seconds looking over its contents before hearing a knock at the door.

He closed the fridge and made his way to the door, then placed his eye quickly against the peep hole. He swung the door open and looked down, smiling welcomingly at Laurie, who returned the gesture with a deep frown.

"What's wrong?" He asked, cutting straight to the chase. Michael wasn't one to beat around the bush.

Laurie shook her head and sighed, releasing a breathy "Everything." on the exhale.

Michael nodded, not quite understanding, and hoped that she would elaborate.

Laurie quickly picked up on her friend's cues and bit her lip.

"Well it turns out Calum did get the money." She said angrily, and Michael scratched his head in confusion.

He understood that Laurie wanted nothing to do with Luke anymore - he respected that - but he couldn't see why she would want to reject the money. After all, money is money and it seemed to Michael that the couple could have used it.

"And he pretended he had an eight hour day job in the city while I was home alone all day." She added, smiling sarcastically, and Michael brought her into the apartment and closed the door.

The two instinctively found their way to the couch and Michael wasted no time getting comfortable to ask for details.

"Where did he go all day?" He asked, a look of confusion and surprise beginning to unravel across his face.

Laurie shrugged.

"I don't know. I kind of just ran off before I got the chance to ask." She admitted regretfully.

Michael shook his head disapprovingly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You can't keep doing that, Laurie." He said, more to himself than to the girl he was addressing.

Laurie's head shot up and Michael's blank expression quickly turned into a guilty one.

She wondered how he could say something like that to her. It's not like she wanted to 'keep doing that' She didn't want to run from Luke - she loved him! - but what he did terrified and enraged her, and she couldn't stay with him knowing that he could be so cruel.