99 skinny (rewritten) // adopted by 5sos

twenty six // 117.3 lbs

"I don't know, Luke."

Upon hearing the stressful tone of Calum's voice and the short sigh he let out, I stopped in my tracks, moving a bit closer to his door. I stepped lightly and slowly, careful not to let the floor creak under my weight. A part of me felt terrible for eavesdropping – yet again – while the other half of me was curious as to what he had to say. Standing as still as possible, I waited.

"If you like her, then get back together," Luke replied, his tone as if what he had said was obvious.

"It's not that easy, Luke," Calum deadpanned. "What if we go on tour again? Or I'm too preoccupied with you guys and Daisy? Or –"

"Come on Cal," Luke groaned in annoyance. "You think too much."

When there was silence, Luke continued, "I think you should try again. You obviously really like her, so why worry about things that might not even happen?"

There was silence and I heard the faint sound of footsteps. Dumbly assuming it was far enough to come from downstairs, I stayed put.

"I'm going to my room. Come talk to me if you need to," Luke's voice suddenly sounded like it was right beside me, and before I could react the door swung open.

Luke's force nearly knocked me over, myself clumsily tripping over my own feet as I tried to stay up.

"Shït, I'm so sorry," Luke gasped, stepping out into the hallway. He reached an arm out, gingerly grabbing my throbbing arm to steady me.

"It's okay," I groaned, rubbing the tender spot once he let go.

"I didn't expect you to be there, I'm sorry," Luke stammered, voice gentle yet panicked.

"Luke it's just a door. I'll live," I teased, laughing as he gently nudged me.

"I guess," Luke grabbed a piece of my hair and twirled it around his finger as he walked past me.

Shaking my head at his nonsense, I went back to my own room, my head swirling with thoughts. From what I had heard I could make the assumption that Calum had a girlfriend, but broke up with her due to his schedule. Since Calum, Ashton and Luke were both romantically involved in relationships, that brought me to wonder what else the boys had been hiding from me.

And why they were hiding these things.

***

A soft knock on my bedroom door made me close out of my weight tracking app, quickly switching to texts between Max and I.

"Hey..." Ashton came in, cracking the door behind him. "I need to tell you something."

"Okay..." I hesitantly said, my heart racing as I worried he'd bring up something bad.

"First of all, I know we haven't been able to go out and explore Sydney yet, but how do you like it here so far?" Ashton asked, green eyes shimmering under the warm light of my room.

I shrugged. "I miss home, but it's nice here."

Ashton nodded thoughtfully, before sitting down. "And how do you feel about Evie?"

A lump formed in my throat, my mind racing as I thought up an excuse. "Oh, um... I really like her. Why?"

"Really?" Ashton's eyes lit up, his body leaning towards me in eagerness.

I nodded, my stomach sinking as I blatantly lied to his face.

"Why...?" I hesitantly asked when a silence fell between us.

"Because she's coming to Australia. She might live with us," Ashton gushed.

My jaw dropped, and upon seeing Ashton's confused expression when he noticed, I quickly replaced it with a happy-yet-shocked expression. "Really?" I gasped, feigning excitement.