Shot In The Dark [Book 1]

4.5 - Lost And Found

The rest of the concert is filled with a variety of songs and girls screaming and crying before the guys finally say their final good-byes for the night and run off stage.

"You guys were amazing." I smile as they run past me and Ashton is the only one to acknowledge me.

"You're one to talk. You definitely know how to get a crowd going." He shoves my arm playfully like a school girl and I smile.

"Yeah, I guess I'm good at a few things." I playfully roll my eyes and he laughs. "One of which is being nosy. Who was that Lost In Reality song about? I've never heard it before."

We walk away from the stage and his eyes widen as he grabs Luke's shirt, pulling him by my side. "Ask him."

I huff as Ashton runs ahead of us, Luke giving me a confused look. "Did i do something wrong?"

"No, I just asked Ashton a question but he's a dick." I frown and he nods. "Who is that Lost In Reality song about?"

"Oh, well if you listen to the lyrics it's clearly about-"

As soon as he confirms my theory, Mikey yells through the hallway. "Let's go get wasted!"

All of the guys hoot and holler in agreement as I stand in the hallway, watching all of them run off like they're in a coming of age film.

Don't be upset Margo, there's probably multiple songs about you on this album.

Don't get sad, there's no reason to be sad.

I shouldn't be feeling this way, it's stupid, but it's hard to not overthink with these things.

I dig my nails into my forearm three times before picking up my pace to catch up with the guys.

I'll only mention it if he asks, which I'm sure he will. He always asks how I feel about things.

———

So, he hasn't asked.

We've been at this club all night and I've just been sitting at the bar while Ashton occasionally comes back for more drinks before going back to join the others on the dance floor.

"You seem to be having a blast." The bartender jokes and I let out a sigh, continuing to stir my drink with my straw.

"Is it that obvious? I guess I can't expect much else when my boyfriend writes and performs a confused about another girl." I shake my head and she gasps. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"Is your boyfriend the cute one that keeps coming back for more drinks, tapping you on the back before leaving again? You two give me sibling vibes." She furrows her eyebrows, referring to Ashton and I shake my head letting out a small laugh.

"No, my boyfriend is his bestfriend." I let out a sigh and she nods, leaning forward as if we're two school-girls gossiping.

"Tell me, what are you trying to forget tonight? Because you've ordered six drinks in the past few hours." She lowers her voice and I raise up my glass, swallowing the last of the contents in it before sliding it back to her.

"Myself." I sigh and she backs away.

"That's sad kid, you need to make up with him before it's too late. Life's too short to get caught up on the little things." She begins wiping the counter with the rag that was previously on her hip and I nod, running my finger along the edge of the glass.

Yeah, I know.

"Margo, you haven't talked to Calum all night. I thought you two were happy?" Luke pants as he drunkenly yells over the music, stumbling towards me.

"We are, he's just having fun right now." I shrug, trying not to give too much information to drunk Luke.

Sober Luke isn't the best at keeping secrets so I doubt drunk Luke is any better. He takes my drink and sniffs it before chugging it.

"Hey! That was my drink you asshole." I smack him as he sets the glass back down in front of me.

"And you won't tell me what's wrong. Who's the real problem here?"

He leaves me alone once again to go out onto the dance floor. Despite the fact that they're four guys that cannot dance, they sure as hell know how to crowd a dance floor.

I laugh to myself at the sight of Ashton on all fours, failing at his attempt to twerk as Michael and Luke cheer him on. Calum hasn't looked at me a single time, but he seems to be enjoying himself. Thats all I could ever ask for so I'm not going to complain.

After a few more songs, they walk over to the bar where I'm seated, each of them saying something I don't even feel like trying to understand. Calum sits beside me as the other three guys get distracted by something on the other side of the bar, leaving us alone.

"Are you okay?" He yells over the music and I nod, taking a long sip of my drink. "How many of those have you had?"

"Not nearly enough." I finally speak and he watches me as if he's some random guy trying to get my number. I turn to face him, raising my eyebrows. "Can I help you?"

"You're upset." He nods, almost as if it's a question and I look back down at my drink.

"I'll tell you what, you're definitely going to win an award for pointing out the obvious things." I laugh at my own joke and he takes my drink from me. "You guys need to learn to get your own drinks, asshole."

"Come with me." He grabs my hand and pulls me towards the exit as I yell profanities at him, gaining the attention of everyone around us.

He drags me out of the club and turns around to look at me. "We wrote that song ages ago."

"Good to know, now I'm going back to my drink." I turn around to enter the club again when he grabs my hand.

"You haven't eaten anything today so I know that all the drinks you had are about to hit you like a train. Let me call us an Uber to get to the hotel." He offers and I stare at him with a blank expression. "Margo, please."

I purse my lips, thinking of any possible ways I could tell him to go fuck himself, but I finally give in. I don't feel like being a prick tonight.

Maybe tomorrow.

"Fine, but I'm going straight to sleep." I roll my eyes and he nods.

"As long as you're safe, I'm happy with anything you do."

———

The ride to the hotel is short and dizzier than I remember. Calum helps me walk up the stairs and enter the room before I pull away from him and climb into the bed.

I watch as he changes into a more comfortable outfit and places a bottle of Advil next to a bottle of water on the bed-side table.

He climbs into bed next to me after turning the light off and plants a kiss on the cheek before whispering a soft 'goodnight' to me.

It's something I've realized he does every night and it definitely is something that will always make me smile. Something I'll always look forward to.

"Hey Calum." I whisper, gaining a soft hum in response.

I let out a soft sigh, lying next to him in silence as I try to find a way to make sure he knows I'm not upset.

I roll over to look at him and his breathing is already steadying, showing that he's falling asleep much faster than I am.

"Thank you for caring about me."