youngblood | a.i.

four || takes one to know one

So there I stood, in the center of the field, standing my ground against the man who assaulted me and the man who let it happen. I stayed like that until Calum walked up behind me and physically pulled me from my spot.

We walked towards our bags, picking them up and undoing our cleats to put them inside.

"God, my legs hurt," Calum complained as he tried to reach his foot to pull off his cleat.

"So stretch them," I told him simply as I pulled off my last cleat, throwing it in my bag and digging out my slide.

"You have to stay with me and stretch too then," Cal added on.

I rolled my eyes at him, looking over towards him to see if he was dead serious or not. He pushed out his bottom lip so he was frowning, sending small pleas to me to stay with him. "Whatever," I finally huffed out, dragging us over to a quiet part of the field. "But when Luke is mad at me for being late, I'm blaming you."

We spent a while stretching together, trying to make sure we wouldn't regret our decision the next day. Calum said everything that came to his mind, keeping off the huge topic of what had gone down today.

I was very thankful for Calum as a person. I loved him to death, and he never failed to make me smile. He has been the only person there for me at my worst and had continued to be the only person there for me as we both ventured through our last years of high school. Him being a senior like everyone else made me sad knowing he'd leave me soon enough. But until then, he meant so much more to me than he'd ever realized, and I loved him for it.

"Okay, I think my legs are officially jello now," Calum complained as he laid flat out like a starfish on the turf field.

I walked up beside him, leaning down over him to get his attention. "Come on," I held out my hands to pull him up. "Luke's gonna come to kill me soon."

"Wouldn't be the first dumb thing he's done," Calum retorted as he grabbed my hands. I pulled him up off the field, fighting back against him as he tried to pull me down. I finally let go of his hands, grabbing my bag and starting to walk off.

Calum stood still where I had pulled him up, watching as I walked away. I turned around to face him. "I will leave you here."

He groaned as he reached down and grabbed ahold of the handle of his bag. He drug it behind himself as he slowly wandered over towards me. I laughed at his complaints, waiting for him to catch up.

"Why are you so chirpy? You didn't want to do this in the first place," Calum told me, finally catching up beside me.

"I didn't, and I still don't, but at least I proved those assholes wrong," I stated simply, starting to walk beside Calum toward the gate.

"You know I love you, but you did a damn good job at almost getting yourself killed today," Calum said, nudging me slightly as I walked.

"That's why you were here to protect me," I told him with a smile, nudging him back. "I could have fended for myself anyways."

"Yeah, just don't pull any of that shit when I'm not here, 'cause I'm not convinced anyone else would protect you but me," Calum replied, his voice trying to keep it lighthearted.

My mind immediately fell to how Luke just let everything happen, how he refused to stand up for me in any of the moments he could have. I guess he's just not exactly who I thought he was.

"I know," I whispered under my breath, not wanting to admit to myself yet that Luke was one of them.

"It's okay," Calum said throwing his arm around me as we walked. "I'll always be here to keep you safe."

"Thank you, Cal," I told him as he pulled me into his side as we walked.

"Any time," He replied, bringing his fist up to rub the top of my head. "If Luke can't be your big brother," he started as his hand started rubbing back and forth on my head. "I will."

"Ouch!" I yelped as I pulled myself out from under his arm. "That hurt!"

"You're fine," he said with a smile. His smile was contagious, forcing one to grow on my face knowing I wasn't actually in any pain.

"You messed up my hair," I complained as I walked backward in front of him.

"Oh, I could mess up a lot more," he told me as he started running towards me.

I turned around with a small scream and started running from him. I knew he would catch me quickly. I wasn't running that fast on purpose. He caught me quick, wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me up against his chest.

"Put me down!" I yelped, kicking around in his grip through my laughter.

He laughed back at me as he set me down. He adjusted his bag on his shoulder, continuing to watch me as I got up in front of him.

"Let's go," Calum finally said. "Luke may be looking for you."