WRONG NUMBER / CH

chptr 5

Saturday was spent with the four of them lounging around Michael's house, playing video games and swearing loudly at each other.

Calum was constantly checking his phone for any new messages--Leia had been telling "Anna" about how she was convinced her English teacher was actually Satan reincarnated. He was too busy chuckling at his phone to notice that Ashton had already won Mario Kart.

"So you're really not gonna tell us about this girl?" Ashton asked with a frown, displeased that Calum had not been paying attention to the game.

Calum shook his head and retreated to the other side of the couch, away from the three boys.

"The way I see it, Calum's not telling us because either he's started online dating," Michael announced with a smirk, "or because it's a guy."

The three of them burst into laughter, gasping Holy fucking shit in between chuckles. Calum regarded them detachedly. When they wouldn't stop laughing, he threw a picture frame at the trio and vowed to exact revenge on these bastards.

"Hey," Michael breathed indignantly, picking the picture frame up from the soft carpet. "This is my parents' anniversary picture, you twat."

"I'm not texting a guy, Jesus." Calum ignored the mischievous glances they were giving to each other. "Okay, fine. You guys really want to know?" His three best friends nodded enthusiastically. Calum sighed. "It's some girl who got the wrong number. She's been texting me for days now."

"Aha, so it is a girl. Is she hot?" Of course that would be Michael's first question.

"I don't know," Calum replied truthfully. Come to think of it, he never actually wondered what Leia looked like.

"Well, what do you guys talk about?" Luke asked with a small frown.

"Uh..." Calum scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to answer the question. She talked about a lot of things. He, well, doesn't talk. "I haven't actually, uh, replied to her yet?" His voice faltered at the end, bracing himself for the bedlam that would erupt from his rowdy friends.

"She must be really into you," Michael regarded with a tinge of appreciation. "I mean, to keep trying to talk to you when you don't even reply..." He shook his head in awe and put out his closed fist to Calum. "Respect."

"She doesn't know me," Calum explained frustratedly. "She thinks she's texting this girl named Anna."

Now the chaos did come, with every one of his best friends shouting and questioning his actions (except Michael, who was for some reason, excited, and still had his fist raised). Ashton, being the oldest in the group, raised his voice first. "So you're just blatantly lying to this girl?"

"Pff, I'm not lying to her. I'm just...not telling her the truth." Okay, that sounded way better in his head. Calum put his hands to his face and groaned. When he looked up, they were all staring at him expectantly. "Look, this Anna girl is probably the only thing keeping her alive. I don't have the heart to tell her Anna's not me. I mean, if it makes her happy, you know, why do I have to ruin it?" Okay, that's better, Calum, he said to himself. Slightly exaggerated, but better. "I'm not really hurting anyone." He paused, making sure his thinking process was logical. "Right?"

Luke and Michael shrugged and murmured consent, but Ashton piped up. "You're giving her false hope, mate."

"You think I don't know that?" he replied exasperatedly.

His phone buzzed with new messages from Leia, which this time, he showed to the boys.

from: leia
im having a really bad day :( but i feel kinda better when i text u lol

from: leia
even if u dont reply

from: leia
is that weird?

They were silent for a moment until Luke reached out to slap Calum's back in a brotherly way. "You're a good person, Cal," he said. And they all went back to their game.