veracity • lashton

ten.

-Ashton-

"Hey, are you at Michael's?"

"Yes, just went inside." Luke said on the other line.

"Did he open the door for you?"

"No, but I remembered that I still had my spare key, so..."

"Creepy, but whatever." I teased, making him giggle.

"I just checked on him, he is sleeping in his room. He definitely had too much to drink."

"Alright, I just parked in front of the shop." I answered, jumping out of my car. "Keep me updated, please."

"Will do, I am probably just going to make him some tea and wake him up in a few minutes."

"Sounds great. See you later."

"See you."

"Um- and Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For everything."

"Don't mention it." I could feel him smile through the screen. "Take care."

"You too." I answered, slowly ending the call.

I buried my phone in my pocket before stepping inside the store, greeted by what seemed to be an angry and awkward silence.

"Hey!" I said, rushing towards Calum. "I came as fast as I could, are you okay?" I asked, giving him a hug.

He wrapped his arms around me. "I'm fine, but I need to talk to you."

Sierra gave us a light grin. "I will wait for you guys in the other room." She said, quickly going out of sight.

"What is it?" I looked at him with worry in my eyes.

"Nothing, it's just..." He sighed. "I called and texted you multiple times the past few days, and you never got back to me. Are you avoiding me?"

"What?" I frowned. "No! A lot was going on with me lately, I'm sorry."

"By 'a lot', do you mean Luke?"

We locked eyes, as I froze for a minute. "Yeah." I murmured.

He let out a loud groan. "Were you even going to tell me about any of this at all?"

"Of course, there is just nothing to say yet. We barely got to talk today."

He nodded, taking a seat at my desk. "Where is all of this even coming from?" I asked, trying to put the pieces together in my head. "You know I would never do anything like that on purpose. You're my best friend."

"I know, I'm sorry, it's just..." He paused, scratching both of his eyes. "Am I too controlling?"

"Well... sometimes." I confessed. "But it is always because you want the best for that person. Why?"

"I swear I never meant to-"

"What happened between you and Michael, Cal?" I interrupted him. "Did he say anything like that to you?"

He nodded. "Yes, but I deserved all of it... I did something bad."

"What did you do?"

He looked at the ground, before rapidly saying; "Luke tried to contact Michael by sending him letters, and I hid all of them from him."

"What-"

"Also, he thinks I'm cheating on him for some reason." He glanced back at me after not getting an answer, terror in his brown eyes. "Please, stop staring at me like I'm some kind of monster. I already feel like shit."