Safety Net {l.r.h}

64) Birthday Girl

LUKE HEMMINGS

"For the last damn time, Calum, it's won't give up, and I can't give up. Who the fuck says can't get off in a song?" Michael grumbles in annoyance, pointing a harsh finger at my songbook.

Rolling his eyes, Calum sets his guitar off to the side and sighs. "I'm just tired of playing the same song, and there's a really hot girl waiting for me in my bed. Can we please wrap this up?"

"Speaking of," Ashton pipes up, hopping down from the stage he sat on. "Are you ever going to put a label on it?"

"Label on what, exactly?" Cal questioned.

"Oh, don't play dumb," Michael snorts, "you and Dayna have been hooking up for months, there's gotta be something more to it."

Calum shrugs, "it's just casual sex." Looking to me, he raises his eyebrows and gestures to our friends. "Go on, Luke, tell 'em."

"Tell them what?" I ask, smirking when his face drops.

Rolling his eyes for the millionth time, Calum waves us off. "I don't have to explain myself to you guys. Can we just get out of here and do something?"

"I made plans for all of us later, we're just killing time right now," I say, plucking at the strings on my guitar. Everyone's heads turned toward me. Ashton and I locked eyes and I nodded toward him.

He clapped his hands together, gaining Calum and Michael's attention. "We're throwing a surprise party tonight."

"For who?" Michael asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You do realize it's Ellie's birthday, right?" I ask.

"Oh my god, that makes so much sense," Michael exclaims with a loud laugh, "she's a Pisces!" He cuts himself off with a gasp, pointing at me, "and you're a Cancer! That makes so much fucking sense, holy shit."

I roll my eyes, "how?"

"You're soulmates, duh."

"Who the hell taught you this shit?" Calum asks, quirking up an eyebrow.

Michael smirks, "I think you know her."

"Dayna?" He questions. "When have you had the time to hang out with her? And why?"

"If it's so casual, why do you care?" Michael spits back, trying to gain a reaction out of the boy. Calum snaps his lips shut and simply flips off his blue-haired friend, trying to act nonchalant.

With a long exhale, I stood up from my seated position on the edge of the stage. "Anyway, we should probably get back and get ready. There's tons of shit to do."

-

I groaned for the thousandth time while attempting to figure out the way to fix my shirt as Dayna stood at the bathroom doorway nagging about how long I'm taking.

"Maybe I'd be able to think if your mouth wasn't running," I snapped, flashing a glare in her direction.

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance. "You have t-minus five seconds to figure it the fuck out, we're not even done decorating, and the cake hasn't arrived yet."

"Then go decorate," I breathe out, unbuttoning the top three buttons of my satin shirt. "I'll be done in a second."

"Better be."

Alone at last.

The sound of buzzing prompted me to turn my attention to my phone on the marble counter. Ellie's name flashed across the screen as she called me, so I pressed the answer button and placed the phone on speaker.