WRONG NUMBER / CH

chptr 33

The four of them were hanging out once again in Luke and Calum's place on a lazy Saturday morning. They were all watching the latest action movie, complete with popcorn, beer, and loud, obnoxious comments.

Luke's phone rang. "Oh, Calum?" he called out, tapping his inbox and reading the text. "Leia's asking if you want to hang out with her today."

Immediately Michael shouted, "Bros before hoes, Calum!" then proceeded to throw popcorn at him.

Calum shrugged the popcorn away and took Luke's phone to read the message she had sent him.

from: leia
hey luke can you ask calum if he wants to hang today? :D thanks!

Calum definitely wanted to. But he looked up to see his three best friends staring at him, all with the same message on their face: don't you dare skip out on us.

He started whining. "But guys..."

Ashton shook his head. "Don't be that kind of bro, Calum. We haven't had a proper hangout in weeks." A mischievous smile crept to his lips. "Unless, you let us meet her."

Calum shuddered at the thought. He sighed deeply, knowing they were right. Leia was important to him, but his friends were equally important. He started typing his message to her. "Fine. I'll tell her I can't today," he muttered, defeated.

They all laughed at how easily they could manipulate Calum.

But before he sent the message another text from her popped up.

from: leia
i'm at this pet shop called wonderpets right now if he does :)

Calum felt startled. If she was at Wonderpets, then she was...just across the street. Coincidence of all coincidences. He was about to tell them how Leia was just across them, but Luke, who was peering over Calum's shoulder, beat him to it. "Leia's just across the street!" he announced. "Let's go meet her!"

"What, no!" Calum immediately replied, but it was drowned out by the sound of are you serious and hell fucking yeah! In under five seconds his three best friends had packed up their movie and were on their way outside. "So you guys can meet her but I can't?" Calum questioned with a glare.

Michael rolled his eyes. "Duh. We're not trying to get in her pants." The rest laughed, shaking their heads at Michael.

"Come on Calum!" Ashton beckoned excitedly. "It's either we all meet her, or no one does."

The ultimatum was too tempting for Calum, so of course, they won out over him. Even though he cringed at the thought of their behavior around her, at least he'd see her. Besides, she wanted to meet them, anyway.

"Think of it as us approving of Leia," Luke was telling Calum on their way down. When they reached the street, Michael broke into a run for the pet store across them, but before the other three could walk across the street, several trucks passed by.

Michael smiled in triumph and carefully pushed the door to the pet shop open. He spotted Leia almost immediately, turned around, cradling something. With a smirk he confidently strolled over to her, ready to make his first impression on his best mate's girl.

"Hi," he said coolly. "I'm-oh my god look at that he's fucking adorable!" Michael gushed when Leia turned around, cradling a baby bunny in her arms. All Michael's words were lost as he stared into the cute little eyes of the animal. Leia watched him, half-confused, half-amused.

Michael continued to babble like he just can't believe anything this adorable could ever exist. "Look at this guy! Oh, fuck, that's cute. Look at his little feet! Can I hold him? Is he fluffy?"

Leia laughed, holding out the rabbit to this strange, dark-haired boy. Something clicked into place in her head. "Sure. He's very fluffy."

Michael looked like a schoolboy. He was absolutely ecstatic, holding that bunny in his arms. "Jesus Christ, he is fluffy. Oh, man. You're the cutest damn thing I've ever seen." After a few more seconds of gazing at the bunny, Michael shook his head, seeming to realize where he is. He looked up to see Leia smiling at him. "Oh, shit. This was totally out of plan," he muttered to himself. "I'm-"

"Michael," Leia finished for him. His eyes widened slightly, startled. "Yeah, Calum told me about you. Crazy hair, swears a lot, loves baby animals?"

Oddly, Michael felt touched that Calum would even talk about him enough to the point where Leia would recognize him.

But he didn't show it. "Crazy hair? Who's he calling crazy hair with that noodle thing going on in his? My hair's awesome," he ranted in a wounded tone, the same moment the door opened with a little ring, allowing Luke, Calum and Ashton in.

Michael turned around and held the bunny out excitedly. "Look at this adorable little fucker, guys!" He then tilted his head. "Oh, and Leia," he added.

Calum immediately walked over to her. "I apologize for Michael's whole being," he told her seriously.

To his surprise, she just laughed. "No, he was funny. And cute."

Inwardly, Calum sulked. I thought I was cute. God damn it, Michael.

Luke and Ashton were making formal introductions to her (and Michael was fawning over some puppies in the corner, looking like he was having the time of his life), so Calum left them alone. He watched Leia's delighted expression on meeting his friends, and once again, he's reminded of how much he likes her.

"That sounds great," Leia was telling Ashton with a bright smile

Calum blinked. "Wait, what sounds great?"

Luke clapped excitedly. "Leia's coming over for video games today!" Somewhere in the shop, Michael shouted, "She is?"

Calum locked eyes with Ashton. The curly-haired boy flashed a dimpled smile at him. In that moment, Calum knew they were giving him their blessings.

a/n: again, Wonderpets is a made-up store lmao