Fools // mgc

t w e n t y

"You what?"

This can't be. He's my best friend, he can't like me. We've known each other for so long, how could he have hid this from me?

"I've always had a crush on you" he whimpers. "You just never seemed to notice."

Calum's eyes mirror mine with a mixture of fury and disappointment. Before me, I see a different side of him. It's different from his usual, shy but funny personality, but it definitely isn't his new "cool guy" persona. It's different.

I see him in a vulnerable, raw way.

I see him crying for the first time in ages.

The last time I ever saw him cry was when we were in the first grade and a girl he had a crush on rejected him during reading time. The boys in the same class had made fun of Calum and I just sat next to him with a smile, acting like nothing happened. During recess, I had invited him to my house after school (like usual) and he nodded his head with this big smile. We played hide and seek all evening and things seemed fine after that.

If only things were simple like that still.

Now I'm the reason he's crying and a silly little play date isn't going to fix that.

"God, this is so fucking stupid." he shaking his head.

"Calum." I say, firmly.

I approach him slowly to wipe away his tears carefully. Calum gives in and looks to the side instead of my face.

"You lied to me." he mentions, a scowl on his face.

He was right. I was a liar.

"You're becoming someone you're not." I challenge, mentioning his new ego.

"Because I can't be myself when I see you with someone else!" he fights back.

When he got drunk at his parents' dinner party; that wasn't him. Nor was him calling me "babe," or when he started a fight with Nick. All those times, Michael was with me, causing Calum to act differently. All those times, he just didn't like me being with Michael.

"Well grow the fuck up, Calum!" I yell. "You can't stand any of this because you're so used to everything being the same. Why can't you see that things are going to change either way? What do you want me to do? Fix you some fucking pasta and put on some movie as if that'll solve everything?"

He glares at me but I can still see faint tears trying to escape.

"You know what? Get out, just get out. I don't want to see you until you've learned what you did wrong!" Calum yells once again, pushing me out of his room.

He closes the door with an obnoxious bang, leaving me out in the hallway. I groan in defeat and ball up my hands into fists. All I want to do is scream right now but frankly, I don't want to scare Calum's parents if they walk in anytime soon.

Now realizing his parents were going to be home any minute, I dash out the house in attempts of avoiding them asking why I look like a sobbing mess.

"Shit." I mumble, wiping at my eyes without realizing I started to cry.

Running across the street, I plead myself to stop crying but it doesn't work.