better man // calum hood

twenty-four

"Oh no, the whole 'we need to talk' phrase always leads to bad things. Did your talk with Luke convince you to drop me?" Calum teased, though, despite his lighthearted tone, she could detect genuine worry behind his words. Maybe he wouldn't reject her after all.

"Not at all," Leilani reassured him and ran her thumb along the back of his hand. "It was a very productive conversation. I got a lot of things off my chest and so did he."

"A free therapy session?" He joked, inciting a giggle from the brunette who nodded. "Well, I'm glad it went well. I can definitely come to your place afterward. What time are you thinking?"

"I perform in about an hour but only a few songs. I'm thinking everyone will be out of here by midnight if we're lucky. Then we can get out of here."

"I like the sound of that," Calum murmured with a smile, taking a step toward her only to stumble back at the hand that clapped down on his shoulder. Leilani's startled gaze shifted to see Luke, a smile overtaking her features. She dropped Calum's hand and wrapped her arms around Luke's neck, smelling the familiar cologne and comfortable scent he naturally carried with him. His arms laced around her waist and squeezed.

"Hi, thank you for coming," she said upon pulling away, patting his cheek gently. "You need to shave, bub."

Luke rubbed at his jawline while Calum chuckled. "I think it gives me a more ruggedly handsome look."

"Luke, you look kinda homeless," Leilani confessed with a smile that increased in size when Luke poked her in the side.

"That's what I said!" Calum exclaimed. "Except without the kinda because I don't give a shit."

"Or because you're a piece of shit," Luke retorted, earning a punch in the arm from Cal and a series of giggles from Leilani.

"Where are Ashton and Michael?" She inquired, peering over their shoulders as if she would miraculously see them. As of right now, they were nowhere to be found, but she did see Ed Sheeran and nearly fainted. Forget Ashton and Michael. A legend was currently present at her release party, and she needed to go say hi immediately.

"They're around here somewhere. I'll text them and see if I can find them," Calum offered as he pulled out his phone.

"No, it's okay, I'll find them sometime. I'm going to go try not to pee myself as I say hi to Ed Sheeran. I'll see you guys in a few. Wish me luck," Leilani said, already walking toward the ginger before the boys could even utter a word. She downed the rest of her champagne and deposited the glass on a nearby server's tray before squaring her shoulders and smiling.

Luke glanced at his bandmate who watched her walk away with a smile of admiration. He understood the effect Leilani had and couldn't blame him for staring when it'd taken a lot of self-control to avoid doing the same thing. "She's funny, isn't she?"

Calum snapped his gaze back to Luke's and nodded. "Yeah, and she's well aware of that."

"Did she tell you anything about our conversation?" Luke inquired, wondering if Leilani had fessed up any feelings that he wasn't aware of. He wanted to know if she finally admitted her openness to a deeper relationship with Cal but didn't want to give anything away otherwise.

"Not really. Is there something to tell?" Calum demanded, a touch of concern in his tone.

Luke smiled. The jealousy prompted him to think that Leilani had set her sights on Luke. Of course, what he didn't know was Luke only wished. "Nah, mate, nothing important. She's all yours."

Calum's eyes widened, his features taking on a similar expression to Leilani's when he admitted to seeing her and Cal together. "What are you talking about?" He tried to compose himself, though after a moment he stepped closer and asked, "Did she tell you?"