Tangled Strings (sequel to Red Strings)

Chapter 29

Skyler's POV

"Alright let's play a game!" I decide bored out of my mind.  Since we had gotten home earlier, Luke had set me up on the couch with about 1000 pillows and the TV remote.  Which I had appreciated but "How I Met your Mother" had just ended and I was feeling extremely lonely and frustrated. Not to mention I had about twenty missed calls from my mom that I refused to reply to, nervous she'd tell me to come home.  That was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do, and to top it all off I was certain I looked like shit. I hadn't looked in the mirror but I was pretty sure that I had a fat lip and a bandage wrapped around my head. 

"What game do you want to play?" Luke asks me wa;king back into the living room. "I didn't get that far," I admit Luke smiles at me but his eyes show nothing but worry. 

"Alright I'll go get Nat" he tells me.  I try to say thank you but he's gone before I have the chance. I try to get comfortable but it doesn't work, Michael walks in to the room and sits down on the floor next to me pulling out his phone. 

"Hey how you doing?" he asks and I sigh. "Honestly I'm sick of this already." "Sick of what?" "This damn concussion, I can see Luke feels responsible for what happened and I know he's just trying to help but it's so frustrating!" Michael stands up and pets my head. 

"Sky, you got in a serious accident, you can't blame us for babying you!" I look at him and he sends me a smile. I nod slightly and he sits back down. "Alright I heard you wanted to play a game!" Natalie sings entering the room Luke, Ash, and Cal trailing behind.

"Nat you didn't?" "Oh but I did!" she replies holding up the Clue bored game box. I squeal sitting up and Luke reaches for the pillows trying to arrange them around me. I bite my lip and he places a hand on my shoulder sitting next to me. 

"Alright so who hasn't played Clue before?" "Me!" Calum calls waving his arm around. "Figures," Ashton snorts and Calum jabs him with his elbow. "So, basically what happens is you are-" I begin to explain and Natalie chucks the instructions in Cal's direction. "I knew that was going to happen!" Luke laughs. "And I'm the asshole," Calum mumbles open the instructions.

"One...two...three, HA into the dining room" "How the hell do you keep doing that?" "I don't know I must be magical!" Michael replies pretending to wave a magic wand around and I snort. "A magical idiot," I respond in an american accent. 

"That doesn't even make sense!" he argues. "You don't make sense!" Calum counters which gets a round of 'oh's'. "We are literally five year olds!" Natalie sighs which makes Ashton nearly fall over in a fit of giggles. Typical. "Anyway, I suspect it was Miss. Scarlet, in the hall." "Is that so?" I say trying to sound suspicious. Michael flips me off and I laugh trying to protect myself by Luke's side. "With a wrench." We all look at each other shaking our heads. 

"Goddamn it Clifford!" Calum pouts pretending to be up, Natalie giggles resting her head on his shoulder for a second. I grin thinking about how happy we all are right now, everyone smiling and laughing together. It's been a long time since we've done anything like this. Maybe that saying everything happens for a reason is true after all.  

"Michael you've won like four times in a row... how?" Natalie questions putting her cards back into the deck. "Brain's, beauty, and... Skyler being really bad at hiding her deck." I gasp "Michael Clifford!" I say "Skyler Andrews," he replies. "Natalie Lane!" Nat adds. "Calum Hood." "Luke Hemmings." "Ashton Irwin." "Did I just unintentionally start a role call?" Michael asks turning towards me.

"I think so," I agree. Michael does his sitting down dance. "Swag." Everyone groans. "You did not just say that!" I say slightly offended. "oh but I did." "Bro nobody says that," Luke reminds him. A silence fills the room. "I'm tweeting it!" I announce grabbing my phone out of Luke's pocket.