Broken (AU Calum Hood Fanfiction)

XLII

Calum's POV:

Jackie's been gone a while. I'm trying not overthink her absence but Ashton's words keep echoing through my mind. I think back to when Jackie told me she loves him, the morning after we talked about our parents and our fucked up pasts. The morning after I took the one and only picture of her that I have. But I get that they love each other, they've been through a lot together. Just like me and Luke and Michael have been. Regardless, Ashton's drunken words linger in my ears.

And I miss having her by my side. It hasn't even been that long and I already miss her smile. I just miss her presence in general.

But I see her emerging through the crowd with slumped shoulders, making her way to where I'm standing with Luke.

"Hey, babe." I tell her when she reaches me.

"Hi." she mutters, picking at the hem of her Nirvana t-shirt.

"Everything okay?" I ask, nudging her face up to meet my gaze.

"Uh-huh." she smiles weakly.

Ashton must've talked to her. I wonder what was said. But I know she won't tell me, not yet at least.

"I'm, uh, I'm gonna go get another drink." she mumbles, tucking a chunk of her hair behind her ear.

"Okay." I mutter, meeting her eyes with mine. I take notice that they've lost all of the light that was present before she talked with Ashton.

I watch as she moves through the crowd with the same slumped posture, I watch as she grabs a plastic red cup and fills it with liquor, I watch as some arsehole comes up behind her, I watch as he leans down to whisper something into her ear, I watch her lips move quickly as they spit words of hate and I watch as her nose scrunches in disgust, I watch as his hand finds its way to her hip, I watch as her thin fingers wrap around his wrist and push him away with force, I watch as her face turns crimson with anger, I watch as he laughs.

And then I realize that I'm no longer watching from the other side of the room. I'm standing between them, my back to Jackie, creating a barrier between them just as I did with her dad so long ago.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I ask him through gritted teeth.

"Cal, it's - " Jackie starts, grabbing a handful of the back of my shirt. Her voice fades as he speaks to her over my shoulder.

"Just admiring a hot girl. Bet the slut's great in bed, too, aren't you, babe?" he winks at her and my fist meets his face without warning. There wasn't one word of that sentence that was appropriate or even remotely acceptable for him to say to her.

I hear Jackie yell from behind me, but the words don't make sense by the time they infiltrate my ears. I'm too focused on getting this shithead down to pay attention to what she's saying right now. But I glance over to her and see her tugging at the sleeve of a random boy, her lips moving feverishly, pointing to us, asking him to break it up, I guess. He just throws his hands up and laughs, taking a step away from her.

My eyes linger too long. He gets one good hit to my jaw and I react quickly, snapping back to the task at hand.

I see her run off in my peripheral as I grab hold of his shirt collar, shoving him back and screaming profanities in his face. Within seconds Luke's got his arms locked around my chest, pulling me away from the guy who's returning profanities.

"Get the fuck off of me." I grunt, trying to get back to the fight.

"Hey, you're scaring Jackie." he growls into my ear and I finally break my gaze long enough to see Jackie. Standing in the corner, shifting from foot to foot, wide blue eyes taking in the situation before her, skin pale and gaunt.