bandages || calum hood

twenty-two

Alice slightly nodded her head which caused Rose to look at Michael and shake her head. "You sicken me."

"No Rose please-"

"I'm sorry Alice. He told me that you guys broke up." Rose took a shaky breath and rushed out, not daring to look back.

"Rose please don't leave." Michael chased after Rose, only to have Rose touch his cheek and then shake her head.

"We can't be together, Michael." Rose grabbed her bag and put on her heels. Putting on her leather jacket, she pulled down Michael's button up, covering her legs a little more.

"Rose." Belle reached out, stopping her best friend. Rose widened her eyes and teared up, hugging her tightly.

"I'm so sorry." Rose let go, running out of the apartment. Michael clenched his fist, punching the wall as he sank down and gave into his tears. The pieces of concrete cracked open, smoke fogging up the area.

"Michael." I sighed, sinking down to his level. Alice gathered her belongings, striding to Michael. Her pale hand tilted his chin up, staring at him.

"I will always love you, Michael." Alice attempted to lean in, resulting in Michael turning away. His puffy eyes looked to me, desperately asking for help.

"I love Rose and you ruined it," Michael whispered, avoiding eye contact with Alice. Alice closed her eyes and stood up. She creaked the door open, giving Michael one last glance before walking away.

~*~*~*

"I thought you loved Hailey?" I slid the red ceramic mug filled with steaming hot chocolate towards Michael. Michael sniffled, wrapping the navy blue blanket around his body.

"Before I met Rose." Michael cleared his throat as he remained to look at the mug.

"Why did you date Alice then?" Belle gave Michael a plate of fruits as he propped his head up with his hand. His vibrant red hair stuck up due to the static of him always rubbing his head with his blanket.

"I wanted Rose to think that I moved on." Michael yawned, sipping from the cup. Belle took a seat next to him, twisting one of her rings.

"Michael, she was already with Ashton. You know that." Belle placed a hand on his arm as Michael shook his head.

"She loved Ashton because he made her happy. All I gave her was darkness." Michael sniffled, closing his eyes as Belle pulled him in for a hug.

"Just because she loved Ashton doesn't mean that she was in love with him." I assured Michael, drinking coffee that Belle made.

"I just want her to be happy, okay? You don't even know what happened last night." Michael darted his eyes towards me and sighed.

"You two slept together?" Belle implied as she took a bite out of a cookie on the white plate she pulled out.

"No," Michael blurted out quickly. Belle raised an eyebrow and tapped her nails against the table. "Well yes, but that's not what I was talking about."

"Then what?"

"She was recovering well ever since the whole overdose shit. I couldn't help but to see her again after seeing Ashton practically break her heart right in front of her," Michael confessed, twiddling his thumbs to distract himself.

"Michael, you know damn well that you and Rose needed to end it. You two went on and off with the most twisted relationship ever, and it wasn't healthy," Belle stated while emphasizing her words so that they wouldn't leave Michael's mind.

"I know that, but I couldn't see her cry again especially because of Irwin," Michael defended himself as he pushed the mug away from him. Belle silenced herself to motion him to move on. "So that night, I visited her. She cried in my arms the whole night, so I told her that I would take her out to a party. We ended up going to the old routine-"

"Including the drugs?" Belle gulped when Michael nodded.

"It was like we never broke up. Rose and I caused a scene by vandalizing, scheming against those dumbass rich people who tried to ruin us, having the roughest sex afterwards-"

"Okay spare the details." I held my hand up to halt him from moving on. Michael chuckled, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it between his teeth.

"Look guys, I still love her. She fought for me against all those fucking sluts and went into rehab after protecting me, and now it's my turn to fight for her." Michael huffed out, crushing the cigarette on the ashtray.

"You have to let her go, Michael. She can't go back to her old self. She almost died. We almost lost her-"

"So why stop now?" Michael rebutted. He stood up from the wooden chair, grabbing a spare shirt on the couch and putting it on.

"Michael please leave her alone. You promised all of us," Belle begged, grabbing his wrist to stop him.

"I just need to talk to her about it. I won't break my promise." Michael ruffled Belle's hair while sharing us a small smile.

"I honestly really hate being out of the loop here." I groaned and furrowed my eyebrows at them.

"Kid, I promised them that I would date Rose when she builds herself up again and I become the man I told them I would be." Michael poured himself a beer after he walked towards the kitchen. Belle excused herself to go to the restroom leaving Michael and I alone.

"Are you actually gonna do that?" I whispered to taunt him of his motivation.

"What kind of influence would I be to you if I didn't?" Michael smirked and whispered back as he tilted his beer up.

~
damn i updated already. im actually need chocolate milk right now so bye

-kat hoodings