I exhaled deeply, staring at the bricks that created a cheesy flower on the floor of the entrance of the door. I remember when it was newly made, I was nearly seven and he bragged about all the new renovations that his house was having which included the flower bricks and a new pool. Now that pool hasn't been open since we were fifteen and those bricks are terribly chipped.
I exhaled. I let the last few seconds of my James Arthur song, "Get Down", play, nearly as a way to prepare myself for what could happen next. I'm not sure how a song that clearly dictates my feeling for him would help, but I love it nonetheless.
"You've been standing out here for roughly three minutes. I was worried that you were never going to ring that doorbell." Mali chuckled softly, swinging open the burgundy painted door of their house that they should consider repainting.
I smiled wearily at her. "Just letting a song finish, that's all." I step past her, entering a house I haven't been in since the last time Calum and I slept together. That was months ago and it leaves a stale taste in my mouth. Mumbling, that seemed like arguing came from upstairs, the room all the way at the end.
"Calum has someone over?" I asked curiously, walking over to the staircase. Mali was hesitant to answer, leaving her mouth agape as if there was something she was avoiding telling me. I looked over at the coat rack, seeing a familiar lilac sweater that was a bit more stretched out as it was before. "It's Jenni isn't it." I spoke up, rolling my eyes, continuing to walk up the stairs.
The hallway felt like it was spinning completely, my legs shaking every time I got closer to his room and the voices of them two became clearer. I stood next to the door that was slightly left opened.
"You shouldn't bend over, it's not good for the baby." Calum suggested to Jenni, sitting on the edge of his bed. His wheelchair was tucked on the other side of this room, near his desk, meaning that he was close to walking on his own.
"The baby should actually be grateful, this was probably the position it was conceived in." Jenni bitterly responded, picking up books that had fallen. I sighed, knocking softly on the door, catching their attention. Jenni immediately looked away angrily, whereas Calum was generally surprised.
"Scar." He whispered, as if he couldn't comprehend that fact that I was actually here. I bit my lip and nodded.
"Scarlet Jae Foster, completely here in the flesh." I joked, chuckling weakly. I stepped in his room, still leaving the door open, just in case I need to flee for some reason. I greet Jenni softly, although she doesn't acknowledge my presence one bit.
"Everyone should be here in a couple minutes." Calum informed, looking at his watch. I nodded, not wanting to say much to him in the first place, or to say that much in general. I wanted to get this all over with, cling myself to Michael, and pretend to listen to half the things that are going to be said.
"Can't believe it's been twelve weeks since the accident." A familiar voice murmured, coming closing to the room and causing me to turn around swiftly.
"I can't believe that we had to complete a ten week program of therapy." Luke said to Michael, fixing his snapback that he wore a bit too often now. "We're not alcoholics."
"Well, I'm actually sober so that could be considered a good thing." Ashton joked, poking his glasses up. I am glad that he finally took it upon himself to be sober, especially since our last phone call about four days ago, and is wearing glasses, because Ashton Irwin is as blind as a bat.
All greeted me with smiles warmer than the one I greeted them back with. I immediately hung onto Michael's arm, finding relief to be standing between him and the giant himself, Luke.
"Oh, hey Jenni." Ashton grits through his teeth, his words trailing at the end. It was evident that he, as well as the rest of us, we're confused as to why she was here in the the first place. It was more of a family event.
"Ashton." Jenni rolled her eyes, standing up for the first time, reveal her baby bump slightly. It was the first time I had noticed that she was actually showing, which was weird because it sure as hell didn't seem like it when we came back from school. But then again, that was roughly two weeks ago and I supposed a lot can happen in two weeks.
I squeezed harder on Michael's arm, as Luke kindly helped Jenni off the floor. He was always a sweetheart, despite the fact that it took her a while to realize his name is not Leon. Jenni looked a me swiftly, gloating silently at the misery I was experiencing, staring at Calum's unborn daughter.
It was real, this was actually happening.
"I have to go use the bathroom." Jenni mentioned, "Ever since I got pregnant, my bladder is just all over the place." She tried joking around with us, Ashton being the only one to sarcastically laugh back and add a scoff at the end of it. Jenni sighed loudly, protectively placing her hands over her bump and rushing to the bathroom. The second we heard the door slam, Ashton slammed the one in Calum's room even louder.
"What the hell is she even doing here?!" Ashton asked. He wasn't the biggest fan of Jenni, for some odd reason.
"Yeah Cal, this is supposed to be a family event, to congratulate us for recovering from the accident. I was clear not to drag any baby mama drama into this." Luke added. I stood there silently, watching them all talk because I felt like it was not my place to add any comment.
"She baring my child, so technically, she's family." Calum responded, groaning softly. You can tell he didn't really like the idea of Jenni being considered family, or him accidentally getting someone pregnant, but it was a situation he was going to have to deal with himself.
There was soft knocking on the door, causing me to turn around and open it.
Mali, stood there panting. "Everyone's downstairs waiting. Luke help Calum down the stairs. Ashton, bring Calum's baby mama."
Ashton rolled his eyes, walking towards the bathroom, while Luke put the pair of crutches in between his arm and torso.
"At least you got rid of the stupid wheelchair. That was a bit annoying." Luke chuckled, extending his arm up to help lift Calum.
Michael and I began to walk down the stairs, seeing familiar faces that ranged from immediate family, to Michael's great-grandmother. She's 102 years old and still going.
"Look at you Scarlet" Jane, Calum's grandmother said, beaming at the sight of me. I smiled weakly at her, feeling a pit form in the bottom of my stomach. The last time I had saw her was roughly two New Years ago. I was sick of my parents complaining who's house I would spend what holiday with, so Calum offered for me to spend New Years with his family instead. Jane constantly teased us on how we would make such a good couple and that she couldn't want for me to be her granddaughter in law. I haven't seen her much since then and with the type of memory she has, she probably cannot recall the fact that Calum and I are no longer together.
"Hey there Jane." I greeted, still latched onto Michael's arm. He grinned widely at Jane, fixing the sleeve to the free arm of his jean jacket I haven't seen him wore since he was 16. Her soft hands touched mine, giving me a gentle kiss on the cheek, as well as Michaels.
"I'm surprised you're not latched onto my grandsons arm." She chuckled, utterly confused at the unbarring closeness between Michael and I . I opened my mouth to say something, but Michael surely cut me off.
"She's always going to be latched onto your grandson, one way or the other." He mentioned, starting helplessly into my eyes, saying more than his words could ever. I gulped hardly quickly breaking eye contact and focusing on Luke helping Calum down the stairs. For the most part, he had it all down, leaning on the railing of his staircase. Jane's face lit up, excusing herself to go greet her grandson. I sighed in relief, pulling Michael along to meet the rest of everyone's family.
"Look at my handsome grandson!" She chirped, immediately going for his cheeks and pinching them a little bit. She interlocked her arm with his, helping him down the last two steps.
"You didn't have to do that Grandma." Calum told her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh hush, anything for my grandson." She patted his shoulder. "Luke you've gotten so big." She looked up. The height difference was completely noticeable and quite laughable. "Last time I saw you, you were about this high."
She gestured at right about her hip, that had been replaced when I was eleven. Everyone laughed.
"I don't think Luke was ever that height." Ashton teased, crossing his arms as Jenni trailed behind him.
"I'm telling you, I popped him out and he was already like 5 feet tall." Liz joked, filling the room with more laughter. Luke blushed, shaking his head and groaning.
"Mom!" Luke groaned, walking towards the table with a huge display of snacks. Ashton immediately rushed to my empty side, clinging onto my arm.
"What? I can't have someone to latch onto?" He responded to my face, that must have been looking at him weirdly. I smiled warmly, placing my head on his shoulder.
"And who's this young lady?" Jane asked at the sight of Jenni. "Is this your girlfriend Ashton?"
Ashton scoffed loudly, Michael's eyes widened, Luke choked on a grape, and Calum had his face in his hands.
"Oh no never. My girlfriend happens to be six feet under." He deadpanned, faking a smile and squeezing harder onto my arm. It was a huge step for him, finally openly mentioning the fact that Abigail is dead. I rubbed his arm, comforting him slightly.
"Actually Grandma." Mali spoke up. "It's a funny story actually." She nervously chuckled.
"She's pregnant." Calum blurts out, causing everyone in the room to become insanely quiet. "And it's mine."
Calum grabbed his crutches, walking into the living room, not bothering to look at anyone.
The door bell finally rang, turning everyone's attention to something else. Mali, being the personal doorwomen, took it upon herself to sprint to the door and open it. There stood two men, the one on the right was Mr. Faye, our therapist. The other man look extremely younger that Mr. Faye, probably in his late twenties.
"Mr. Faye, Tobias! Come on it." Mali smiled widely, especially at the sight at Tobias, making me turn to Michael and give him a look. Tobias was a total swoon and Mali Hood was whipped.
"You can just put your jackets on the rack there. Snacks are over there and I guess we will all be in the living room." Mali informed them, being the first one to walk in the living room. I dragged the two giants that were attached to my arms along with me to the living room. As much as I loved everyone here, besides Ms. Baby Mama of course, I would much rather be in my bedroom, finishing the song I was working on and indulging in homemade donuts.
"Tobias!" Calum greeted, standing up and giving him a hug. "I'm glad that you could finally make it." They exchanged a handshake, and sat back down. I examined Tobias strangely, a bit confused as to who he is and what he happened to be doing here.
"Is everyone ready?" Mr.Faye called out, catching everyone attention. The living room gave a great view of the little children, mostly cousins of Luke's and Ashton's younger siblings, playing outside. Everyone else that was old enough to grasp onto the concept of what we went through, stayed in the living room.
"I want to start off by saying that I am incredibly honoured and grateful to be here to celebrate the progress of each and every one of these young adults. He smiled at all of us. "If its alright with you guys, I have a bit to say about each of you."
Mr.Faye was great was words and we did not hesitate to tell somethings about us. We survived something most people don't, and doing this therapy has helped us grown.
"Let's get started now shall we." He clapped, rubbing his hands together and eyeing the each of us. His face couldn't help but plant a grin on it, an immensely proud grin. "Ten weeks since we have started talking. Ten weeks. In those ten weeks I had the privilege to speak to four wonderful young adults. "
He looked at Michael, Ashton, Luke and I, who happened to be sitting next to each other.
"Luke," He pointed at him first. "You were a hard one to crack you know that." Ashton nudged Luke, who rolled his eyes to hid smirk on his face. "Mr. Straight A's, a fairly good life at home. You have the looks, an amazing singing voice, and play guitar extremely well."
Luke gave him a pat on the back, like the cocky little shit that he happened to be. He began twiddling his thumbs thinking about all that he discussed with Mr. Faye in those ten weeks.
"The bet that I lost in grade 10, and how I lost the girl of my dreams to my best friend. And how I almost lost my friends in the accident. I talked about your father having cancer and almost losing him. There's a lot of things about me that I hate to show but it doesn't making me any less of a person. It just makes you human. "
Getting out of his daze just as Mr. Faye finished, Luke nodded, taking it all in. He mouths a thank you to Mr.Faye.
"Mr. Ashton Irwin." Mr.Faye continued, it being Ashton's turn. "You are not damaged goods." He assured Ashton, who bit his lip and fiddled with his thumbs. "You weren't easy to crack either, but you finally trusted me, after that one night. You let me in."
"I had came to his office that one night after hours, in the mist of a terrible thunder storm and poured my heart out to him. After all, we're paying good money for him, I have to trust him at some point right? From not having my dad around, to losing the love of my life and then nearly dying myself, the world has continued to throw cheap shots at me. But I'm here, and thats all that matters."
"You've been through more than me in your lifetime and I'm the one with the grey hair!" Mr. Faye joked. Everyone in the room giggled at his comment. I rubbed Ashton's arm, a way of me telling him that I'm insanely proud of everything he has been through and that I'm here for him no matter what. He placed his hand over mine, squeezing it slightly.
"You are one of the strongest people I know, and for that I am grateful that I had the chance to be your therapist. I hope I can be as strong as you one day."
Ashton wiped the brim of his eyes. "Thanks. It means a lot."
"Mikey!" Mr.Faye exclaimed. "By the way my daughter loved that vinyl, you need to give me more recommendations."
"What can I say? I have to best taste of music." Michael gloated, causing me to elbow him in the ribs.
"I still can't go into cars. I still own that shirt, the one I wore the day of the accident. Terribly ripped as Ashton clenched on tightly to it while I held him up. I thought we were going to die. I thought I was going to watch my friends die. As if once life goes good, something bad has to happened. What if I died? Did I tell my parents I loved them that morning? Did I tell Bre? Everything, could have been gone in an instant."
"You're a pretty cool young man. Reminds me much of myself, down to the fact that you have the same hair color as me and all the grandparents in this room." Mr. Faye teased. He was quite the jokester. "You have an insanely big heart. The love you have for these four people that you call your best friends is just crazy. I can't even fathom the great lengths you'd go for these people and how much the thought of almost losing them did to you. I know it's been hard, with the PTSD that you've been experiencing, but you've been handling it well. Keep that big heart and lay off the hair dye. You're thinning."
Michael raised his eyebrows, chuckling as he gave his thanks.
"Lastly, Scarlet." He pointed at me and my heart dropped. "There were a lot of things we talked about. Some more extreme than others, and yet you never failed to amaze me. You and Michael are very much alike you know that, its pretty scary."
I turned to Michael, smiling widely. Our mothers had been friends for as long as I could remember. He's a once in a lifetime type of friend and I'm grateful to have someone like that.
"We talked about relationships a lot." He stressed on that word. I looked over to Calum. His whole body tense up as well as Jenni's, who looked away.
"I never knew how much I truly loved Calum until I almost watched the life fade from his eyes. All I could tell him was that I loved him, as if I wanted it to be the last thing he heard. It was the last thing I wanted him to know. That if he was to die in that moment, that he died knowing he was loved. I didn't want to end up like my parents. I recall standing at the top of the stairs, listening to my parents argue. I thought they loved each other, and now they couldn't stand to be under the same roof as Calum. I didn't end up like my parents. May Calum and I should look in a mirror."
"Love isn't easy and you have certainly seen that yourself, I don't have to really tell you that. You're a beautiful young lady both inside and out and I wish for the best for you. And whenever you're ready, I will totally give you a ride around the city." He gave me an assuring wink and I gave him my utmost gratitude.
"You guys raised incredible children." Mr.Faye told our parents, sitting down. Tobias exhaled loudly, his turn to talk.
"Most of you don't really know me. I am Tobias." He introduced himself. "I was a stand in for Mr.Faye when his wife suddenly went into labour. I met Calum and for some odd reason, he kept wanting me to come back."
Calum chuckled. He never mentioned that he had a therapist that was different from ours. I supposed that was his little secret that he kept to himself.
"Calum Hood is one interesting person, I can tell you that much. He's a real softie although he attempts to hide it underneath this sly guy persona." Tobias mentioned.
"I am sly!" Calum argued jokingly.
"Are not!" Tobias added, along with a laugh. "I could never imagine myself becoming friends with someone who's still in high school, but I have spent countless days and even nights with this kid and I could gladly call him a friend of mine."
"Don't think you're going to be sneaking him into any clubs, he's still underage." Mali adds, teasing her little brother slightly. This resulted to Calum sticking his tongue out at her like a five year old child.
"You suffered the most, physically, in the accident. Having to adapt to a lifestyle where you were considered handicapped for quite some time. You talked about how you hate feeling helpless and looked down upon. It made you feel weak, but you sir are far from weak. You are much stronger than you know." Tobias continued.
"I had fell out of my bed one night, trying to get into my chair. My face met the ground harshly. It has to be 1am. I began to groan, calling out my sisters name, but she didnt answer. My breath hitched. I sobbed uncontrollably on the ground as I couldn't get up. What if my life was just this chair? What if that's all there was left of me. What if this was my life? Just alone, in this chair. I couldn't walk, I couldn't be with the person I loved, so what is the point in all of this. I questioned what the point of living was."
"Thanks man, I really appreciate." Calum spoke up. Luke was the first to stand up, pulling Ashton up. Michael and I soon trailed along, our arms resting on each others side. Michael pulled up Calum, who whinced quitely in pain.
"I really do love you guys." Luke told us. I rested my head on Ashton's shoulder, staring at the four guys that surrounded me. I think of everything that we have been through, even when we were clueless little kids who played UNO at Luke's house, or starting a band together as teens. I have never become so embedded into the lives of four individuals in my life and I wouldn't trade that for the world.
"I love you too guys." I whispered, feeling the warmth from everyone's hug.
*•*•*•*•*•
"I'm surprised you're still here." Calum spoke up, leaning on the wall to the living room as I picked up the left over wrappers from the floor.
"Oh, yeah. Mali asked if I could stay behind and help clean a bit. No biggie." I said nonchalantly, dusting off my hands and wiping them on my pants. I sighed loudly, looking at the ceiling. "Interesting day it has been." I added.
"Interesting last couple of months don't you think." Calum exhaled, digging his hands into his pockets. I moved my hair my hair behind my ear, smacking my lips together, nodding.
"Yeah, I can't believe that we'll be graduating in a few months. " Graduation was roughly around the corner and we all haven't really talked about what was going to happen afterwards. Luke had been offered numerous scholarships from several colleges around the globe, but him along with the other boys all wanted to see where this band thing may lead.
Calum groaned, a tired stifled laugh was added. "Graduation is the last thing I want think about at the moment. " He turned his head to face me. "You know Luke got a call from Capitol Records. They're willing to give us another chance."
I smiled widely, covering my mouth in excitement. "That's great! Seriously. You guys really did deserve another chance."
"I deserve another chance." he blurts out, helplessly sighing. I licked my chapped lips, gulping harshly at his words.
"I mean, what are we doing Scarlet?" He asked, tired of the constant back and forth that has been happening with us recently.
"We are not going to talk about this right now." I walked over to the snack counter, stuffing all the leftover snacks in plastic containers.
"Are we ever going to talk about it, because last time we kind of just yelled at each other." Calum voice raised slightly, becoming irritated at my stubbornness. I felt his body inch closer to mine as my hands wrapped around the edges of the table. I swiftly turn around to face him, feeling helpless in his presence. This was the first time in months that I had finally stood near Calum, to have him look down at me once again.
"Where's Jenni?" I spat back, raising one eyebrow at him.
"Home. She left roughly an hour ago." He quickly informed me, shutting me up. I quickly looked away, avoiding eye contact with you. I slid past him, walking into the kitchen. He limped his way in slowly, trailing behind me.
"I told you I was done. We can't do this anymore." I stammered on my words. My mind raced faster than my mouth couldn't even comprehend. I bit my tongue, silencing the many words I wanted to say.
"We're never going to be done Scarlet." He said lowly, limping in my direction. I backed up, going as far away from him as possible.
"You should not be focusing on me." I cried out. "You should be focusing on how you're going to be good dad to your daughter,making sure the band it up and running, or how to walk correctly for crying out loud! Anything besides -"
My words were quickly cut off at the feeling of his lips, pressed forcefully on mine as his hands, completely cupped my face. My hands reached for his, wanting to pull them off, but eventually just stayed there.
"You can kiss me back you know." Calum said, pulling away. "No ones here, it's just me and you. There's no price, and no one said anything between you and I has to happen after this."
"Cal-"
"Kiss me." He cut me off once again, leaning closer, our noses gently gazing one another. "Kiss me, you know you want to."
I breathed heavily, my chest constantly rising as I contemplated leaning in and kissing him back. I gazed into his eyes, gasping the closer he got to me. I bit my lip, closing my eyes to gain control of my thoughts.
I leaned in and kissed him back.
He immediately kissed back, pinning me against the counter, his arms extending towards the wall, helping keep his his body up. My hands quickly found way around his neck, a place they haven't been in a few weeks.
Eagerly, I turned my body, pinning him down counter, a few things dropping. I bit his bottom lip, dragging him closer me. His hands, played with the hem of my shirt, pulling me in closer to him.
He lifted my body, sitting me down on the counter. I let a small moan, infused with a chuckle escape my lips has he trailed down my neck leaving sloppy kisses. He suddenly stopped, staring at me. I raised my eyebrows in confusion, wondering why he had stopped when I clearly wanted to keep going on.
He smiled at me widely and said,
"I love you Scarlet"
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lol you would've thought i was gonna write smut
this fic probably has like 5-8 more chapters and epilogue and maybe a sequel
love you guys v much
twitter; @plvtonic