You'd think after all this shit our Lace had gone through, she would have had a fucking break by now. Well, I'm telling you now that the universe has no sympathy for already broken girls.
After that great fiasco in the shopping centre, Lacey obviously went home with no dress and no will to keep looking for one; let alone explaining to Angie why she had not got a dress yet. Her mood was already low, but now it sorta stooped to a whole new level.
Ashton knew that inevitably, Lacey was going to find out about Calum going back to his ex, and he knew when she did find out, it wasn't going to be pretty. If you ask Ashton, Calum was a fucking idiot- but you can't force anyone to do anything. So instead, Ashton wanted to bring some light mood within Lacey once again as he'd also noticed, like Micheal had also noticed, that her mood was low and that she didn't have the normal natural fire in her that she'd usually have. So, Ashton organised for them (plus Micheal as he'd never pass down free food) to go to the beach around thirty minutes away from where they lived and have a little fish n-chip picnic- day trip if you will.
And through and through, it was a success. The boys got laughs and giggles out of Lacey, even though they couldn't resist the urge to throw her in the freezing cold water. But it was nice, nice for a change to worry about freezing cold water than anything else.
Ashton and Lacey also made sure to bury Micheal in the sand, only his head poking out and also not resisting the urge to put seashells around and on his head, taking a photo and posting it on Instagram.
It was now rearing close to sunset and the trio arrived back at Michael's and Ashton's townhouse complex, using the rest of the summer evening to eat more chips and talk random shit about how annoying everyone in the world was, on their balcony.
Then Lacey's phone started to ring from the living room, where she'd left it.
"Helllloo?" Lacey said with more glee than usual, expecting Mia, who was on the other line, to match with the same energy. However, instead, Lacey could hear some little sniffles come quietly from the line.
"Mia?" Lacey blocked her other ear with her finger so she could clearly hear Mia as the boys were getting loud on the balcony, and she could barely hear a thing. "Are you okay?"
"Lace- it's Luke." Instead of hearing Mia on the other line, it was her brother and the air around her suddenly felt weird. "It's Mia. She-" Luke cut himself off like he was trying to find a word that desperately described Mia and her situation.
"What happened? Is she okay?" Lacey's eyebrows were now furrowed as her heart started to beat a little faster; she immediately headed towards the front door to grab her shoes.
"Yes she's fine, she's with me- she just knocked on the door looking for you- you need to come."
"What happened?" She repeated.
"I'll tell you when you get here-" And with that, Luke hung up. Lacey could tell Luke wasn't fucking around with her, as it was one thing to pick up the phone of your friend, and another to tell you to immediately come somewhere regarding her.
Lacey immediately shoved on her shoes and collected her beach bag that contained her belongings and quickly jogged to the balcony where the boys were lazily sitting.
"What's up?" Ashton said mid-laughter, however, his face turned concerned as he noticed Lacey's eyes showed apprehension.
"Could one of you please drop me off at mine? Somethings wrong with uh- Mia," she was stumbling in her words. "She needs me- I think something happened."
"It's alright..everything's going to be okay," Ashton stood up as he immediately searched for his phone and keys. "C'mon, I'll take you Lace- I'm sure she's fine." He gave the girl a reassuring smile as he led the way to the front door.
"Let me know if she's okay," Micheal peered from behind his seat. Lacey nodded, as although Mia needed Lacey at this moment, Micheal was also Mia's biggest fan, so she was about to offer Micheal to come, but she knew better than to crowd Mia with concerned people huddled around her.
Lacey and Ashton had already set off into the hallway, the evening warm air buzzing Lacey's skin.
"Shit- I forgot my phone- you go to the car, I'll be quick," Ashton swore as he leapt back up the stairs, vanishing from the girls' view, skipping steps as she quickly made her way down to the ground level of the townhouse. However, as she stopped on level 2; coming down from the top level of three, where the hallway for level 2 was just adjacent to the staircase, something caught her attention, slowing her pace down as her feet landed on the concrete floor.
She couldn't get a good look at first, as she had her doubts, but as the figures that stood just outside the door, focused into view, there was no moment in time where she'd wanted to disintegrate into a billion little fucking pieces more.
First, she noticed the girl. The girl she instantly recognised, she knew who it was. Of course, she'd know who it was; from the memory of the boxes flying out onto the front yard to the voice she'd heard on the rooftop of Angie's surprise party and to the headline of TMZ Australia.
It wasn't her that Lacey was so worried about seeing, it was whose neck her arms were wrapped around. And it was then that she wanted to skink down to the bottom of the ocean and fill her lungs with water so she'd never come up for air ever again.
He smiled down at her the way he did to Lacey, small crinkles at the corner of each eye and dimples slightly showing on the side of his curved mouth.
Her mind told her to stop, to stop looking- leave, just leave but she couldn't tear her eyes away. She couldn't tear her eyes away as she followed where his hands were placed, each hand on the side of the waist that wasn't Lacey's. They were smiling or laughing at each other like the girl, Amiee, didn't want to leave for the night but she had to, but couldn't possibly tear away from the boy without a kiss.
Lacey thought about pinching herself. Maybe it was a dream, a nightmare. Maybe it was a repeat of the same sick and twisted nightmare she had a couple of weeks ago which started off just like this, but this time she'd happened to be on a staircase.
She told herself to go, to run before he'd notice. But she was already just so broken that this sight finally caused her heart to become two pieces, so she couldn't move. Of course, in basic biology, you need your heart to be alive, and it needs to be in one piece for it to work. So what I'm saying, is that the small little cracks in her heart that were building up over all this time finally caved in, making her heart become two. And what it caused, was one little bead of water to form on the bed of her right eye.
I know what you're thinking, why is this causing this much damage than it should, as Lacey had broken whatever was going on between her and Calum, to begin with.
It's so fucking simple: denial.
Then his eyes flickered up and met hers. And just like Lacey, he also froze; jaw slightly open which made Amiee confused about where he was looking, following his path of gaze.
However, Lacey had already left, running down the stairs before something else sinister could happen to her.
"Was that Lacey?" Amiee asked as she looked back to Calum, who was still staring over Aimee's shoulder although no one was there anymore. "I haven't seen her in forever." She continued. "She looks all grown up." But Calum remained silent.
"Anyway, Cal, I gotta go- I'll see you." She said with a little grin as she kissed him on the cheek and walked in the opposite direction to where the staircase was. But Calum didn't react or even say a word back- and thank god Amiee didn't notice.
Calum bit his lip as he saw Amiee turn the corner, not knowing whether he should or should not do what he was about to do. But of course, our boy did.
He made it straight for the stairs, quickly stepping down and onto the ground floor, pushing his way past the front doors and into the dark abyss of the driveway of the townhouses- trying to find the girl.
Then he finally caught sight of her blonde hair failing in the street lights.
"Lace- wait!" He yelled as he tried to catch up to the girl, but she was already turning the corner out of the driveway. Maybe she couldn't hear him or maybe she was playing deaf.
"Lacey!" Then he finally caught up to her, trying to get ahold of her arm so she'd slow down or at least look at him.
"What?!" She swivelled around and pulled her arm away, spitting harsh words from her gritted teeth. And that was when Calum noticed her eyes. They were slightly red and glossy, and her face was a little more tanned than usual, her freckles being more dominant than ever. And that was when he realised he hadn't seen her face in a long time, a sight he didn't know he longed for until she looked at him- but not in the way he wanted. "What do you want?!"
Calum understood why Lacey greeted him with such bitterness, he didn't blame her. But for some weird reason, it was like he was compelled to go after her. He didn't even know the point he was trying to make to her, let alone what he was going to say. What else was there even to say when you were caught with your ex right after you were so close with someone else?
When Lacey paused impatiently to give space for Calum to explain why he stopped her in her tracks, he opened his mouth; but unfortunately, no words lept out. Lacey jerked her head forward and shook her head. Indicating that she was waiting for a goddam response, but still nothing. Maybe it was just an excuse for Calum to see Lacey's face, who fucking knew?
"What happened there- it was nothing."
"Yeah?" Lacey laughed with strong an underlayment of frustration and disbelief. Frustration because Lacey saw with her own eyes how Amiee treated him. How the same girl who hand her arms around his neck also yelled at him and threw his shit over his front lawn like it was trash. And disbelief, because Lacey felt like a fool. A fool because she stayed up late to fix Calum's favourite green jumper that was ripped by Amiee all for him to go back, putting his tongue down her throat.
"What you saw- it was one night-" The boy bit his lip and exclaimed. "I fucked up!" He threw up his hands like he was trying to give a reason for what he did.
Lacey shook her head in disbelief and looked up at the stars, almost like to diffuse her fucking rage, but she could feel tears swell though.
"Jesus fucking Christ Calum! I don't need this right now! because quite frankly, who you fuck is the least of my worries right now! My friend is now crying because some guy probably fucked her over, and I'm going to be there for her, so good fucking bye!"
Lacey then stomped out of the driveway and into the darkness before Calum could finish, faster than her legs could take her; Calum attempted to run after her.
But a hand was placed on his chest, refraining him from going any further. Calum looked along to where the arm belonged, and it was the person he was least expecting.
"Cal, you've done enough." Ashton asserted, standing in front of the tall boy, licking his lips as he looked back behind him to find Lacey in view; but it was no use.
"Look- I just need to check if she's okay." Calum attempted to swipe Ashton's hand away and step to his left but Ashton just stood in front of him once more, preventing him from going any further.
"No, you don't." Ashton's voice changed from a more concerned voice to a more stern solid one, something that made Calum double take- something Calum wasn't used to.
And that's when Calum realised Ashton knew, and because of that fact- he couldn't find any other words to respond with.
"You know she's not okay, and you chasing after her isn't going to fix it."
Calum but his bottom lip hard, trying to cran his head around Ashton to see if he can find any sight of the girl.
"Ash, she's fucking wondering the fucking streets again-" Calum's jaw clenched once again, an old habit he falls victim to when stressed.
Ashton put his hand up in a way to give Calum some reassurance, however, Calum was looking everywhere but at Ashton. "Mate- Don't worry I'm gonna get her- just, please, sort your shit out." Ashton assertively pleaded, trying to make eye contact with Calum but Calum was shaking his head as he looked down to the ground, like he was going through violently in his head what he'd just done.
"Please, Cal." Ashton raised his tone slightly, stronger, finally getting Calum to pay attention to the words that were coming out of the older boys' mouth.
Calum's eyes darted around Ashton's face, the tension and anxiety within Calum's shoulders visibility subsiding as Ashton finally got Calum to calm down, but he then looked back down at his feet as he ran his fingers through his hair, lips clamped and nostrils flared, almost like he was ashamed in what he'd just done and Ashton had to wake him up to be aware of it. Also, he felt shame as Calum rarely ever saw Ashton look this disappointed in him; even more so than a week ago when he caught Amiee in his apartment- maybe because Lacey was also entangled in this mess.
And then Calum was left alone in the dark abyss.
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ooooOOO THE CLIMAX IS HIGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH- finally some more drama HEHEHHEHE!
In celebration of my mid-semester break starting and almost 7k reads already, here is another chapter early in the week! :D One more month and then my summer break starts! and I will be school-free for four months meaning so many writing to come!
And because I'm writing a fan fic about Aussie blokes, I think it is necessary to acknowledge GRAND FINAL DAYYYYY THIS SATURDAY FORR FOOTTYYY, DEDICATED TO MY FELLOW AUSSIE READERS!!!! WOOOOO!! (gooo pies!)
(if you're not Australian this might be a little confusing hehe, I mainly watch AFL for the cute boys anyway)
Hope you enjoyed this chapter guys!! Have a lovely rest of your day!
Love,
Lena <3