Hello hello hello, only a few weeks left then I'm home free! Who's ready for a regular updating schedule again ✋?
Ashton:
You were in a rather unique situation. After you met and moved in with your brother you were very suddenly famous. It was strange to have fifteen minutes where everyone around you knew who you were, and to see others who you had previously only known as faces on a television. This includes your brothers bandmates. You had met them rather strangely, one day while turning the corner in your house, texting and not paying attention, you literally ran into Calum. You remember nearly falling over but luckily he had the natural instinct to grab your waist and pull you back into his chest. At first you had been scared and confused, after all, you hadn't known anyone else was home, let alone who was touching you. But after you had looked up and seen his chocolate brown eyes... the, as they say, rest is history.
A year later you had an awesome brother and a very handsome fiancé. It was pretty amazing and you couldn't believe it was your life, let alone real life. In order to help you out and pull you back in and remind you things can't be perfect all the time, they would do something so exasperating you were ready to bang your head against the wall and move in with Michael and his four cats.
Today was one of those days. You see, with the wedding date quickly approaching everyone was beginning to get into planning mode and really focus. The groom, Calum, and his best man, Ashton were focusing on the flowers while you were skyping in the other room with your best friend and maid of honor about her bridesmaid dress.
"You're really lucky I love you Y/N," she groaned, holding up a portion of the bedazzled, plum colored, bodice so that you could see.
"Oh please, it could be worse," you rolled your eyes and chuckled. Bridesmaid dresses were supposed to be ugly, it makes the bride look better in comparison, everyone knows that.
"How am I supposed to snag one of those hot groomsmen if I'm wearing this?" She pouted and you really just burst out laughing. This was true, belly shaking, eyes tearing up, ugly laughing.
"Y/NNNNN!" She burst into a fit of giggles as well, "I'm trying to be mad here! Stop making me laugh!"
"Sorry," you calmed down a little, "sorry, but don't worry Y/BFF/N, I'm sure you'll manage somehow."
"You better hope so," she fake, (or at least you hope she wasn't being serious,) threatened you and then yawned loudly.
"You should go sleep, maybe then you'll be less cranky," you teased her, and she stuck her tongue out at you.
"I didn't want to talk to you anymore anyway," she blatantly lied.
"Fine," you rolled your eyes playfully.
"Fine," she giggled a little.
The was a short pause.
"You hang up first," you finally said.
"No you," she sniffled, suddenly emotional.
"No don't cry! You're going to make me-" you had to stop comforting her due to the loud yelling that suddenly erupted in the other room.
"What was that?" She blubbered, wiping the underneath of her eyes.
"I don't know," you narrowed your eyes and looked over towards where it came from. The same place where the flower committee was supposed to be taking place.
The next sound to come from them was that of something loud falling on the ground.
"I have to go," you sighed unhappily, realizing you needed to check on them.
"I know," she full on sobbed, "I just miss you so much."
"I miss you too, call me tomorrow?" You winced as the yelling intensified.
"More like later today, it's two am." She smiled a little.
"Okay, later today it is," you smiled back. After that the screen went black and you knew she had hung up to go to bed.
Now your focus had to turn to the matter at hand, you stood up, brushed away any tears that might've escaped while talking to Y/BFF/N, and then marched toward the boys.
"What is going on in here?" You demanded, rounding the corner into the dining room. When you walked in they both froze.
Ashton was holding a vase above his head, seemingly ready to throw it at Calum, who was ducking. All across the table were different bridal magazines opened to pictures of various flower designs and arrangements. And all over the room and floor there were pieces of flowers, together and shredded, where they had obviously been throwing them around.
"Oh, hi Y/N," Ashton was the first to move, trying to distract you with a smile while he put the vase behind his back.
"Why are you two yelling? All you had to do was pick out some flowers and flower arrangements?" You groaned, rubbing your forehead tiredly.
"Babe," Calum jumped in, "we were just having a little disagreement, that's all."
"Okay, well then why are you murdering these innocent flowers and throwing things at each other?" You deadpanned, he shrunk back a little under your hard stare and shrugged.
"I can explain," Ashton said, and you turned to glare at him. He put his hands up in defense and gulped, then avoiding eye contact, started talking, "we were going to pick three red and three blue flower types since the wedding colors are red and blue. We agreed on red roses, tulips and poppies for one, but couldn't agree on the blue, that's all."
"All of this over blue flowers?" You scoffed, "you two are really something."
"Well he wanted the hydrangea, roses, and daises, but I wanted the hydrangea, roses, and lilies," Calum was suddenly much more confident, as he strode over to you and wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you to his chest, not unlike when your first met.
"Well that's because blue lilies are dumb," Ashton yelled, ruining the moment.
"No! Blue daisies are dumb you idiot!" Your fiancé took the bait, and stepped away from you.
Muttering to yourself, you decided to let them argue it out, and took a seat at the table.
"Who are you calling idiot? Idiot!" Ashton screamed back.
"I'm calling you an idiot, you dumb daisy lover!" Calum screeched.
You winced and covered your ears. That boy had some range.
"Dumb! The only thing dumber than you is your flower arrangement!" Ashton was yelling so loud and passionately that his face turned red and a vein in his forehead popped out.
"NO IT'S NOT! YOU JUST HAVE HORRIBLE TASTE IN FLOWERS!" Calum roared back.
All you could think of while watching this, besides if course the inevitable permanent hearing loss, is how awful any kids you and Calum had would be. Ashton and you were siblings, you had the same blood flowing through your veins, his temper and Calum's screeching all wrapped together in one tiny body sounded like demon spawn.
"Well? Y/N? Who is it?" You glanced up, snapping out of your thoughts to see them both breathing heavily, red in the face, and staring at you.
"Huh?" You asked dumbly, raising your eyebrows in surprise.
"Who, do, you, like, more?" Ashton paused between each word and enunciated so that you could clearly tell what he was saying, but of course in a completely snobbish and bratty older brother kind of way. Somehow their flower argument turned into a 'who does she like better' argument, so that they could prove their dumb points.
You tried to hold it together, "can I not love you both for separate reasons?"
"Well duh, but who do you love more?" Calum pressed.
"Ashton is my favorite older brother and Calum is my favorite fiancé, problem solved," you said firmly, "now stop having such a childish argument and let's finish up with the flowers." You turned away from them, and Ashton didn't like that.
He was still mad, "NO! THAT ISN'T AN ANSWER Y/N!" He shouted.
"YES IT WAS!" You finally lost it, and fumingly, began to argue with your brother. The bad temper clearly runs in the family.
Calum knew it wasn't his fight, and so retreated back to your chair to wait it out.
"JUST SAY WHO! I HATE IT WHEN YOU WALK AWAY FROM ARGUMENTS AND HIDE!" He yelled.
"HIDE FROM ARGUMENTS? WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING RIGHT NOW ASHTON? IS THIS NOT ENOUGH ARGUING FOR YOU?" You taunted him.
"I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WON'T ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!" He replied, somewhat ironically ignoring your question.
"BECAUSE IT'S POINTLESS!" You said in the heat of the moment, "ALL IT WILL DO IS HURT YOU!"
With that admission he froze. You were confused at first, until you ran through your words. "All it will do is hurt you." You had implied that Ashton was not your first choice.
He stood before you, and you stuttered, looking for words, "Ashton."
His jaw clenched and eyes watered as he stared down at you, "I didn't mean it like that." You reached out to touch his arm, but he recoiled back.
He didn't look at you, but instead turned and rushed out of the room.
"Wait!" You tried to go after him, but Calum stopped you.
"Let him go Y/N, he needs to cool down," he stated sadly.
"No!" You were distraught, "I hurt him Calum! I can't let him leave thinking that!"
"Shhhhh," Calum pulled you into a hug, "he'll come to his senses and then come back to talk, we all know it was a dumb question and a dumb argument."
You were crying too hard to respond, so you let him rub your back while you cried.
A few hours later Ashton still hadn't called, or come back, or contacted you in any way.
Calum had managed to mostly calm you down, so now you were just anxious. You wanted, no needed, to tell Ashton that you were sorry and you didn't mean it and that you didn't want to hurt him. So you sat, looking out the window at the empty driveway, with your phone in hand, waiting.
Calum had tried to stay with you, but you both knew he was tired and had to get up early, so you sent him off. But you still sat in the destroyed dining room, the only light on in the house, waiting.
Your answer came with the soft humming of Ashton's car pulling into the driveway. As soon as you saw the headlights you were running outside to greet him. He barely had time to get out of the car before you were throwing yourself in his arms.
"Whoa, be careful Y/N, I don't want to have to wheel you down the isle because you broke your leg," he laughed, but caught you anyway and spun you around in the air.
"I'm so sorry Ashton," you said as soon as your feet touched the ground again.
"Don't be, it was a dumb question, I was as being dumb about it too, why, in that moment, would you not like Calum more? I was screaming at you while he was doing just sitting there, I don't know what I was expecting," he shook his head.
"I'm just glad you're here! I was so worried! I've been waiting for you to come for the last four hours!" You hugged him tighter than before.
"Okay, okay Y/N," he wheezed, "I missed you too, but now I can't breathe!"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry again," you said frantically, letting go and checking him for injuries.
"Stop apologizing," he brushed off your hands and smiled.
"I can't, I feel so bad and I don't know what else to do," you pushed some hair from your face and sighed.
"Well, I think admitting that I'm better than Calum would be a good start," he said cheekily.
"Nice try Ashton," you shook your head and shoved him lightly.
"Fine," he grumbled, "it was worth a shot though."
With that you laughed loudly, and a moment later, Ashton joined in.
"NOT THAT I'M NOT GLAD YOU TWO MADE UP BUT CAN YOU KEEP IT DOWN! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP UP HERE!" Calum yelled through your bedroom window.
"SORRY!" You and Ashton screamed back simultaneously. But after only a moment of silence you glanced at each other and began to laugh again.
"Christ," Calum complained and shut the window loudly.
Everything was back to normal, you and Ashton goofing off in the middle of the night irritating Calum. In that moment, you realized you wouldn't trade it for anything.
Michael:
Michael was an excellent musician. He could play the guitar like no ones business and his voice was pretty great too. This musical talent had also been passed into you, albeit it wasn't the exact same way. Yes you both had similar taste in music, yes you both liked making and listening to music, no you didn't play the same instrument. You were a drummer plain and simple, he was the lead guitarist.
It was still pretty cool to be related to someone who was able to professionally make music, but it was even cooler to be able to talk to someone who was able to professionally make music playing your favorite instrument. This person of course being Ashton. The two of you were best friends, practically attached at the hip, and sometimes it made Michael jealous, and even a little bit mad.
He would often pout and whine when he felt you weren't paying enough attention to him, and constantly complained about being a third wheel to you and Ashton.
"Hey Michael," you smiled, walking down the stairs from your bedroom.
"Hello," he said hurriedly, glancing up and then going back to his tablet.
"So... what are you doing?" You asked, sliding into the chair next to him and looking at the screen.
"Playing Candy Crush," he answered. You watched as he continued to swipe across the screen and virtually ignore you.
"Oh, well I'm hungry," you mentioned just as your stomach rumbled loudly.
Michael grunted a response but it was clear he wasn't paying any attention to you.
"Well? Do you want to go get anything?" You pressed, nudging his arm with your elbow. This time you didn't even get a grunt, there was no response, his eyes stayed glued to the screen. "Why do I even bother?" You sighed.
At that precise moment your phone buzzed. You had gotten a text.
Swiping across the screen you looked to see what it said:
Ashton🤘: I'm hungry
Ashton🤘: you want to go get something?
He could read your mind. There was no other possible way to explain how he knew exactly what you wanted. Grinning broadly, you stood to go slip on some shoes and a coat. You stopped however, for a moment, and looked at Michael. Third time's a charm.
"Michael me and Ashton are going out, do you want to come?" You asked.
"That's nice Y/N," he responded, not even listening.
"Okay, well I'll be back later," you groaned knowing this was a lose lose situation. He would either whine you excluded him, even though you invited him multiple times, or he would complain the entire time you were there that the two of you weren't paying enough attention to him.
"Alrighty!" He cheered for beating a level, but you decided to take it as your cue to go.
You texted Ashton back:
Y/N: sounds good 😉. Come pick me up?
He responded right away:
Ashton🤘: on my way, there better not be any more bad jokes. Is Michael coming?
Y/N: ...I make no promises on the jokes... and no, my brother is too busy with Candy Crush to come.
With that you walked out the door and waited for him on then porch. You, somewhat ironically, played Candy Crush while waiting, but unlike Michael you could put it down whenever you wanted.
While you played the game Ashton pulled into the driveway. You weren't paying attention while he stared at you, expecting you to get up and walk over. You were too engrossed to hear him yell your name several times, or even when he honked the car horn. Ashton got out of the car and walked over to you, standing not six inches away from your face, but you sat completely oblivious.
"That's it," he snatched your phone from your hands, finally fed up of being ignored.
"Huh?" You stared at your empty hands in confusion, then as you slowly connected the dots, looked up to Ashton,
"Really? Candy Crush?" He tutted at you maternally, "I swear both you and Michael are addicted."
"But-" you narrowed your eyes.
"No butts," he interrupted you, "pancakes."
"Pancakes?" You asked as he dragged you up onto your feet.
"Yes pancakes, I feel like having three breakfasts today," he mused, dragging you along behind him.
"But it's like two," you stopped walking for a moment.
"Ugh Y/N, were you even paying attention, I'm having three breakfasts today, and so are you," he huffed. You were still processing what he said when Ashton's patience ran out. He bent down and grabbed you by your midsection, slinging you over his shoulder.
"OOF!" You grunted as your midsection hit Ashton's heavily muscled shoulder.
"Here we are," he walked around to his car and with one hand supporting your knee and the other opening the passengers door. Bending over again, he placed you in the seat and then buckled you in.
"I can do it myself," you tried to swat his hands away from your seatbelt.
"Too late," he smirked as it locked into place. You stuck out your tongue and in retaliation he slammed the door shut.
He walked around to the other side and hopped in the drivers seat, "IHOP, here we COME!"
He blasted out of the driveway and down the road all the way to the closest restaurant. While you were there the two of you laughed and carried on like siblings while eating your weight in pancakes. You had just gotten into an argument about the best kind of ice cream when your phone started to buzz.
The first time, you ignored it and refuted Ashton's argument that frozen chocolate chips aren't a choking hazard.
The second time you turned it on silent so that you could make your case for Y/F/I/C/F.
But when Ashton's phone started to vibrate you knew something was up.
"Who is it?" You groaned, stopping the conversation to address the interruption.
Ashton shrugged and turned over his phone to look, "ah. Exactly who you would expect."
You knew that was code for Michael. Your brother has stopped playing that dumb (but addicting) game long enough to realize that you had left.
"What does he want?" You rolled your eyes and shoved another bite of pancakes in your mouth.
"Where you are, if I'm with you, what you're doing, why you didn't tell him, when you'll be back, and why he wasn't invited," Ashton listed off Michaels texts as he sent them. He then raised an eyebrow at you, "I thought you said you invited him."
"I DID, he just wasn't paying attention," you explained. Ashton did not look convinced, "it was like earlier when I was too busy playing candy crush to notice you. It runs in the family."
He stared at you for a few minutes and then relented, "fine, I believe you, you're both oblivious. But now I need to know how I'm supposed to respond."
"Just don't say anything," you shrugged, moving the food around on your plate to avoid eye contact.
"Leave him on read? That's cold. Even for you," he sighed and picked up the phone. "I'll just tell him we're on our way back, seems like it's better to deal with in person."
"I'll talk to him," you relented, let's go deal with the crybaby.
"Be nice Y/N, he feels left out," Ashton frowned at you, "how would you feel if Luke constantly dragged Michael around and didn't invite you along?"
"But I did invite him, I always do," you protested.
"Yeah and then we make him feel like a third wheel," Ashton shook his head, "we need to be nicer to him."
"Fine St. Ashton, lets go talk to Michael."
The ride back was not nearly as fun as the way there. Ashton was subdued, chewing on his lip, anxious about the incoming confrontation with Michael. You on the other hand, were just irritated that Ashton wanted to coddle him. Michael just needed to stop complaining so much and decide if he wanted to hang out with you and Ashton or not, you didn't mind either way as long as he stopped whining.
When you finally pulled into the driveway and parked you were ready to talk to him.
Ashton reached down to unbuckle himself and you stopped him, "don't, I've got this."
"Y/N-"
"No, I'm serious. I'll be nice don't worry, it'll be better if he doesn't feel like we're gaining up on him anyway," you explained hurriedly.
Ashton pulled his hand away from the buckled and studied your face for the second time that day.
"Fine," he relented, "but text me what happens afterwards."
"Deal," you grinned and jumped out.
You waved as Ashton left and then turned to walk into the house. You really didn't feel like it would be that big of a deal, you would reassure Michael that you didn't mind him coming along with you and then gently remind him that he's always invited but is inevitably unhappy.
As soon as you stepped into the house, your plan changed. The first thing you heard were loud sobs and then the loud noise of things being thrown.
"Whoa!" You sprinted to the living room where Michael was having a meltdown. "What are you doing?!"
"Go away Y/N," he turned away from you, "I thought you were with Ashton anyway."
"I was..." you trailed off, unsure how to continue. Offense or defense? Take the blame or deflect it onto someone else.
"You always are," he said bitterly, sitting down and burying his face in his hands.
Looking at how upset he was, you decided maybe you should just go for nice and honest like what Ashton would do.
"He's one of my best friends," you agreed, sitting on the armrest next to Michael, "practically a brother really."
"Great," Michael laughed humorlessly, "then where does that leave me?"
"My actual brother?" You chuckled a little, "It's not like you're replaceable Michael."
"Sure feels like it when you're never around," he spat back.
"Michael I spend more time with you then I do with any other person, just because I like being with Ashton doesn't mean I like him any more," you explained, "plus we always invite you along."
"Yeah, invite me along to watch the two of you have fun together," he mumbled, sounding less angry and more mad.
"That's silly, we want you to come because we love you, you're important Michael," you continued to reassure him.
"I'm important but not as important as him, just tell to me straight Y/N. You like him more than me. You'd rather be his sibling than mine," he choked himself up and wiped his eyes.
"No Michael, that's absurd," you sighed, unhappy that he was so unhappy. You wrapped your arms around him and let him cry on your shoulder, "do you even hear yourself Michael. Of course I love being your sister and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. You and me are siblings. Nothing can change that, I couldn't do anything about it even if I wanted to. Neither could you. We're stuck together."
You could feel him laugh a little at your last comment, "I guess we are aren't we?"
"Yup, nothing you can do to get rid of me," you giggled.
"I'm sorry for freaking out Y/N, I just haven't had a sibling before. It felt like Ashton was using his magic older brother powers to convert you to Irwinism," he blushed a little at the strange admission.
"Nah, you haven't blown it, and Ashton can be convincing but not THAT convincing. Besides I'm a Cliffordian for life."
The season is OVER! I can update again?!??!
Luke:
They were finally coming home! After months away without a break your brother Luke, your boyfriend Michael, and of course Ashton and Calum were on their flight back. You couldn't be more excited. You hadn't been able to see them in person since their last break which was months ago. You had been counting down the days for weeks and now it was finally time to go get them. You were well prepared too, you had made a big, sparkly, welcome home sign, and everything.
Now that you knew that it would only be hours before you could see your brother and boyfriend again you were getting really jittery. The ride to the airport was physically painful, you just couldn't sit still. The anticipation was killing you. Ben was definitely ready to throw himself out the moving car in order to get away by the time you finally arrived, but you knew he understood. It wasn't just you who had been missing Luke after all.
When you arrived at the airport it was crazy. There were security guards everywhere and fans behind barricades craning their necks for a glimpse of the boys who haven't even arrived yet.
"Wow," you whistled lowly at the crowd as you climbed out.
"Man, that's a lot of girls," Ben said dumbly.
"Really?" Jack replied sarcastically.
"Don't say it like that, neither of us expect LUKE to attract this many girls," Ben rolled his eyes.
"Who says they're here for Luke, maybe they like me?" Jack smirked. He sauntered over to one fan and flashed her his famous thousand watt smile. "Hi, I'm Jack, Jack Hemmings."
"Would you two quit it?" Liz climbed out of the car next earning a round of cheers.
"Oh so they scream for you," Jack mumbled unhappily.
"She's queen," you shrugged, pushing past him toward the door.
"Hey wait up!" Your brothers ran to catch up to you, your Mom and Dad not far behind.
"Geez Y/N, he isn't even scheduled to land for another half hour, what's the rush?" Ben shook his head and pulled open the door so you could rush inside.
"I think I know," your Mum winked as she walked in as well.
"Huh?" Jack glanced down at your now very red face.
"Michael you idiot, remember?" Ben shook his head and sighed, "they got together on the last break."
"Oh yeah, so that's who she's so happy to see. Isn't that right Y/N," Jack elbowed your side as you walked down to where the other families were waiting.
"Well not exclusively," you sighed, trying to move away from them. Yes you were dating Michael, yes you got together the last break, yes you were dying to see him. No, you weren't about it admit it to your overprotective and nosy older brothers, they would never let you hear the end of it.
"Oh no you don't missy," Ben tried to grab you to prolong the embarrassment but a flash of hair caught your attention.
Your head shot up and you began to run toward your boyfriend. Michael, to his credit was scanning the terminal looking for you. Once he located you and your eyes met everything slowed down.
It was like a cheesy romantic movie. Nothing seemed to matter but him. Identical grins covered your faces and you ran straight into his arms. He dropped his carry-on to pick you up and twirl you around in the air.
"I missed you so much," you laughed into his shoulder.
"I missed you more," he retorted, which really just made the whole thing a lot cheesier.
What you didn't see since your attention had been solely focused on Michael was Luke. You didn't see Luke walk out. You didn't see him look for you. You didn't see him smile when he thought you were running at him. But most of all, you didn't see how disappointed he looked when you ran right past him into his bandmates arms. It was a special kind of rejection, the kind where you hadn't even known that you had hurt Luke, but he was very upset. It showed on his face that he was disappointed, so much so that one of your other siblings had to intervene.
"It's okay little bro," Jack patted Luke on the back when he saw the crushed expression on his face, "she'll come see ya in a second."
Only you didn't, at least not in a timely manner. You and Michael spent a long time in each other's arms, making up for missed time. Then you intertwined your hands and greeted both sets of parents. After, Calum and Ashton dragged the two of you out to say hi to fans. In fact it wasn't until you were on the physical ride back that you were able to say anything to Luke.
You caught up to him as you were getting into the car. Still pressed into Michaels side, you offered your sibling a cheery smile and stepped out to open your arms.
"Luke! I've missed you! How've you been?" You asked, wrapping your arms around his middle. He stiffened and shifted in your hold, as if he was unhappy to see you. He didn't return the gesture and instead awkwardly stepped away from you.
"I- I- I missed you too Y/N, gotta go," Luke got choked up and sprinted away to another waiting car. You frowned and turned back around to your equally confused boyfriend.
"Is he okay? Did something happen?" You asked as Michael tucked you back under his arm.
"I don't think so," he shrugged. You both watched as Luke shimmed into one of the other, full, cars waiting to take all of you to a restaurant for dinner.
After some muffled shouting and swearing, a disgruntled Calum flew out the door and landed on his butt.
"Ow!" He shrieked, standing up and cradling his behind.
Luke yelled something in response that you couldn't make out, and then slammed the door shut. Calum angrily kicked some pebbles on the ground and limped over to you and Michael.
"He so owes me one," Calum grumbled. The two of you watched in shock and confusion as he climbed in and took Luke's place. "Well? Are you coming or not?" He demanded, buckling himself in.
The two of you untangled yourselves from one another and climbed in. Once you were comfortable and the car was moving, you turned your attention to Calum.
"So is Luke okay? Why'd he run away like that?" You asked as Michael draped his arm over your shoulders and pulled you closer to him.
"He probably didn't want to see the two of you get all mushy," Calum muttered under his breath.
"What?" You furrowed your brows.
"I said... he wanted to talk to Ashton about some surfing plans they were making on the plane," Calum smiled.
"Oh okay," you replied, not delving into it further. Instead your attention turned back to your boyfriend as you quietly chatted the rest of the way there.
Once the car came to a stop in front of the restaurant Calum was the first to shove his way out the door and you watched as he ran over and whispered some things to Luke. Your brother clenched his jaw and stormed into the building. You knew that something was wrong, but you had no idea what to do about it.
Sighing, you took Michaels hand and walked in. You figured that you should talk to Luke and just ask him what was wrong. However when you got inside and found him your Dad pulled you into a completely different conversation and your plan was thwarted. When the hostess went to seat you, however, you were determined to sit next to Luke.
In fact it was so important to you that you pulled a chair out from Calum when no one else was looking just so that you could take a seat next to your brother.
"Pssst Luke," you whispered, glancing at your brother while everyone else was ordering drinks.
He didn't say anything, just stared down at his menu, so you naturally thought he couldn't hear you.
"Luke!" You said more urgently, elbowing him a little.
You got no response.
You decided to crank things up a bit, "Luuuuke," you giggled, poking him in the side where you knew he was ticklish.
Only instead of laughing like he normally would, your brother brushed your hands away and glared.
Well then. Now you were offended.
"Luke?!" You gasped, "why are you doing this?"
"Why am I doing what Y/N?" He laughed hollowly, earning surprised looks from everyone at the table. Except Calum. Calum rolled his eyes and slunk down in his chair.
You blushed a little and excused yourself. You wanted to talk to Luke but not here, pulling him up by the ear, you dragged him with you up out of your seats. You navigated through the restaurant and it an employee exit to the back where nobody was around to watch you.
"What is it Y/N?" He asked irritably.
"What do you mean what is it? You've been acting weird all day, and then you just got really mean," you yelled. Realizing that screaming would get you nowhere, you took in a deep breath, "I mean, I just want to know if there's anything wrong that I can help you with."
Luke stared at you long and hard after you said that. His eyes bored into yours and his face remained stoic. It was a tense, awkward, feeling.
"Luke, why are you upset with me?" You finally asked softly, on the verge of tears from his menacing gaze.
His eyes softened at your tone and he stepped closer. You thought he was going to say something, but instead he tackled you into a hug.
"Oof!" You groaned as he nearly tackled you, but your knees didn't buckle even as you took on most of his weight.
"I thought you didn't care," he admitted into your hair as he hugged you tightly, "you didn't say anything to me, all you did was talk to Michael. You blew me off for him and I thought... I thought you hadn't missed me. I thought you had like replaced me or something."
"Luke," you said shocked, "I'm sorry!" You held him tighter, "I just haven't got to spend any time with Michael since we got together. I didn't mean to ignore you!"
"I know, it's just hard, you're not my baby sister anymore, you're all grown up," he sighed and let go.
"Ben and Jack would beg to differ," you laughed as you headed back inside.
"We just want what's best," Luke defended himself.
"Mhmmm," you rolled your eyes and took your place between Michael and Luke.
Everyone welcomed you back and you finally got to eat. As you dug into the pizza Michael ordered for you to share you glanced up at Calum. He nodded his head at Luke and raised an eyebrow in a silent question. You sent him a brief thumbs up to let him know that everything was fine.
Things were great actually now that you thought about it. The boys had an extended break between now and when they had to go back to work. You were excited to finally spend quality time with Michael, face to face, instead of texting or skyping.
As for Luke, the two of you were partners in crime. There was no telling what kind of trouble was in store for you and your youngest brother.
I've been working on this chapter for like a month 🙁... maybe I should do 4 part chapters, one for each boy. Whatcha think?
Calum:
You had trouble connecting with your brother. This was mostly an issue because the two of you were polar opposites. Calum was very loud, strange and outgoing. You, well you could be painfully shy and very quiet. It made things awkward when it was just the two of you as Calum would basically have a conversation with himself, never really giving you the chance to say anything. You could also be somewhat intimidated by this larger than life persona. Quite honestly, if your mother hadn't shown you the DNA test you would've doubted that you were related at all. (*cough cough* Maury)
These differences led you to look for more suitable company. Not because you didn't like Calum, or being with Calum, you just couldn't really talk to or connect with him and even shy people get lonely.
The first time you hung out with Luke came about accidentally. You were reading on the couch and he had come down from Calum's room after your brother had fallen asleep. He smiled and sat down on the opposite side of the couch, minding his own business and picking at a bowl of fruit.
It was easy to sit there with him, the both of you doing your own thing, no pressure. You were comfortable.
"Hey Y/N, want any?" He offered you his bowl of strawberries.
You but your lip and looked away, too shy to say anything.
"No pressure or anything, I just can't eat them all," he shrugged.
You shrugged and bookmarked your page. Taking the bowl from Luke, you began to quietly eat.
"So what were you reading?"
The easy conversations and mutual interests made it easy for you to befriend the quirky blonde. You both had very similar tastes in books, food, and movies, three of the most important things. Unlike Calum who you didn't have anything in common with, Luke was patient and laid back, giving you time to think and then speak, always listening and thinking about what you said.
Luke must have also enjoyed the time the two of you spent together since he often found your hiding places around the house to hang out. Sometimes you wouldn't say anything, you would just enjoy each others presence. Other times you would chat about random things. You would even play the occasional game.
It was fun, it was nice, it was relaxing, it was Luke. Calum did not like it. He did not like that you were having more fun with his friend than with him. He did not like how happy you looked knowing that he couldn't make you smile like that. He didn't like how relaxed you looked in Luke's presence. He especially didn't like that it was Luke you were growing so attached to, after all Luke was supposed to be his best friend.
It turned out there were unintended consequences when you had a better relationship with your brothers friend than with him.
"Hi Luke," you waved as he plopped down next to you on the couch.
"Hi Y/N," he grinned.
After that he put in some earphones to listen to music and you continued working on your homework. It was normal for the two of you to be like this and you liked it. A few minutes later the couch shifted and you looked up to watch as Luke scooted over.
"Sorry," he shrugged, "this is the better side."
"What?" You snorted, "both sides of the couch are the same!"
"Yeah," he leaned in a little, "but you're over here." At this you blushed deeply.
Okay maybe sometimes you flirted. Maybe Calum didn't know. Maybe it was none is his business anyway. Maybe you purposely tried to hide any romantic aspect of your relationship with Luke from Calum so that he wouldn't try to stop it.
You shyly looked back down at your homework as Luke continued to move towards you.
"Oh no you don't," he tutted, moving his head down so that he could still catch your lips with his own.
Kissing Luke was nice. You hadn't done it before but you definitely would recommend it, 10/10. The thing is, when you're kissing someone you get kinda caught up in it, so caught up in fact, you can't hear other people. You were so busy with Luke that you didn't hear Calum.
"Whoa!" He screamed.
You both flinched and broke apart. The blush that had before made your cheeks nice and rosy had by this time ripened to a nice tomato red.
"Calum I-" Luke tried to explain.
"What? No! I don't want to hear any lame ass excuses Luke!" He shook his head and clenched his jaw shut.
"But Calum I-" he tried to continue.
"No. You were making out with my little sister Luke, that's wrong on so many levels," he cut Luke off again.
"Then what do you want me to say?" The blonde huffed, tucking you into his side so that you could hide your face. You hid yourself in his jacket and he calmly rubbed up and down your back. Thank God Luke was there, he could make the mess go away, or at least that's what you hoped.
"Nothing, I want you to leave," Calum said simply. With that you froze. You didn't want to be left with Calum, especially angry Calum. You didn't know how to deal with normal Calum let alone one who was upset with you. He tended to rant loudly, which was not good for you trying to explain yourself or calm him down.
"You're kicking me out?" You could hear the hurt in Luke's voice, his hand stilled for a moment but then continued to soothe you.
"Yes. Go," Calum ordered.
As Luke stood up, he pulled you with him and intertwined your fingers. Maybe you could go with him, maybe your brother wouldn't mind. Thankfully, Calum didn't say anything, until you got to the door.
"Y/N, you will not be leaving," he snapped.
Luke sighed deeply. He let go of your hand to pull you into a hug.
"Don't worry too much about Calum. He'll come around, I'll probably be back tomorrow," you could hear the smile in his voice, "I'll see you then Y/N."
And with that promise Luke was gone. You watched as he walked out of the house down the driveway to his car. You waved as he left until he was out of sight. Now it was just you and Calum. Great.
"Come back here Y/N, we need to talk," your brother called, speak of the devil.
"Coming," you sighed softly, walking back in past Calum and taking a seat back on the couch.
Calum immediately started ranting, "what was that Y/N? You can't just go around making out with people in here! Especially not my bandmates. Is that what you and Luke have been doing his whole time? Making out? That's- oh ew that's so gross. I thought you two were like BFFs or whatever. All I ever see is you talking. And talking. And talking. You always talk to him. Which is a little weird since you never talk to me. Ugh, why are you so different. I swear Mali was never like this. Why don't teenage girls come with instruction manuals on how to properly be their guardian. Maybe they do? Siri, remind me to buy a manual on raising teenage girls. Anyway, Y/N-" he paused, "actually I don't know what to say, you've made me speechless."
He groaned and sat down next to you.
"You wanna know something weird," he asked, placing his face in his hands.
"Sure," you replied.
"I was totally jealous of how close the two of you are. Now I'm not obviously, but you would always talk to him and never with me. I don't know what I'm doing wrong," he groaned.
There were a few moments of silence before you said anything, "Calum," you touched his back softly. "I wouldn't mind talking to you, you just rarely let me get a word in."
"Huh?" He frowned. "Come on Y/N, that's silly! You can talk whenever, that's the joy of conversation, you just jump in and yell over everyone else."
"Errrr Calum, maybe you haven't noticed but I'm not much of a yelling person," you stared down at your lap.
"Right," your brother shot up, "no I knew that I got that, it's just weird."
You cringed at him saying that and curled inwards into yourself. This is why you didn't like talking to Calum all that much.
"Ugh that came out weird," he said quickly, "you're not like bad weird just different weird. Like, I'm used to Mali being my only sister so when you suddenly appeared and Mom had you move in I thought that you'd be just like her. Well, just like me. But you're not, you're all quiet and thoughtful. Which is weird to me but not like bad," he rambled.
"I understand," you smiled and sat back up.
"So I guess you like more quiet and normal conversations like Luke huh?" He asked, thoughtfully.
"Yeah, just enjoying other people's company, not really arguing or yelling at them," you answered honestly. You rarely yelled, it was reserved for moments of extreme pain and anger.
"Okay, okay, well how about this," Calum leaned back a little, "I'll try being more like you, and you try being more like me."
"Like you how exactly?" You raised an eyebrow.
"Right there, just like that, that's classic Hood sass. I'll try and be civil if you try to disturb the peace," he grinned.
"Hmmmm," you pretended to think about it, "on one condition."
About an hour later you were perched on Luke's lap, playing COD with him and Calum. Your brother had said that it was a tradition you couldn't break to be good at this game, so you kept up on your end of the deal.
He was of course not overly pleased that you requested Luke back, but he understood. You liked Luke, as gross as it was to Calum. He promised to keep an open mind, but also that he would never let you hear the end of it. You didn't really mind, you were used ignoring him anyway.
"Awe," you pouted when Calum killed you.
"Sorry sis, hate the game not the player," he said, without taking his eyes off the screen.
"Don't worry babe," Luke whispered in your ear, "I got 'em."
You nodded and watched with a deep satisfaction as Calum's character got shot through the head.
"WOO!" Luke cheered.
You were grinning as well while Calum was pouting.
"Good job Luke," you patted his knee.
His attention was drawn to you, "that's all I get?" He asked mischievously.
You laughed as he bent down to start pressing kisses all over your face and mouth.
"Luke!" You squealed, trying to push him away.
"Really guys? This is horrible," Calum whined, "I just died and you're doing that gross couples thing to celebrate. I WAS JUST MURDERED!"
"We know," you said, successfully holding Luke off, "that's why we're so happy."
"Wow. Just. Wow. I would've expected that from Michael, but you Y/N? That's a new low, celebrating the death of your only brother," Calum mocked hurt.
"Meh, still got Mali don't I?" You shrugged. Luke was holding in his laughter as he watched how offended Calum was getting.
"I am irreplaceable, thank you very much," he informed you.
"Really? I'm pretty sure I just replaced you with my lovely sister," you smirked a little as he turned red.
"Hmph, we all know I'm way more fun than Mali anyway," he turned away.
"I'm gonna tell her you said that," you giggled, pulling your phone out of your pocket.
"Hey? Wait! No!"