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Calum sat next to Luke on the oversized chairs in the head of the Phycology department's office. Their hands were clasped tightly together as Luke tried not to cry.
"Not making it into this program isn't the end of the world, Mr. Hemmings, there are lots of options available," the old man spoke with kind words.
"I know, I understand," Luke choked out, his head dangling low.
"I'll hand your buddy here a few packets, there are lots of options. You'll be okay." The professor gave Calum a folder of hundreds of packets. The dark hair boy nodded at the old man, helping Luke out of his seat. They didn't say goodbye.
Luke had too many thought swarming his head. This wasn't part of the plan. He was supposed to get accepted, not rejected. He doesn't want to move back home, but he can't live in New York either.
Calum is moving back home, he's going to go be a teacher at their old middle school. He's already lined up for the fall, he has everything planned. That was supposed to be Luke, Luke is supposed to be the one with their entire year planned out day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year.
"Stop crying, Lukey, please," Calum whispered in Luke's ear, engulfing him in a large hug. People groaned as they stopped in the middle of the sidewalk for a hug.
"I'm not trying to," he sobbed.
"It's going to be okay, let's just go home." Calum tugged on the blonde's hand, dragging him to their complex step by step.
Luke let out a whimper, "nothing is working out." The city streets around them were bustling, everyone had somewhere to be at noon on a Friday. Luke just wanted to go home and eat an entire tub of ice cream.
He was going to miss these streets.
"It will one day, buddy."
"Everyone always says that. They say one day it'll work out, they say one day I'll be better, but guess what? I'm not!" He yelled.
"Please, let's just go home." Calum hated dragging Luke out into the public streets because he was afraid of losing the tall boy. He has to be a pair of eyes for both of them, and it's stressful. They get jostled around as Calum digs his nails into Luke's palm.
"Can we go to Much182? Please?"
"Just saying please like a fucking five year old doesn't make me want to do anything more than I did before."
"Please?"
Cal looked back at his best friend, letting out a small chuckle, "I hate you, Hemmings." He took a sharp turn to the left, almost running into a lady with a stroller. In a few more steps, the two college students were out of the snow and into the warmness of a grocery store.
Michael spotted the two from his register, "babe! How'd it-" He stopped his sentence when Calum shook his head from left to right. "Oh." He turned to Silver, who was boringly looking at her chipped nails.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll cover for you, loser."
Mike pressed a kiss to her cheek, "I owe you the world." His black Converse clicked across the floor as he huddled Luke into a hug.
"I'm going to go find dinosaur chicken," Calum announced, skidding across some slush with his head down.
"They didn't even waitlist me," Luke whispered into the roughness of Michael's work polo.
"I'm sorry," he said, not knowing what how to comfort him. Mike pulled away from Luke, dragging him into the beige work room. None of his co-workers were in there since none of them were supposed to be on break.
He helped Luke sit down on the couch, moving a few newspapers so Michael could sit next to him.
"I don't know what to do, Michael, I don't want to go back home."
"There are other options," he whispered, soothingly rubbing his hand up and down Luke's thigh. His black jeans were so tight, Mike swore they were painted on.
"Stop saying that! Everyone needs to stop saying that! This is what I wanted and -once again- it's not happening!"
"Somethings don't go as life plans, Lucas, but they turn into something good. Think about Clémence, you think I ever wanted a child? I still don't want a child! But now I have one, and she's the best thing in my life," Michael wrapped his arm around Luke, pulling him even closer than before.
"I'm not you," he spoked sternly, "I don't have a plan b, I needed plan a to work."
"Well, it didn't. You can mourn your dreams for as long as you want, but you shouldn't simply give up. Find another path."
"Stop treating me like a damn child. I am twenty-one."
"I'm not! I'm giving you friendly advice since no one else is."
"I don't want your advice, what the hell do you know? You dropped out at twenty-one. You don't understand the pure stress I'm currently under. I have so much to prove, and so little time."
Michael laughed, catching Luke off guard. "You think I didn't have my own life? I had plans, too, Luke. I had dreams and ambitions, but they didn't work out. They didn't work out and I moved on." He moved further away from Luke, "I'll stop treating you like a god damn child when you stop acting like one."
Luke pouted, his arms crossed. They didn't finish their conversation. Calum coming in with two bags filled with dinosaur chicken didn't help Luke's case of acting like an adult.