"Some people are just too stupid for this planet," Amanda groaned and sat down behind the counter.
"What's wrong?"
"This dude came in and asked if we had avocados. This is a fucking game store, why would someone think that we sell avocados?"
I chuckled at how annoyed she was and went back to writing down some orders for the shop, looking up when a customer came in and smiled when Amanda was talking about her new puppy.
"Do you think we could grab something to eat later and then have a movie night?" she asked and looked at me with her blue eyes, waiting for an answer.
We hadn't hung out in weeks and I already felt guilty about saying no.
I bit my lip and shook my head, "Sorry, I already have plans. I would cancel them but I'm kind of really excited. We can do that next weekend, okay? Don't be mad at me."
She smiled, "I could never be mad at you and it's fine. I wouldn't want you to cancel your plans for me anyways. But, you have to tell me whom you're meeting. That you're excited for it makes me curious."
"Okay, so there's this boy I met a few weeks ago and he's really cute. I like him a lot. He's special and I'm just very happy to see him again," I explained and could feel myself blush a little.
"You're so cute when you have a crush, I've never seen you this happy before."
"I don't have a crush, Amanda. He's just a really nice person and a great friend to hang out with. If you'd meet him you'd see what I mean. Anyways, --"
"Michael?" I got cut off by a way too familiar voice and groaned in annoyance.
"Fuck off, Ashton. I don't want to see you."
I didn't even look at him, just continued to doodle random things on a piece of paper. Amanda looked at us confused and then decided to help some customers, leaving Ashton and me alone.
"Would you please listen to me? I tried to apologize to you all week but you wouldn't pick up your phone or answer my messages," he said and sighed.
"Yeah, I did that on purpose."
"Come on Michael, I'm trying to fix things between us. I'm sorry about what I've said, it was rude but you know how I am. I don't think before I talk."
"That doesn't excuse your behaviour. I don't really want to talk about Calum because I'm pretty sure he'd be not okay with other people knowing about his problems but he's a very fragile person. He takes things like that to heart, he's very insecure, Ashton. You can't walk around and call people a freak because they're different. Being different is the thing that makes them special, not freaks."
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, you don't have to apologize to me. It wasn't me who you called a freak."
"You want me to apologize to Calum?" he asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"Of course! You hurt him, Ashton. God, why are you so stupid sometimes? I really don't get it," I said annoyed and looked at him.
Maybe I was a little harsh but he needed a reality check.
Sure, Ashton couldn't change the way he was thinking from one day to another but he really needed to learn how to act around people he didn't know because being rude just because they were strangers to him, wouldn't bring him far.
"When will you see him again? If you're okay with that then I would come with you. I just want to say sorry and then I'll leave you two alone. I just really want my best friend back," he said and I smiled a little.
"Come to my place around six."
"I will be there. Thank you for giving me another chance. Sorry that I screwed up."
"It's fine."
He smiled and went to hug me but it was kind of hard since I was standing behind the counter.
"Well, that failed," Ashton said and laughed.
"I'll hug you later but now I really have to get back to work," I said and he nodded, then said goodbye to Amanda and me and left the store.
✧✧
"Do I look okay?" I asked and turned around to face Ashton who was sitting on my bed.
"You look great, like always. Why are you even worrying? Are you going on a date with him?" he asked and I shook my head.
I didn't know why I wanted to look especially great today. We just wanted to go to the theatre and then eat cheap hamburgers. It wasn't special.
"Well, if it's not a date then it doesn't really matter what you're wearing."
I nodded and turned to the mirror, running my hand through my hair and I tried to get this messy but still good looking style. I smiled proudly to myself as it worked successfully.
"So, how's it going with Peyton?" I asked as we walked to the living room and sat down on the couch.
"It's going really good. I'm happy with her and she's happy with me, everything's great," he told me and smiled, fishing out his phone from his back pocket while I lit up a cigarette.
"You know, smoking is bad for you."
"Oh my god, can everyone just stop saying this to me? I know, I know that it's bad. I know it's unhealthy. I know. But, thanks for the reminder."
Ashton was about to speak up but the doorbell cut him off before he could say a word.
I placed the cigarette in the ashtray and went to open the door.
"Hi," Calum said with a small smile on his lips.
I eyed him and also smiled.
He was wearing a baby blue sweater and his usual skinny jeans, nails painted white. I was sure that his closet was filled with oversized sweaters and skinny jeans. Not that I was complaining, I loved his sweaters.
And it was cute when they were too big on him because he always gave himself sweater paws, like he did right now.
"Hi," I finally said and hugged him, wrapping my arms around his small waist.
"You smell like smoke," he mumbled, his head was nuzzled in my neck and his hot breath sent shivers down my spine.
"Sorry," I said. "You smell like flowers and everything nice."
We separated and he mumbled a small 'thanks', then stepped into my small flat and went to the living room.
"Hey, uh, Calum," Ashton said and looked down at his shoes while Calum frowned, turning to me.
"I -- I thought we were alone."
"You are, I just -- I wanted to apologize and then leave," Ashton explained and finally looked up.
"Oh, uh, okay. It's okay, I'm not mad at you," Calum said and shrugged like it was nothing but I knew that those words hurt him.
"No, it's not okay. I'm really, really sorry. I was rude to you and that's not okay. I'm sorry for what I've said. You're not a freak. Could we start over? Michael is my best friend and you're also his friend, so I kind of just want to get along with you. Do you think you could forgive me?"
"Yeah, of course. I mean, you seem like a nice person."
Ashton smiled and surprisingly hugged Calum, then smiled at me and left after separating himself from Calum.
I saw that my cigarette was still glowing, so I took a last drag and then smudged the rest of it onto the ashtray on the table.
"What movie are we going to watch?" Calum asked, voice quiet.
"I don't know, do you have any special wishes? I'm up for everything," I answered.
"Yeah, uh, I kind of want to watch Into The Woods. It sounds really cool."
Even though I didn't exactly knew what the movie was about, I just nodded, saying that we could watch it. I got my phone and stuffed it in the pocket of my jean jacket and headed to the door.
"Uh, Michael?"
"Yeah?"
"I really, really don't want to sound rude or be annoying, really not. It's just -- I don't, I really don't like the smell of cigarettes and you kind of smell like it and, sorry if that's rude, but -"
"It's fine, I understand. You're not being rude, just honest. I can try and put on some more cologne. Wait here."
I went to the bathroom, spraying a lot of cologne on me but not too much so it wasn't disgusting.
And, to be honest, I would've taken a shower to rub off the smell of smoke from my body because I really didn't want Calum to feel uncomfortable around me.
I wanted him to like me and I wanted that he liked being with me and if that meant that I should consider to stop smoking, then I would stop.
Well, I would try to.
I mean, It was unhealthy for me anyways.
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I'm pretty proud of this chapter, I really like how it turned out!
Your thoughts on Ashton apologizing?
Michael considering to stop smoking for Calum?
Thoughts on the chapter?
Your thoughts on my dick?
Anyways, you guys should thank @itsluishere because if he wouldn't have asked me to upload so many times I probably wouldn't have done it today :D
And by the way, I changed some of the chapter titles so you guys can see how long the time skips are and stuff, I don't know. I'll probably change them when this story is finished :)
୨୧ See you next chapter! ୨୧