Caitlyn's POV:
The drive to Calum's house was awkward and silent, and I just wanted to jump out of the car and run home. His house seemed like such a long drive from my house, which was making me even more worried. Calum took a left turn and we finally stopped down a run-down street, the complete opposite to Luke's almost perfect neighbourhood.
Calum saw me gawking out of the window at the streets and rolled his eyes, opening his car door. After realising I had been staring, I climbed out of the car like he had. He was outside a small house, the key already inside the lock.
"I never said that I live in a palace." Calum told me, pushing open the door.
The inside of his house was a complete mess, making me know that he didn't live with his parents or family.
"You have a nice home." I told him, being polite and because I didn't really know what else to say.
Calum started laughing at this, throwing his bag onto the floor and walking down the hall. I followed far behind him like a lost puppy, not knowing what to do.
"I live with Michael, we're not exactly tidy. This place is a shit hole too; don't feel the need to compliment it." Calum told me. He opened a door and when I got to it, he was sitting down on his bed.
After the mention of Michael's name and that he lives here with Calum, I got even more scared. Michael could be home any time now, and they could end up beating me up again, this time with no one to be able to help me afterwards. I suddenly realised that I had been standing in the doorway for quite a while now.
Casually, I walked into Calum's room. He was sitting down on his bed, watching me. I didn't know where to sit, so eventually I sat right on the corner of his bed, far away from him. Calum was still looking at me, and a small smirk spread across his lips.
"Do I make you nervous Caitlyn?" he asked me. He put his hand closer to me, scooting closer to me slightly. I watched him get closer, and when his shoulder was nearly touching mine, I stood up.
Calum started laughing again, rolling his eyes at me. He moved back to where he had originally sat and then pointed to the bed, telling me to sit down. After looking at him for a little while, I ended up sitting back down.
"I came here for the project, so can we just start that now?" I asked him, quickly looking down after my boldness.
"Sure, whatever." Calum said, shrugging his shoulders and pulling his phone from his pocket. I waited for him to put it away, but he didn't.
"Do I make you nervous Caitlyn?" he repeated, laughing a little bit. He was trying to mess with me; he knew quite obviously that I felt nervous around him.
"No." I lied. It was probably really clear that I was lying, but I didn't want to say nothing, then he would know I was nervous of him.
"You're not?" Calum asked me. He put his phone on the bed beside him and while asking me the question, he tilted his head at me slightly.
I shook my head, kicking my feet around and staring at them as I did so, doing anything to keep my gaze away from Calum. Calum was still looking at me, and his face started leaning closer to mine. I looked at him finally, his face inches from mine.
"I don't believe you." he told me, his voice almost a whisper. My breathing hitched, and he smirked, leaning away again. He was sitting quite close to me still. Suddenly, his hand was resting on my thigh. He moved his hand up and down, rubbing my leg slowly.
"Are you still not nervous?" he asked me, still smirking.
I didn't want him to know that he was right, but with his hand on my thigh I felt extremely uncomfortable. I was debating calling up Luke and asking him to pick me up and take me home, but we're not together anymore and I don't want to ask too much from him.
I looked over at Calum, who was still looking at me. His mouth was slightly parted, and his dark eyes bored into mine. It was making me feel even more uncomfortable, so I quickly looked away.
"Playing tough? Would you not even feel nervous if I kissed you?" he asked me.
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Luke's POV:
I was so happy that I could go back to school soon. After talking to Calum and Michael the other day, they've been talking to me quite a lot since. I'm not completely keen on Calum yet, but me and Michael are as good friends as ever. We were out at the minute, doing exactly what we usually did when we all met up; walking around doing nothing.
"Cigarette?" Michael asked me after pulling one out and lighting it for himself. I chewed on my lip, debating whether to or not.
"Yeah, okay." I finally replied. He handed me a cigarette and I put it into my mouth, holding it between my teeth. It was windy today, making it hard to light it. I cupped my hands around it, and eventually it lit the cigarette. I handed the lighter back to Michael and took a long drag of it, blowing a cloud of smoke back out.
I hate that I started smoking because I thought it would be cool at the time. I didn't think that it would be that hard to quit, but Michael and Calum smoked a lot and it made me want to smoke with them. It was all my choice, and I know how bad it is for my body, but I can't stop it. There's something about it that makes me feel so much better and relaxed.
We walked to nowhere, smoking our cigarettes in silence. When I didn't want anymore, I flicked it in front of me and watched it fall to the floor before stepping on it. Michael still had his, and he was smoking it right down to the point where there was nothing left to smoke.
"Have you spoken to Caitlyn?" Michael asked me, throwing out the cigarette finally.
"No. Why would you ask?" I asked him in response. Michael never spoke about Caitlyn; I found it quite weird how he randomly spoke about her.
"No reason." Michael told me, shrugging his shoulders. He shoved his hands into his pockets, looking down and bringing his shoulders up slightly. It was freezing outside, and the dumb fuck didn't have a coat on. Instead, he was wearing a short sleeved shirt.
"You're so fucking stupid. You do know that it's winter don't you?" I asked him, telling him exactly what I was thinking.
"Sorry mum, I don't need a lecture on the weather." Michael replied, rolling his eyes slightly.
As we continued to walk, our conversations quite brief, I started thinking more about Caitlyn. Michael said that Calum had to go home after school and that he wasn't coming out with us, and then he brought up Caitlyn. The more I thought about it, I started to wonder about that stupid project they've been paired together with.
"Why did you ask about Caitlyn again?" I asked him. I was hoping that he would tell me so that it would be easier. Either way I was going to their house.
"I told you, I don't know. Just making conversation." Michael replied again, shrugging his shoulders again.
"I know that she's with Calum." I told him. I didn't know for sure, but by the look on his face I could tell straight away. I was pissed off at Michael for trying to distract me or something, and then not telling me that Caitlyn was with Calum in the first place.
I was glad that I had brought my car, and I quickly made my way back towards it, jumping into the front seat. I couldn't see Michael anywhere, so I started the engine and drove towards their house, leaving Michael alone.
I got there quite quickly, putting the car into park and then jumping out. Taking bigger steps than usual, I knocked on the door. Obviously he didn't answer. I walked round to the back of the house, making my way to his bedroom window to see if it was open like it usually is.
When I got to his bedroom window, my eyes almost popped out of my head at what I saw. Calum had a smirk on his face as he leaned into Caitlyn. She looked like she was moving away from him slightly, but Calum pressed his lips to hers. I was beyond pissed now, and I pounded my fist against the window.
Calum pulled away from Caitlyn, looking at me. He swiped his tongue across his lips, smirking again. He gave a sarcastic smile and waved at me. I turned my head to the side, sighing. When he continued to ignore the fact that I was even here, I started knocking on the window until he finally opened it.
As soon as I could reach him, I grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him through the window. It was only a bungalow, and the window was low down. He stumbled, trying to stand up.
"What the fuck was that?" I asked him, my voice loud. When he smiled smugly, I tightened my grip on his shirt, pushing him against the wall.
"It was Caitlyn moving on. You ruined the moment Luke." he told me, sending me over the edge.
I slammed my fist into his nose. He had no right to say that to me, he's only trying to spite me and get to me. He knows that there's only one way to get to me, and that's with Caitlyn. I don't think he could have had any idea that I would have turned up to his house, but that just makes me even angrier.
"Come on Luke, violence is never the answer." Calum told me, laughing a little bit. I frowned at him, pushing him into the wall even more.
"You seriously think that you can do all of that and not expect me to do anything about it? You've got that fucking wrong." I told him, hitting him again.
With every hit I threw at Calum, his response just made me even angrier, making me want to hit him even more. Every time, he would laugh, or say things about Caitlyn and what he was planning to do before I turned up.
Completely forgetting that Caitlyn was even here, I got lost in the midst of my anger. I felt a soft hand on my arm, just as I was about to hit Calum again.
"Luke, stop. Please." Caitlyn told me, her voice gentle and quiet.
I took deep breaths, my hand still clenched around Calum's shirt. Blood ran down from his nose and he stared straight at me, just trying to get me to hit him again.
"Please." Caitlyn said, giving my arm a gentle squeeze. I let out a sigh.
I let go of Calum's shirt, pushing him away from me. Just before I went back to my car, with Caitlyn close by my side, I brought my face close to his.
"You fucking touch her again." I started. I didn't need to finish it, because he could work that one out for himself.
"Next time you come over we can hopefully finish what we started without being interrupted, Caitlyn." he said as I walked away. With Caitlyn's hands gripping my arm, I resisted the urge to go back over to him and smash his smug face in.
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Caitlyn's POV:
I was so happy when Luke got there, just as Calum kissed me. What I didn't want was for Luke to start hitting him, but I knew that would end up happening, especially after he saw Calum kissing me. I was surprised that Calum just let him beat him up, actually laughing as Luke hit him over and over again. It was kind of scary to watch, it was weird.
Sitting inside Luke's car, despite his still awful driving, I felt safe and so much happier. His car was so familiar to me, that when I had to start taking the bus to school again, it was actually making me miss this car too. I always thought that Luke was messy, but after seeing Calum's car and house, I realised how wrong I was.
"Are you okay? What did he do?" Luke asked me, turning to look at me as he drove.
"Look at the road." I started, cringing as Luke turned a corner too late, nearly going up onto the pavement. "He just laughed at me because I didn't want to sit on his bed while he was. He started calling me nervous and stuff, and started doing things to see if I got nervous and then he kissed me."
"What else was he doing?" Luke asked me, frowning at the road in front of him.
"At first he moved closer to me, and then when I got up he started to ask if I was nervous of him. I said no because I didn't want to seem like a wimp, and then he told me to sit back down. Then he started putting his hand on my thigh and rubbing my thigh and then he moved forwards and stayed like that before kissing me. Then you got there, so it wasn't for long." I told him. It sounded stupid saying it now, but at the time I was quite scared that he would do something else.
"He makes me so angry. I don't even know why I was friends with him. Please don't go to his house for the project again without telling me. Just because we're not with each other doesn't mean that I don't care about you anymore, because I still do. I would much rather you both come to my house for the project like we said before." Luke told me, looking over at me only because there was a little bit of traffic.
"I know you do. I just don't want to ask too much from you." I told him truthfully. I know it's not really asking a lot, but using someone else's house to do a project that they're not even involved in because I'm scared of my partner sounds like a lot to ask.
"Ask too much from me? I want you to come to my house, you know that you can any time you want, and I would be more than happy about it." Luke told me, laughing before he spoke to me.
"Okay, well next time I'll go to your house for it." I told him, nodding my head. "Thanks." I quickly added.
"You don't need to thank me, I'm asking you to come to my house." Luke told me, shaking his head at my politeness, with a smile on his face.
I didn't really know what to say in reply, so instead I just laughed a little bit, nodding my head even though he was looking at the road. He leaned forwards in his seat, rolling his eyes and leaning back in his seat, huffing.
"What's up with the fucking traffic? It was fine a minute ago!" he exclaimed, rolling his eyes and frowning.
I tried not to, but I couldn't help but laugh at how annoyed he was over traffic. He turned to me, his face still frowned, but like he always does when he's annoyed and I laugh at him, he ended up laughing with me.
"It's not funny." he told me, shaking his head at me and looking ahead again.
"It won't take long." I told him, even though I didn't have a clue how long it would take before we could get moving again.
We ended up sitting still for nearly half an hour, only moving tiny amounts at a time. Luke wasn't as annoyed about the traffic anymore; we just sat and spoke about anything. It was as though nothing happened, and we joked around just like we normally would. There was always a slight awkwardness in the air though, not always showing but just lingering, just in case.
The traffic finally cleared out a bit, and Luke started driving, happy again. When we got to my house, he parked the car up outside, turning to look at me after.
"Thanks." I told him, smiling. Just as I pushed the door open, Luke leaned over me, quickly closing the door. I looked at him, his face close to mine.
"I uh, I'm back at school tomorrow. Do you want a lift? I mean, I'll give you a lift." he said nervously, making me smile. I don't know how I was ever scared of him, he's absolutely harmless, and he still gets nervous talking around me.
"Okay, sure." I replied, nodding my head at him. He was still leaning over my chair slightly, and when he noticed, he moved back onto his side of the car and looked out of the window, squeezing his eyes shut. He quickly opened them after, turning to look at me.
"I'm such an embarrassment, sorry." he said, chewing on his lip ring. He genuinely looked so embarrassed, and I found it funny, but quite cute too.
I said goodbye again, opening the door and stepping out of the car. I walked up to the door, and suddenly Luke was rushing out of the car and coming after me.
"You forgot this." he told me, handing me my bag.
"How stupid, how did I forget my bag?" I asked, more to myself than him. I never bring my key out with me anymore, because I know that my mum will always be at home. My dad's usually still at work. I knocked on the door, with Luke still next to me.
"I'm going now then I guess, I'll pick you up tomorrow." Luke told me. Just as he walked a few steps, the front door opened.
"Hi Luke!" my mum said, laughing. She found it really funny when she drove me to Luke's house the other day when he was only in his boxers, and she found it even funnier when he saw her sitting outside and quickly jumped out of the way.
"Hi." Luke said, turning back around to face her, smiling politely.
My mum stopped secretly teasing him and walked back into the house, leaving the door open for me. I waved goodbye to Luke again, sending him a smile before walking into the house, closing the door behind me.
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Luke's POV:
After getting into my car and driving again, I started to feel so stupid about how nervous I get. I'm meant to be the tough guy, and I get embarrassed to ask her if I can drive her to school tomorrow. Every time I get nervous, she laughs at me, which makes me even more embarrassed. Even her mum was laughing at me, and I knew that it was because of the other morning, which I still can't forget.
I was still really angry with Calum, but I'm just glad that Michael did end up telling me in the end. I was so happy that I could finally go back to school tomorrow, because now I can spend more time with Caitlyn, if she wants to hang around with me at school. Otherwise, I'll hang around with Michael, which means I'll have to be with Calum, too.
Deep in thought, I parked my car outside my house, taking the keys out and closing my hand around them. I opened the door, pushing my hair up quickly before closing the door and locking the car. As I looked up towards the front door, I noticed someone standing at the door.
My eyebrows furrowed, I walked to the door, and when they turned around, I frowned even more.
"What the fuck do you want, Brooke?"