I've Got This Friend ( c.h )

Chapter 29

"You wanna hang out today Calum?" Luke and Michael were the two writing today and Molly was out shopping because she wanted to surprise Michael tonight with a homemade meal because she decided he deserved it because he had been working so hard. Plus, Calum and I haven't hung out in a few days because he's been so busy writing and other things, so I figured he'd jump on an opportunity like this to hang out with me.

"Can't." He said while avoiding eye contact, but not on purpose.

"Oh." I made sure my voice sounded disappointed so he knew I wasn't happy he couldn't hang out.

"I made plans with Lucy." Again. This was the third time in four days that he had hung out with her and the second time that he had passed up plans with me to do so.

I knew I had hated this girl for a reason.

"Oh, alright!"

"Maybe another time." He suggested and he wasn't doing that just to be nice; we both knew it was going to happen no matter what.

"Yeah, definitely." I agreed as the doorbell rang and Cal ran to go answer it eagerly. "Lucy!" I heard him cheer as I turned around and left the room because I didn't want to see her face. I was his best friend and he should be hanging out with me, not some girl like her.

I stormed into Ashton's room where he was laying on the bed and watching youtube videos on his laptop. I plopped down on the spot next to him.

He took notice to my mood and laughed, "well good afternoon to you too sunshine."

"Ugh." I moaned, falling back onto the bed.

"What's got you in a bad mood?"

"Calum." I whined.

"What did he do this time?"

"Can we please go out and hang out? We can get lunch or shop or something please?" I begged.

"Um..." He read my facial expression and could tell I needed it. "Sure. Let me just put on a shirt without as many holes and grab my wallet and phone and we can get out of here."

"Yes!" I cheered.

"But," he held up a finger as he closed his laptop and got out of bed, walking towards his suitcase, "if we go out you are explaining to me what Calum did wrong and why you hate him again."

"Fine." I quickly said, just wanting to get out of the house.

Ashton changed in a matter of seconds and we were out of his room and getting ready to leave the house a minute later. As we walked through the hall and down the stairs, I heard a female laughing, aka Lucy the devil.

I rolled my eyes and cringed on the inside. "Pey." Ashton knew and it wasn't like I was going to deny it because I had to tell him later anyways. I shrugged, silently telling him yes.

"Lucy, get off of me." Calum laughed and pushed as Lucy straddled his back on the couch.

I can honestly tell you, I have never wanted to punch anyone more than I did in that moment.

"We're going out. See you later Cal." Ashton said quickly as I continued to walk to the door without stopping.

"Bye!" Calum called after us, but really only Ashton cared.

We got in the taxi that was waiting outside and took the short ride down the hill to town. Ashton paid the usual driver and we started to walk down the strip.

"Where do you want to eat?" Ashton awaited a response but I didn't know what I wanted at the moment.

"I don't know. You choose." I told him sourly.

"Let's grab a slice of pizza and sit on the beach." He suggested and I couldn't argue. I hadn't spent much time on the beach while in LA and I probably should've.

"Wish I would've know that because I would've brought beach stuff along." I sighed, "and we don't have any beach towels."

"Stop stressing." Ashton told me, placing his arms on my shoulders and pulling me in for a hug before we started our adventure to the beach, hoping that there was a pizza place along the way.

To our happiness, we found a cute little pizza shop and ordered a whole pizza to go because Ashton said he was starving and I knew I could definitely eat two slices myself. Plus, whatever we didn't finish would definitely be eaten back at home.

Ashton didn't bring up Calum again until we made it to the beach and successfully found a space to sit and had started eating our pizza. "I held this off long enough, but Calum?"

"He ditched me to hang out with the Lucy girl."

"Didn't he already do that once?"

"Yeah, now two times."

"Who even is Lucy?" Apparently Ashton had no idea who she was. Maybe I could get him on my side and hating her too! That would just be ideal.

"I don't know. He said he met her in London and she's some college student in Canada and she's here for the summer and she's a whore."

"How do you know she's a whore?"

"I just know."

Ashton shook his head, "not a good enough reason Pey. You can't just judge people like that."

"I can and I will." I defied him. "I hate her."

Ashton placed his pizza back in the box before breaking out and chuckling his ass off. "I KNEW IT!" He shouted, drawing unwanted attention to us. I swear a few girls stared longer than the others, telling me they knew who he was and they would probably approach us before we left.

"Knew what?"

"You like him!"

"What?" It wasn't that surprising of a voice because even though I hated to say it, it kind of made sense. I mean, I didn't really had a good reason for hating Lucy, except for the fact that she was stealing Cal away from me and that wasn't even the strongest answer.

"I knew that you would come around."

"I don't know."

"It's easier for you to stop fighting your feelings and just admit that you love him. It'll be easier for you, him, the band, Molly... everyone will be happier and at ease if you do."

"I don't even know what it feels like to be in love so don't pressure me into that, alright." My voice was shaking as I said because I think that he was right, but then again, he was Ashton and he could always be wrong.

"You'd know." He informed me.

"Explain it to me." I was curious.

"I-" He froze. "Fuck."

"What?"

"You don't understand how hard of question that is to answer."

"Sorry." I apologized.

"Don't be. But, I think you should probably talk to Molly about that. Girls are usually better with all that feeling stuff, ya know?"

"I guess."

"Peyton's in love. Peyton's in love!" Ashton chanted.

"Peyton's going to punch you if you don't shut up."

"Peyton, love is a beautiful thing. Don't worry about it." Ashton reassured me.

"I hope you're right about that Ash."