not in the same way || c.h.

31

"Woah what is he doing here?" Luke asked as him and Ashton walked through my apartment.

By now me and Calum were cuddling on the couch watching Disney movies until we were tired and wanted to go to bed. I think the adrenaline from tonight had kind of woken both of us up if I'm being honest.

"Luke seriously?" I asked with a bit of an eye roll and paused the tv.

"Yes Brenna. What is this asshole doing here?" He asked and angrily pointed towards Calum.

"Luke leave him alone jesus. What do you want why are you two here?" I asked since it was like 12:30 and they usually didn't pop in this late.

"We ran out of beer last night and forgot to buy some." Ashton said and went to the kitchen to grab whatever beer I had.

"Fine but you owe me beer." I said and turned to face him as he walked back with my entire supply of beer.

"Deal." He said and stood next to Luke who was still fuming.

"You can't just pop in and out of her life whenever you want you know. She has feelings, and every single time you walk out you're hurting her. Do you realize that? You're playing mind games with her and I'm not going to sit and watch you fuck with her." Luke scolded and walked closer to me and Calum.

"I'm trying not to hurt her mate. I don't want to hurt her, that's why I thought it would be best if I wasn't in her life." Calum said and stood up from the couch and in front of Luke.

"You have a funny way of fucking showing it. You don't want to hurt her so you just leave? Well by leaving and coming back and leaving again you're hurting her. Make up you're damn mind." Luke said and firmly poked his chest with his finger.

"I have. I'm staying, and yeah maybe it took me a while to figure it out but I have my reasons." Calum said angrily.

"Let's hear them then. I bet they're shit." Luke said and got in his face.

"Luke he doesn't owe you anything. Go upstairs." I said sternly and stood between the two of them.

"Brenna he's-"

"Go upstairs."

"Let's go come on." Ashton said and dragged Luke out of my apartment. When the two of them left I let out a sigh and put my head in my hands to try and gather myself.

"Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about." I said and turned around to face Calum.

"He's lucky he's your friend or else I'd bash his head in." He said with his arms crossed and his jaw clenched as he stared at my door.

"Seriously?" I asked and gave him a look.

"Yes seriously. He's a fucking dickhead." He said and gestured his hand towards the door.

"Maybe he seems like that to you but he's my best friend and he cares. That's why he gets so angry at you when you walk in and out of my life. He's protective, and he saw what I was like when you'd leave and come back just to leave again. He has his reasons for being pissed off at you." I said matter of factly and sat back down on the couch.

"So what are you pissed off at me then?" He asked and stood over me.

"Yeah I am, and I've been trying to ignore it because I missed you and I don't want to argue today but you're making it really hard. Don't talk shit about my friends, even if they're being assholes because I will defend their name until the day I die." I stated and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Oh but it's fine for him to say shit about me?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"I didn't say it was, stop putting words in my mouth. I yelled at him and I shut him up. Did you not hear me tell him to leave you alone and go upstairs? I don't want anyone talking shit about anyone." I said which made him roll his eyes and sit down on the couch, but not as close to me as he was before.

"My friends don't like you, and that's really difficult for me because I do like you. From their perspective they have no reason to like you because they don't know what's going on entirely. They don't know the whole story and that's not their fault. They aren't allowed to know the whole story yet, so don't expect them to like you until I can actually explain why you've been in and out of my life." I said and resumed my movie and got comfortable on the couch with him on the other end.