Brother In Arms (Luke Hemmings & Calum Hood)

Chapter 3

'It didn't make sense to me. How could I not have seen all those lies ? I keep trying to tell myself that it wasn't my fault since she covered it up so well, but what if I could've made her last few years as comfortable as possible? What if I would've put my guitar down just for one day and give her the attention she deserved and make her feel wanted ?' He thought to himself, the guilt weighing him down.
"Luke ? Luke ?" Ashton called out, but all he got was a blank stare. "Dude !"
Luke jumped a little, spilling some coffee on his hand and Ashton's.
"Oh shit, sorry dude. Just can't focus today," he explained as he grabbed some paper towels from behind him.
"Yeah I noticed. Anything you wanna talk about ?"
They all looked towards Luke; all of them except for Calum who sat in his chair staring at the ground. Luke noticed a ring around his neck. He could've sworn Shae had the same one, but he shook it off by telling himself he's just seeing her in everything.
"Man, it's just the usual. About Shae and stuff," Luke told them, rubbing his forehead.
Calum's head jerked up at the sound of his deceased friend's name.
"What about her ?" He inquired.
"The other day I went into her room for the first time in quite a while and I opened up this box that she had. I thought she kept everything that was precious to her in that box. But turns out everything that she hid from me was in there."
Calum became alarmed and sat up in his chair. "Like ?"
"Did you know she was bullied in school ?" Luke asked, looking up at Ashton from his chair.
"Shae was bullied ? Who'd pick on her? She was the sweetest thing I'd ever come across." Michael added.
"Did you find anything else ?" Calum asked him. Luke shook his head.
"Like when i was reading that I just couldn't believe that it was Shae who wrote all that. Why the fuck did it have to happen to her ? Everything bad only happened to her and she fucking deserved bett-" his voice cracked and he couldn't go on anymore. Michael and Ashton rushed by his side and mumbled words of comfort. But Calum stood up and immediately left the studio.
"What's his deal?" Mike asked.
Ashton shrugged.

Calum's POV

He hasn't found anything yet. But the minute he does, I'm screwed.
I decided to run as fast as I could to Luke's house and get everything from Shae's room as quick as possible.
I knocked impulsively on the front door and tapped my foot impatiently.
"C'mon, someone open the God damn door."
After what felt like eternity, Liz greeted me with a smile.
"Calum, hi. What brings you here ?"
"Uh I, uh forgot my jacket the last time I came over. Mind if I get it ?" She stepped aside, granting me entrance into her house. I wasted no time and immediately ran up to Shae's room and briskly went through her chest of drawers.
"Polaroids, Polaroids, where are you for christ's sake."
I stopped when a picture of Shae caught my eye. It was a picture I'd taken of her at an Ed Sheeran concert. That was the last time we went out until her health deteriorated and that day was the last day I ever saw her smile and awake. The day after the concert, she was in the ICU for a week and only woke up twice.
"I miss you baby."
I continued my search and found all the pictures of us together and rapidly shoved them in pocket of my jeans, dropping a few on the way, not being bothered to pick them up because of the hurry I was in.
I ran downstairs towards the door until Liz asked "Found it ?"
"Uh yeah, it was in his room."
She walked me to the door and noticed the edges of the Polaroids popping out of my pocket and I quickly pushed them back in.
"I better get going, I walked out of the studio all of a sudden and the boys probably think I'm crazy," I chuckled nervously and walked out.
"Calum, I know." She called and I froze.
"I'm sorry ?" I asked.
"About you and Shae. I know," she smiled and shut the door, leaving me in awe.

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Liz is such a queen maaaaaan.
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