NO SHAME

XVII

I woke up the next day at one in the afternoon with a pounding headache, and no Luke, Ashton, Calum, or Michael in the house. I called him twice before giving up and calling Calum to ask if he knew anything. He said he hadn't heard from Luke all morning, but once he did he would let me know.

    That was how I found myself sitting on the couch, scrolling through social media and waiting for Luke to come home. And how I found myself looking at pictures of Luke showing up to his ex's house on Instagram.

    "What the hell?" I mumbled to myself.

    My first thought was to call Calum and ask if he knew anything about this, but I had already asked and I know Calum well enough to know he would never lie to me. My next thought was to just leave before Luke showed back up. I could figure out where to go later, but right now I did not want to talk to Luke.

    Before I could doubt myself, I picked up my phone to call Calum while I packed a bag.

    "Hey, what's up?" Cal answered.

    "Um, is it okay if I stay at your house for a bit? I don't think I can stay here anymore," I asked.

    "Why, what happened?"

    "I'll explain later, I just-please?"

    "Yeah, of course you can stay here."

    "Thank you Cal. I'll be over soon."

    I hung up the phone and continued to hurriedly pack up a bag so I could leave before Luke returned. Once I had everything I needed, I grabbed my keys and headed off to Calum's house, showing up about 10 minutes later.

    When I arrived, Calum was waiting outside for me and he walked over to help me get my stuff out of the car.

    "Are you going to tell me what's happening?" Calum urged.

    "Inside," I countered.

    Calum led me into his house and I sat down on his couch. Once Calum sat down next to me, I felt tears well up in my eyes as I thought of what to say.

    "Aspen?" Calum prompted.

    "When I was waiting for Luke to come home I found paparazzi photos of him at Arzaylea's house," I filled him in.

    "Arzaylea- Are you sure-"

    "Yes, Calum, I can show you the pictures if you want."

    "Show me."

    So I did. I showed Calum the pictures I had found on Instagram before I'd left Luke's.

    "Why the hell is he at her house?" Calum wondered aloud.

    "Hell if I know," I replied.

    "There has to be an explanation, Aspen. I mean she destroyed him, there's no way he went there for anything other than to tell her to fuck off."

    "Yeah, well, I'd like to know why Luke is kissing me one night, and then going off to his ex's house the next."

    "Back the fuck up, when did he kiss you?"

    "Last night, when I was putting him in bed."

    "Okay, well this is news. But this also changes things. Aspen, I've known Luke since we were in school, there's no way in hell he would do something like that to you. He cares about you so much, he would never want to hurt you."

    "Too late. He already-"

    A loud ringing interrupted me and I looked down to see Luke's caller ID on my phone screen. I shut off my phone with a huff, sending Luke to voicemail. I knew he would try and call me again, so I powered my phone off and put it back on the table.

    "Aspen-"

    Calum was cut by another ringing and I groaned. Calum picked up his own phone and I saw Luke's name before he answered the phone and put it on speaker.

    "Hello?" Calum started.

    "Hey, have you heard from Aspen at all? She's not home and I just tried to call her but she sent me to voicemail." Luke asked.

    I shook my head at Calum, hoping he got the message.

    "No mate, sorry. I'll let you know if I hear from her, though. Text me if you do too."

    "Damn, okay. I just hope she's okay. I'm starting to worry a little because she tried calling me earlier, but I didn't see it until like two minutes ago."

    "I'm sure she's fine."

    "Alright, thanks anyway. Bye."

    "Bye."

    Calum hung up the phone and gave me an exasperated sigh.

    "He probably thinks you were kidnapped, Asp, at least text him so that he knows you're alive," Calum practically begged.

    "Fine," I groaned.

    I picked up my phone and powered it back on. When the screen lit up I had a missed call from Luke and multiple texts as well.

    Luke :)))

    Hey, where are you?

    Aspen????

    Are you okay???

    Aspen please call me

    I felt slightly guilty that he was so worried, but then I remembered why I was mad at him, and all the guilt disappeared.

    Aspen

    I'm fine, I'm spending a few days at Cal's.

    Luke :)))

    Why???

    Aspen

    I think you know why.

    I hit send on the last text and put my phone face down on the table so that I wouldn't see anymore notifications.

    "Aspen," Calum sighed.

    "Calum," I retaliated, mocking his tone.

    "I don't think he knows about the pictures, you're going to confuse him, just talk to him."

    "I'll talk to him tomorrow or something, right now I just want to stew in my anger."

    "Whatever."

    Calum gave up on trying to fix my friendship with Luke, and instead showed me where my room was. He left me to get settled in and I set my stuff down on the bed, pulling my phone out to look at the photos again.

    Luke had texted me more so I muted his number and went back to looking at the photos from Arzaylea's house.

    I just didn't get why he didn't at least leave me a note telling me where he was going. Or sent me a text. Any sort of communication to let me know what was happening.

    Maybe I had been wrong about him.

-

    "Aspen, did you talk to Luke yet?" Calum asked as he barged into my room a few days later. I had been spending a lot of time over the last couple days either watching TV in Calum's living room, or scrolling through social media to see what everyone was saying about Luke and Arzaylea.

    "No, Calum," I sighed.

    "Please talk to him sometime today."

    "Whatever."

    "No, not whatever. You need to talk to him."

    "I know, I will."

    "You better," Calum said with a huff and left me alone again.

    I had no intention of talking to Luke.