FRIENDS

22

"Why are there so many people outside my house?" I asked, slightly panicked. Ashton groaned from my passenger seat.

We had stopped at the liquor store on the way home to pick up a bottle of tequila since I knew that my friends would only have a selection of shitty beer, but it had only taken about half an hour to do that and then drive home. Calum hadn't mentioned the hoards of people on my driveway.

"Someone probably saw Calum come here, or they saw him at the liquor store and followed him here and then told all of their friends. I'm sorry, I know it's creepy, but they should be well behaved." I nodded my head then honked my horn so crowd would move enough for me to pull into the driveway.

When we pulled in we quickly got out of the vehicle and immediately, the girls started calling Ashton's name. He ignored them all and walked over to me, putting his hand on the small of my back and guiding me towards the house.

"You touching me like this is going to put the Twitter-sphere in absolute disarray." I said quietly. Ashton chuckled.

"Yeah, probably, but it's fine. It'll be old news before you know it."

Once we were inside, I made sure to lock all of the doors and windows.I heard yelling from my basement and then the sound of feet hitting the stairs. Before I knew it, Calum was standing in front of me with a grin on his face. He pulled me in for a huge hug and then pulled me downstairs without saying a single word. Ashton followed behind us, holding onto my tequila.

"Welcome to our five person party." Calum started once we got downstairs. "As you probably saw, there is a bit of a gathering outside, so we will have to keep this grandeur little get together inside, but that's alright." He took a sip of his beer. "Inside is where the refreshments are." The girls both giggled.

"Grandeur? Cal, you're drinking in my dingy unfinished basement. You don't even have a light on. Just six candles and a lava lamp." Ashton laughed loudly beside me. Calum just rolled his eyes.

"Use your imagination, Ivy. Jesus." I ignored him.

"Where are my parents?" Calum shrugged and sat down on the couch beside Zoe, popping the top off of another beer and drinking it way too quickly.

"They're at the Cliffords'." Zoe told me. "Your mum called to say she saw the group of people outside and she was going to call the police to try and get them to leave." Ashton and I sat down on the couch beside Maddy, who said a quiet hello.

"There's not too much the police can do, I don't think." Ashton said, interlocking his fingers with mine. I stared at our hands, silently marvelling at how good it looked when our fingers were wrapped together.

"They can make the kids get off of the property, but if they're on city property, there's not much that can be done if they're not doing any harm. If it gets late and they're too loud, someone will end up filing a complaint and then they'll have to leave."

I stopped staring at our hands and looked up at my friends, who were staring at me with huge grins on their faces.

"You two are so cute together." Zoe gushed, covering her mouth with her hands to hide her grin. Maddy nodded her head and agreed, then looked away and took a huge sip of her beer. She was nervous, though I didn't really know why. She had been hanging out with Calum and had been fine as far as I knew.

"Yeah, oh my God, you guys are so cute." Calum said in an obnoxiously high voice, batting his eyelashes. I had seen Calum drunk before, but he was being different tonight and I wasn't sure why.

But then Zoe giggled beside him and he looked at her with a huge grin on his face, this look that just showed that he felt accomplished since he made her laugh, and I knew.