Secretary | muke [c]

Twenty

"Okay, Luke, calm down." Naomi's voice came through the device Luke was holding tightly to his ear. He was pacing around aimlessly in the lobby of the movie theatre, keeping a close eye on the door of room 5 to make sure Calum didn't come out and overhear him.

"Naomi, his roommate fucking left." Luke sighed, covering his eyes with his hands and huffing. "Packed his stuff and left. He left money for his half of the rent until the end of the lease, but nothing else other than a small note saying he had to leave."

"Well, okay." Naomi said softly. Luke could hear the sound of a chair scrapping against tiled floor, and he could picture the blonde taking a seat on the kitchen stool at home. Luke sighed yet again, walking down the corridor filled with double doors that led to rooms playing different movies. He stopped by the door of the bathroom, walking inside before locking himself in one of the stalls. "At least financially Calum is sorted, right? He'll be okay."

"No, he won't." Luke muttered, clicking his tongue as he threw his head back so it was leaning on the bathroom wall. Luke didn't care that that wall was possibly one of the dirtiest surfaces in the entire movie theatre, he didn't care that Calum would notice he was taking way too long for someone who only went out to grab another coke. All he cared about was finding a way to make sure Calum was safe. And that meant not alone. "Calum needs a roommate, Naomi. Seriously, I can't let him live alone."

"Well, why doesn't he just live with you until he can find a new roommate?" The blond could almost picture his friend shrugging her shoulders, the sounds in the background indicating she was getting something to eat. Luke's stomach instantly grumbled, making a sigh escape his lips. He hadn't been able to eat earlier, the amount of concern for Calum being too big to even allow him to think of food.

"He could stay the night, yeah, but I'm never home during the day. Aidan was perfect because he worked from home so Calum was never alone." Luke felt like crying. At that moment, the only solution he had was to put Calum in a hospital, and he knew the Kiwi would hate him for that. Calum hadn't had a problem in over two weeks, but knowing Calum could have one, alone in an apartment, without anyone to call Luke for help, made his heart clench. He wouldn't let that happen, not in a million years would he allow Calum to spend the majority of his day alone.

"Look, I don't know what it is that is making you so paranoid about this, but honestly, Luke, chill." Naomi sighed softly, making Luke frown. "You overthink things and everything stresses you out. You need to stop worrying about every single detail and just make due with what you have. Calum just lost his roommate. Take him to your house, talk to him about it and start looking for a new roommate. Let him crash at your place for a few nights and then, when he finds someone, he'll go back home."

"You don't understand." Luke groaned, rubbing his temples as he rested his elbow on his leg. He screwed his eyes shut and shook his head. "Calum can't be alone for seven hours, Ni." Luke didn't want to tell her. Luke didn't want to have to say the words out loud again, he didn't want to have to go through the same process of explaining everything to Naomi like he did with Michael and in all honestly, he didn't think it was his place to tell someone else about Calum's mental issues. But he did need to get it across to her that leaving Calum alone was not an option. "He's mentally unstable, I can't have him alone for that long without knowing what is going on."

There was a long silence. A heavy, deafening silence that made Luke's skin crawl. He hated that silence more than he hated the way it seemed to be everyone's reaction to what he had just said. He hated how he could always feel how uncomfortable that made other people and how they automatically felt like they needed to pity Calum for being the way he was or pity Luke for having to take care of his best friend. It wasn't pitiful, it was just the way things were and it drove Luke crazy to think that people would think that pitying them seemed like the right thing.