EGL // lashton

thirty four

"Wow, look at you" Luke said and smiled as he watched Calum walk around in his room without much problem. He still had a slight limp in his step and his arm was still casted though.

His nose was only covered in tape instead of the metal cast, and the bruises in his face were slowly fading. The ones on his body were probably fading as well, but Luke couldn't see to tell.

"I know," Calum said and smiled before slowly sitting down at the edge of his bed, "Recovery did me good"

"Yeah, I can tell" Luke said and eyed Calum up and down. "When do you get to go home?"

"Tomorrow morning. Mom's taking me home and she promised me my favorite food and everything I asked for. I'm not taking advantage of that though, this is all my fault anyway" Calum said and looked down at his lap.

Luke didn't answer because he didn't actually know the truth. Sure, Calum had been a part of what had happened, but he wasn't willingly a part of it. Luke hadn't yet decided if he wanted to judge Calum for it or not.

"How's Ashton?" Calum asked instead, trying to ignore the tense silence around them.

"He's good. He's walking around like nothing has happened. He don't care about what happened to himself, he only cares about what happened to me" Luke mumbled, making Calum turn to look at his with sad eyes.

"Are you okay?" Calum whispered carefully, still not sure of how comfortable or uncomfortable Luke was with the subject.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Luke said and shrugged. Calum wasn't convinced though, so he shook his head and sighed lightly.

"You can tell me the truth, Luke. I was there after all, I saw everything and I know it all happened because of me. I wish I could-"

"Calum, I'm fine" Luke spoke again, lifting his head to lock eyes with Calum. "It's not your fault. If it didn't happen you'd probably be dead right now" he whispered.

Calum sat quietly at the edge of the bed and ran his hand up and down his thighs before turning to look at Luke again. Calum bit his lip as he studied the obviously hurt blonde, before speaking.

"I've never actually thanked you for that, so thank you," Calum whispered and reached one hand out to place it over Luke's, "Thank you so much, Luke"

"You don't need to thank me," Luke whispered back and smiled as he intertwined his and Calum's hand, "I didn't really do much anyway"

"You put your own life before mine. That's everything" Calum said and squeezed Luke's hand thankfully. Luke smiled small as he looked at Calum before moving closer to carefully wrap his arms around his friend.

"You've grown to be my very best friend," Luke mumbled against Calum's shoulder, "I don't even want to imagine life without you"

"I know," Calum said and tightened his hold around the blonde, "Same here"

"Good," Luke said and laughed softly as he pulled away from his and Calum's embrace, "Then let's stop talking about this because otherwise I'll start crying and Ashton will probably storm in and take me away from here"

"Yeah I know, I can feel Ashton's eyes burning my skin" Calum chuckled and nodded his head before slowly turning towards the glass wall of his hospital room. The wall was usually covered by curtains, but a bit was now opened so Calum could lock eyes with Ashton's harsh ones.

Both Ashton and Michael were seated in the lounge room in the hallway across from Calum's room. Michael had mentioned that he was going to visit Calum, and of course Luke wanted to join him. Ashton didn't like it, but he knew he had no right to stop the blonde.