Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU

35.

"Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?" Michael's question goes ignored.  

Around us, the party continues. There's a small audience, sure, but we mostly go unnoticed. Most people probably just think of us as another couple having another drunken argument. 

Joss is my mystery girl. Joss is my mystery girl. Joss is my mystery girl. This doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense.

"We agreed we'd help each other," Luke defends with a heavy frown. It's hard to look at him. It's even harder to see that he has no idea why I'm so upset. "It was part of the plan."

"Was sleeping with me part of the plan too?" I yell, not caring about anyone who's watching this unfold anymore.

I hear Joss's voice break, "You slept with her?" 

"I - I panicked. I thought I was losing her - " Luke doesn't know where to look at first, then his gaze settles on me. "You. I thought I was losing you. I hated the idea of you losing your virginity to Calum instead of me."

"That wasn't your choice to make!"

"You said there was a no sex rule," Joss interjects, still making this about her. Everything has always been about her. It takes a second for me to digest her words and then I realise this is all more of a surprise to me than it is to her.

"You knew. Didn't you?" I focus my angry glare at her. "You knew our relationship was all for show."

The girl who's supposed to be my best friend doesn't even answer. She waits for Luke to swoop in and defend her like a noble knight in skinny jeans. "Don't be angry at Joss. She didn't know," Luke's eyes dart off dishonestly. "She didn't know at first."

"How long?"

There's silence. Poor Michael is watching on with horror. He's as confused and shocked and angry as I am. Calum's still beside him, gripping onto Michael's shirt incase he decides to unleash again. I think he's too paralysed by shock to be honest.

"How fucking long?" I repeat. I wish I could be one of those startled girls who run away from conflict and problems, like my Mum, but I'm not. I'm more like my Dad, with a burning desire to get all of the facts so I can piece it all together like a puzzle. 

"Since Ashton's party... the night I left you with Calum for a bit." Luke's face pales with guilt and he doesn't have to say anything else. I've got a basic outline together in my head. My Dad would be proud.

He went to Joss's that night and told her the ridiculous plan. He confessed that he was in love with her and that dating me was all a lie.

It was the perfect plan, really. Luke proves to Joss that he's capable of being in a relationship. He knew needed to earn her trust before she'd break up with Michael, after all, Luke was incapable of committing to anyone longer than one night and Joss is too insecure to be single.  Meanwhile, Luke helps me get Calum's attention which Joss doesn't mind of course, because it pushes me out of the picture entirely.

This entire time, she continued to pretend to be my friend and then she gave Michael some ridiculous reason why they should break up, all while the entire time her and Luke were conspiring behind our backs.

Joss finally speaks, "Maybe you can't see it now but I was doing you a favour, Ruby."

A bitter laugh falls from my mouth, "Sneaking around my back with my boyfriend? I wouldn't call that a favour."

"He wasn't your boyfriend, though," her lips turn up on the corners, as if she's trying not to smile.

Luke snaps at her before I can, "That's enough, Joss."

"Why are you defending her? I'm supposed to be the girl you want to be with."

"It's not that simple," Luke answers, wincing in pain as his finger runs over his bloody lip.

"Wait," Calum interrupts. I'd forgotten he was standing there. He lets go of Michael's shirt to point to Luke and I, "So you two were never really dating?"

"You could have fooled me," Michael says under his breath. "Oh wait, you all fucking fooled me. You just couldn't stand the thought of there being a girl you couldn't get, could you, Hemmings? You could have had anyone you wanted but you had to have Joss."

"It's not like it was all his fault," I say, not wanting to defend Luke but not wanting Joss to walk away without any of the blame. She's spent her whole life never taking responsibility for her actions.

"I'm sorry, man," Luke says genuinely. "I never meant to hurt anyone."

"You two fucking deserve each other," Michael mutters, turning around and kicking the fence. Then he waltzes out of the backyard, taking a random bottle of vodka with him.

"We agreed we wouldn't fall in love with each other," Luke says softly, still clutching on to every tiny excuse to make what he's done okay.

"You're right, it's my fault for breaking the rule," I roll my eyes and then, because I'm too tired to go in circles any longer, I say to Calum more than anyone else, "I'm going to see if Michael's okay."

This is exactly what happens when you believe life is like a movie, you get filled with false hope and then you come crashing down. Because this isn't one of those stories, this is real life and sometimes, in real life, the girl doesn't always get the boy she wanted.