Hold On To Me ☾cake au

2

"Wake up! It's beach house time, let's go!" Calum's older sister Mali yelled through Calum's closed bedroom door.

"Okay, we'll be down in a few!" Calum yelled back. He was already awake and getting the last things ready before they left.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Luke asks while tiredly rubbing his eyes.

Calum handed Luke his clothes. "Here, your mum brought these from your house with your suitcase. Apparently we're all leaving from my house so hurry up and get ready. I'll be downstairs." Calum patted Luke on his shoulder and left the room.

Luke's mother brought him a pair of beach shorts and a black muscle tee with the word "misfits" printed above a skull. It's scary how well Liz knew her sons.

After brushing his teeth, filling a backpack with essentials, and making his hair look somewhat presentable, Luke changed into the clothes and went downstairs to meet the eight others waiting downstairs for him.

Mrs. Hood, Mrs. Hemmings,and Mali were seated around the kitchen island chatting about whatever women chat about, while Calum, Ben, Jack, Mr. Hood, and Mr. Hemmings were on the couch watching some movie and eating breakfast that Luke presumed either Joy or his mother made. Luke strutted into the kitchen first to greet Mrs. Hood, and Mali and kiss Liz on the cheek.

"Good morning, sweetheart. Are you hungry? Your mum and I made some french toast, eggs, and bacon," Joy said with a bright smile. Calum's family always had a way to make Luke feel at home.

Liz was already preparing Luke a plate before he answered and handed it to him. "Yeah, I'm a little hungry. Thanks mum." He took the plate and went to sit next to Calum at the end of the couch.

The families ate their breakfast and immediately started loading the cars up with luggage. It was currently seven thirty in the morning and it's a four hour drive to Port Macquarie from Sydney so they wanted to start driving as soon as possible.

Luke and Calum accommodated themselves in a car along with Mali, Joy, and David; while in the other car was Andrew, Liz, Jack, and Ben. After making sure everyone was comfortable, Mr. Hood started the car and began the drive.

"Alright, who wants some tunes for the trip?" Joy questioned and everyone but herself and David groaned.

"Mum," Mali began, "I love you, but you don't have the best taste in music."

"Ugh, fine. You guys can sit in silence then." Mrs. Hood sighed. They continued talking about some random subject while Calum shoved his headphones in his ears. A song started playing and he looked over at Luke who was staring aimlessly out the window which was strange since Luke usually had his headphones in during car rides. Calum nudged his shoulder with his own, bringing the blonde out of his trance.

Calum held out one of his earbuds. Luke nodded and took the earbud from Calum before putting it in his own ear.

Luke watched as Calum tapped his fingers on his leg to the beat of the rock song vibrating through their ears. While the song played on, Calum placed his phone on his thigh as he and Luke played tic tac toe on an app Calum had downloaded before the trip. Calum was really bad at the game, so Luke won every time except for one which he only lost because Calum got mad and started marking the boxes for both of them.

A few of Calum's songs and tic tac toe games passed until Mali leaned in closer to the boys, breaking the silence. "You know, there's a lot of space in this car. You two don't have to be suffocating each other."

Calum and Luke simultaneously looked down at their position. The entire sides of their bodies were touching; shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, all the way down to their ankles. Neither of the two boys had even noticed they were sitting so close but immediately scooted away from each other out of embarrassment. They didn't mind the close proximity but somehow, if they weren't alone, someone always managed to make it awkward; they didn't understand it. Calum and Luke were like brothers. It wouldn't be strange if Luke and Ben were sitting this close or Calum and Mali, would it?

•••

Four and a half hours went by quickly for
Luke and Calum since the whole time, they were listening to the same forty songs on repeat over and over again. Calum and Luke both loved long car rides but one person can only take so much of sitting in one spot without moving and playing mindless phone games, so both were beyond happy when the two families finally pulled up in front of the gorgeous beach house, allowing them to finally stretch their legs.

The site of the house was literally right on the beach. It was big, too. Bigger than any house Calum or Luke had ever lived in, combined. Everyone but Mr. Hood and Mr. Hemmings, who were lugging the baggage out of the cars, all wasted no time in running to find their bedrooms. They all knew the arrangements already; the teenagers' rooms were upstairs while the adults' rooms were downstairs.

There were six rooms in total, so out of the ones staying upstairs, two were going to have to share. Mali got her own room at the end of the hall with a balcony. Ben and Jack decided they didn't mind sharing a room and giving Luke his own since they both forgot his birthday the year before as well as forgot to give him a gift on Christmas, leaving Calum to have a room to his own, also. 

Luke dropped his backpack on the ground and fell back onto the soft bed that seemed to swallow him whole and he smiled to himself. He was away from school and all those social groups and people who he didn't fit in with. He was away from classes and schoolwork that he didn't understand. He was happy to be gone, and even though it would only last a little over two months and then he would have to go back for senior year, none of it mattered because he was finally partially away from his life, if you could even call it that.

His thoughts were interrupted when Calum came running into his room and throwing himself on the bed next to Luke.

"Wanna go to the beach?" Calum asked, excitedly fluffing one of the many pillows on the bed.

"It's about to rain, Cal."

"So? That doesn't mean the ocean is broken." Luke laughed at this and at the fact that it was expected to be raining all summer in Port Macquarie but their parents insisted they go because it was free for them to stay in the beach house.

Without saying a word, Luke rushed out of the room in the direction of the beach with Calum following closely behind.