she slipped ; malum

past

CALUM WAS HESITANT TO SEE ASHTON ON BREAK FROM HOLDING A GUN IN HIS HANDS; HE WASN'T USED TO SEEING HIM WITH ANYTHING BUT. Ashton hadn't seen him, so he could've just walked away, but he didn't. Couldn't find the strength to. He was already bleeding so much, and he wanted the boy to see the state he was in just to get sympathy enough to clean the wounds.

Calum had been sitting in the café for ten minutes, looking at his past. Staring at it. Glaring at it. Analysing it. It had changed. There were bags under its eyes now, and the whites of its fingernails were completely gone.

It looked sad, and stressed, and nervous. It had hung around Luke too much.

Finally, he got up, taking his coffee with him. He was anxious to see it up close, but he sat down across from it and looked at it straight in the eyes. Those golden syrup colour of them was something that Calum missed.

He pushed his coffee over towards Ashton.

"You need this more than I do."

His past looked surprised to be seeing him again.

"Calum," his voice was broken and rough, like he'd been crying. "I'm so sick of being scared."

The Maori sat up straight, his black eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you scared?"

"Scared for you. Luke heard you and Michael kissed." the stress and anxiety was radiating off of the blond-brunette's body.

The half Scottish boy pulled a hand through his hair, making some curls come back again. "God, Ashton,"

He pulled the boy up to his feet and took the backstreets home while his hand was rubbing in between his ex-best friend's shoulder-blades. They eventually got into his room and sat on the Maori's bed.

"I – I came to find you in the c-café because I know you're always there in the morning. So I was waiting and when I didn't see you, I th-thought they got to you already."

"What are you talking about, Ashton?" Calum asked, fidgeting with the end of his jumper sleeve nervously.

This was how they met. Through anxiety.

"They were coming to get you, Cal. S-Said they would wait for you to go to Michael's, s-so they could teach you a lesson."

Michael. Michael was going to be involved; no doubt about it. They were probably waiting close-by to jump him or something, because they knew Calum cared about the guy.

Fuck.

"Ashton, I'm here now, okay? I'm safe. Nothing is going to happen to me. If I've survived this long, I'm okay."

He waited for Ashton to calm down, and then told him to go home or stay there while he went out to get Michael. As he ran down the fire-escape, he had the phone pressed to his ear. He was starting to feel sick, and the fact that Michael wasn't answering made him feel worse.

He ran down to Michael's work and rung the bell urgently, waiting for somebody to serve him at the pizza place. A girl in the year below him at school came out, popping her bubble-gum as she listened to what Calum had to say.

"Yeah, he's out back."

"He needs to leave; like, right now."

"I'm not the boss." She said before leaving.

Calum walked into the kitchen and saw Michael making dough. Calum ignored how cute the boy looked and grabbed his arm.

"We need to go, okay? Right now."