Just For the Summer {Cashton}

( XVII. ) : SURPRISES

Calum got in his ex-girlfriend pregnant. While he was with me.

No—it's impossible. How could he be so careless? He's promised me countless of times that he wouldn't pull a ridiculously stupid act at that party. I thought he was more responsible than that. I mean, I would've forgiven him if he peed in someone's lawn or something, but there is no way I find myself wanting to be with him anymore after this.

But I love him with everything that I have. So that's why the night after listening to the voicemail that made me incredibly sick to the stomach, I let it go. I went back in that tent and placed his phone down from where it was, snuck into the sleeping bag next to Calum, and went to sleep as if nothing ever happened. It'd be better if Calum found out himself and confess everything on his own pace. All I could do was turn my back to restrain from his warm touch and cry until I was exhausted.

It's been two days since, and everything was normal for some weird reason. Calum acted as if nothing came up that night—he became a little more affectionate, but it's not like I'm complaining. It was just hard for me to look him in the eyes and pretended that I was fine. When in reality, I wasn't. The ache in my chest wouldn't go away from feeling so betrayed.

"Oh fuck," Calum cursed quietly as he looked at the time on his phone. The five of us were sitting around the living room. Michael and Luke were playing FIFA on the Playstation 4, while Elliot and I were mindlessly playing with a few superhero action figures. Calum has been sitting around on his phone for the past hour, but I honestly thought he was just occupied with Clash of Clans. Guess not. "I have like, five minutes to get somewhere." He stood up to wipe his glistening face with the hem of his shirt, not leaving sight on the phone in front of him.

I looked over at him with a questionable expression, wondering what he had planned. He didn't talk to me about it. "What's up, babe? Where're you headed?"

"Uh..." he trailed off, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck before giving a rather unsure answer. "Something. I—I just have to help someone out." The lad even had to shoot eye daggers at Michael to give him a hand in the situation he was stuck in.

"Yeah, I..." Michael then intervened soon afterwards. "He told me that he had a thing to do for his lifeguard pals. He's not allowed to talk about it, so."

Not allowed to talk about it? That's bullshit. He's so lying to me right now.

But before I could even say something about it, Calum gave me a quick peck in the lips before turning his back towards the front door. "See you guys later, okay?"

And with that, he was gone. Probably off to see the mother of his fucking kid.

Looking down on the floor, I clenched my fists as tight as I could to stop the tears from rolling off my cheek. Calum has never hurt me like this before. But Luke must've noticed the look on my face and paused the game real quick before reaching over and a comforting hand on my shoulder. I really needed it. Maybe today was the start of that distant feeling I'm going to have with my boyfriend—my best friend.

"Does this mean Calum's not joining us for lunch?" Elliot frowned as he glanced right at me. I gave him such an apologetic expression because I did feel bad. "Aw, but he's gonna miss what we're making Ashton! I was gonna give him the coolest grilled cheese ever."

"S'okay, buddy," I gave a reassuring smile, making the absolute best attempt to sound as if nothing was wrong with me. My voice cracked a bit, but it wasn't anything drastically noticeable for the toddler to know. Besides, I had another kid swinging by in about an hour that I needed to babysit as well. If I don't compose myself now, I wouldn't know when. "He had something important to do. Maybe you and I can save the special grilled cheese for the new girl."