"i feel indigo, you've got what i need. i'm indigo, you've got what i need.
you're not what i need." —solo by the story so far
•••••
calum locked his phone angrily, and threw it at the floor. he'd turned on his read receipts so emily would know that he'd seen her message and chosen not to reply. calum wanted her to feel bad, but when he realized he felt that way, shame flooded his body. how could he feel that way about his girlfriend? especially when their conversation had started off so friendly?
emily had called him, asking how the two shows had gone. they'd had a friendly conversation over the phone for about fifteen minutes. then, to fill an awkward silence, calum had said, "rome is beautiful." emily had replied, "i bet," and calum had surprisingly failed to pick up the scathing undertones in her voice. "wish you were here," he'd said, forgetting at the moment that it was his fault that she wasn't there. "me too," she'd said, and this time, calum found it hard to miss the anger that lurked in her words.
in an effort to save the conversation, he began outlining the downsides to rome, but couldn't come up with many. this did nothing to placate emily, who'd sank into stony silence. finally, calum had apologized and offered to buy her tickets again, but she simply told him to save the money, he'd probably just cancel them again. then she hung up on him.
a few hours later, emily had texted him an apology, at which calum scoffed at and didn't accept. she couldn't even call him to apologize! how could she think that texting him the feeble "i'm sorry" was okay; especially when she'd said something so rude? and on purpose too. he'd replied, "yeah, i bet you are." another fight flared up, and it ended with calum ignoring another apology text just now.
"you need to end that shit," michael said from right next to calum. he'd witnessed the phone call and seen a few of the text messages.
"i know," calum mumbled, "but it's not like this when we're together. if i could just get her here, things would be fine."
"good luck with that. maybe try not to offend her twenty-four-seven."
calum flicked michael's ear. "c'mon, let's go meet ash and luke. they told me what bar they'd be at."
"now we're talking," michael said, boosting himself off calum's bed. he grabbed his jacket and tossed another one to calum, who caught it out of mid air.
they left the hotel. calum jammed his hands in his pockets, where his cigarette pack and lighter were. he didn't need one now, he decided. things had to get worse first.
calum and michael arrived at the bar and with some difficulty, spotted luke and ashton in the back. they were seated at a private table. calum slid into the booth next to ashton, who pushed his drink towards calum with a "try this."
calum did. it was a very earthy tasting drink. "what is this?"
"vermouth, but i think they put some brandy in too."
calum decided to order something different, maybe something with a higher alcohol content. he just wanted to keep emily off his mind.
three camparis later, the four boys left. calum had the highest alcohol tolerance of the group, but currently, he wasn't the most sober. luke was more drunk than him, and calum chose to believe that he had drunk a lot due to his relationship, too. luke had no doubt gone through some more phone-fights since they'd arrived in italy.
michael stumbled along side calum, only slightly less tipsy. "here!" he said, pointing at what looked to be a bar at first glance, but turned out to be a fancy restaurant upon closer inspection. "they've got what you need!"
"we can't go in there!" luke said, giggling. he was an immature drunk. "that's for babies!"
ashton, who was the soberest of them all, rolled his eyes. "let's go back to the hotel. you three can't be trusted out in public like this."
luke turned to ashton and blew a large raspberry. ashton glared and wiped the spit off his face. he grabbed luke's wrist, grumbling that they were definitely going back to the hotel.
calum called an uber for them, and they all piled in the backseat.
"ouch! michael, you stepped on my feet!" luke whined.
"next time it'll be your crotch!"
calum covered his mouth with his hands, looking between the two of them. he glanced over at ashton, who had finally cracked a smile.
when they arrived back at the hotel, all of the boys went to luke and michael's room. as they were settling in, calum poured himself a drink from the mini bar. ashton poured himself one as well. michael lay spreadeagled on his bed. luke collapsed into a heap on his bed.
a little while later, calum checked his phone, finding a text from emily.
cal, i really am sorry. i know you saw my text. i'm sorry and i love you. call me, please.
after a few minutes of silent deliberation by himself, calum typed out a reply, using his alcohol-clouded spelling sense very carefully. the laughs of michael, luke, and ashton rang in his ears as he sent the message and put his phone down.
i'm sorry too, but right now, you're not what i need.
•••••
"my name is becca and what is this"
