the boxer // lrh au

twenty eight ; luke and ashton

"woah, give a girl a warning," i say when calum randomly enters my room. it had been a total of 32 minutes since i last talked to luke and proceeded to go into my room and wallow in despair as i'm no longer on speaking terms with neither luke nor my brother.

"sorry." calum says, sitting on my bed next to me.

calum and i have always been close. though he was tyler's absolute best friend in the entire world, that doesn't mean he didn't threaten every guy i had ever liked or helped me out when i was sad about my dad.

"so. luke?" calum questions, finally looking at me.

"friends. actually, not anymore. i don't want to ruin anything between you guys and him. he doesn't deserve that. he also has a match tonight and i know you guys were supposed to go. it would really make him happy if you guys still went." i hope that the tone in my voice convinces him to get tyler from being petty and just going to their close friend's boxing match.

"you know he and ashton are like the same person right?"

i frown at calum's words, confused. he didn't answer my question and also went on to compare my childhood crush with luke. ashton, who shamelessly flirted even though he had absolutely no interest in me compared to the guy who beat himself up over a cut that i had inflicted on myself.

"i don't know what luke hemmings you guys hang out with, but the luke i know is genuinely sweet. i can't imagine him being this bad guy that you guys are going on and on about," i confess to calum. calum was refusing to look at me which was odd, even for him.

"you have had the biggest crush on ashton since i can remember. every single time you fawn over him and wait for him to notice you at parties, he brags about how in love you are with him. he only thinks of you as tyler's little sister and i know i should of told you that earlier but tyler wouldn't let me. he wants you to not get hurt and trust me, he threatened ashton several times before he stopped looking at you as some type of game."

i let calum's words sink in. how pathetic was it that i had gone all this time thinking ashton irwin could have liked me. and all this time, calum knew what ashton was really thinking.

"so you knew that ashton was just playing with me and you didn't tell me. so i could just make a fool of myself? and please tell me how any of this related to luke. if anything, it's just making me mad at you and tyler for not telling me that i was embarrassing myself." frustration was seeping through my words and it was evident that i was starting to get angry. calum still wasn't looking at me, which was starting to piss me off and the number of things that could have gone wrong in one day really all happened.

"you can't get mad at me or tyler. tyler hoped that ashton would see how much you really liked him and done something about it but ashton irwin will be ashton irwin. and as for luke, he's the same type of person. do you know how many times he compliments girls just to get with them? i've seen it happen in front of my eyes several times. people don't change bella. not just for one person who comes into their life like you came into luke's. i can tell luke's just trying to use you, as he does to everyone else. yes, we're close friends but that doesn't mean that i'm going to let you get hurt or take responsibility for his actions."

all this information was hurting my head. i've known calum for so long and he has no reason to lie to me so why would he now? he's always been there to protect me but at the same time, luke just doesn't seem like the guy that he's making him out to be.

"it doesn't matter anyway, luke and i were just acquaintances at most. he helped me learn how to swim and that's it." i shrug and calum finally looks at me.

"you could have asked me or tyler."

i ponder his idea and wonder why i didn't go to either of them first but remember the words luke told me.

"i didn't even originally want to learn how to swim but luke pushed me to do it. neither have you have ever forced me into a pool before. if you guys had, maybe i wouldn't even know luke now."

for all i know, luke and i's conversation would have ended when he brought me to my house instead of taking me to the hole. all of this could have been avoided.

"just be careful bella. you deserve better than luke and tyler and i both know that. as for luke's match, i don't even know if tyler would want to go. i don't even know if i want to go. this whole situation kind of opened my eyes on the kind of guy luke is. though loyal to tyler and i, he doesn't treat others well."

except me. and michael. he treated us like we had been friends for years with him but i know if i told him that, he would say it was him just trying to get in my pants.

"yeah. i guess i see where you're coming from," i say in defeat. if i can't change calum's mind about luke, i definitely can't change tyler's.

a/n
this was trash but I SAW 5SOS IN IRVING AND CALUM MADE EYE CONTACT WITH MY TWICE DURING TALK FAST WHILE I WAS BARRICADE AND LUKE LIKE STARED AT MY FRIEND AND I BECAUSE WE LOOKED LIKE CRACKHEADS