Close as Strangers

I Wish I Was

After they watched the van pull away the girls turned and looked at each other.

"So, I'm gonna-."

"I think I-." They spoke at the same time and froze looking at the other.

"Go ahead." Arwen gave a weak laugh, wiping away her tears.

"I, uh, I think I'm gonna go back to my room for a bit, wait and see if Ash actually texts me." Effie gave a small smile. "If that's alright."

"Actually, yeah, I was gonna say the same thing." Arwen pointed towards her dorm building.

They both turned away from each other, walking towards their respective buildings.

"Hey." Arwen called over her shoulder. "He'd be an idiot not to call."

♫❧

And she wasn't wrong. Moments after they parted ways, they both received a phone call from their favorite boy. A pattern which held strong for at least the first month they were apart. Of course, they spent the same amount of time with each other as before, but their attention was also split between being with each other and talking to the boys.

♫❧

About a month after the boys had left, Arwen stormed into Effie's room.

"Did you hear it?" She panted, out of breath from running to Effie's. "They did it. They finally did it."

Effie looked down at the boy who she was currently video chatting with. "Why did you not tell me, Ashton?" She asked excitedly.

"We wanted it to be a surprise." He shyly said. "We also, maybe, might have a tour coming up this tour, that goes across the entire US."

It took everything in her to not scream, so she opted for excited guttural noises. "This is so exciting! I'm so proud of you! You boys are going to get too big for us soon!"

Ashton laughed. "That'd never happen, and you know it."

"I knooow." Effie dragged out the word. "Hey, Ash. I'm gonna go listen to your new album! Talk to you later okay?" She looked quickly between her friend standing in front of her, then back to her phone screen. "So proud of you." She said again, before they did their goodbyes and hung up. "Have you heard it yet?" She asked Arwen who came and sat on her bed next to her.

"No, I was waiting for you. Mikey told me he and Ashton had major inputs when working together on one of the songs. They wanted it dedicated to us." her smile suddenly very wide. "They wrote us a song!"

Arwen pulled up her phone the album already loaded and waiting to be played. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Effie nodded enthusiastically, and reached over to her desk, grabbing a box of tissues. "I already feel like I'm going to cry."

"This first one is our song." Arwen hit play, holding her breath. They couldn't help it, and broke into smiles once they heard Calum's voice.

Within a minute I was all packed up. I've got a ticket to another world. I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go.

Effie's lip had been quivering while she tries to hold in tears, but that last line broke the dam, and caused her to start sobbing. "Oh my god." She said through the tears. "That's exactly what he said to me when they were leaving."

Arwen was struggling to hold it together both because of the song, and her friend sobbing next to her, but lost it once she heard Calum's voice again.

"Don't ever leave" she said to me.

They both missed their boys, and were very worried they'd end up forgotten with al the fame they were sure to accrue.