player ♚ lrh

07 - tension

Calum Hood was not expecting to see Luke Hemmings at his place today.

Elise wasn't either, but she didn't have the same reaction as the boy in front of her. In fact, when she peeked out from behind the boy's back to see what stopped him dead in his tracks, she had been more than a little curious. She wanted to say hi, maybe send him a small wave, but the clear clench of his jaw when his head snapped up to the sound of the door opening made Elise keep it to herself. And the way Calum crossed his arms tightly sort of told her it wasn't a good time for friendly greetings.

But she didn't want to seem rude, that just wasn't who she was. So she sent him a small, close lipped smile when his eyes landed on hers. He noticed it, eyes dropping for a mere second to the subtle turn up of her lips before he frowned, because he didn't expect her to be here—with Calum nonetheless—and he definitely didn't expect her to smile at him.

"What the fuck?"

It was all Calum could muster, considering he'd been blindsided from the moment he stepped inside. The absolute last thing he could've expected was to interrupt what looked like a serious discussion between Michael and Luke.

He also didn't want to have to explain their complicated relationship to Elise, since Calum was fairly positive the girl had never even spoken to the boy—and he wanted to keep it that way.

Elise, on the other hand, was struggling to not say hi. She understood that the tension was palpable between the three boys, but that didn't mean she understood why. It also didn't mean she harbored the same feelings toward the irritated blond boy.

Tightening his jaw, Luke turned sharply from the pair to glare harshly at the red-haired boy. "You said he wouldn't be here." He spoke lowly.

Michael, who was feeling unbelievably uncomfortable in this moment, grimaced. He scratched the side of his neck as he met Luke's angry gaze. "Well, it's his place too."

"Not the point. You said he was out." Luke was pissed, for so, so many reasons. This was the absolute last place he wanted to be; he didn't need another reason to want to leave, but he got one—in the form of Calum Hood.

"Yeah, so?" Michael scoffed, crossing his arms. "How am I supposed to know when he'd come back? I don't have a goddamn tracker in his ass."

"Someone better explain to me what the fuck is going on," Calum cut in sharply, glaring daggers into the side of Luke's head. "And why the hell he's here."

"He was just—"

"Leaving." Luke's tone was cold when he stood up, barely glancing at Calum and not daring to look at the girl to his side.

Michael frowned at his interruption. "But we didn't finish figuring out—"

"I don't care."

"Shocker." Calum scoffed, mumbling under his breath.

This time, Luke did bother to look at the boy. He never much cared for snide comments. "You got something to say, Hood?" His voice was calm, and low, but the twitch of his jaw clenching gave away his irritation.

Elise literally couldn't look away from him. Mostly out of intimidation, and confusion. She just wanted to figure him out, but he wasn't a problem that was ready to be solved.

"Nope," Calum titled his head, challenging him. "Do you?"

Luke wanted to laugh, almost. But he couldn't, and he would never allow the satisfaction of it. So he kept his face straight and his eyes bored, taking one step away from the couch and another toward Calum.