All I Need ✘ [Hemmings] (On Hold)

sixteen: Are You Kidding Me?

"You look good," Ashton says, biting his lip nervously.

"Are you nervous?" I ask, the corners of my mouth twitching upwards.

"No," he replies quickly.

"You're a terrible liar," I say with a laugh.

"I am not!" he argues.

"You know you just admitted you were lying, right?"

Ashton huffs. "Get in the car," he demands, a smile threatening to make its way onto his lips. I do as he says and buckle my seat, patiently waiting for my Australian friend to enter and do the same.

He finally does, but doesn't buckle his seatbelt. "Buckle up," I demand, "please." I add, making him smile a little more.

"You good?" he asks. I nod my head, knowing that this evening might only be full of short responses and awkward conversation.

When we pull up to the boy's flat and I take one look at the house, all my nerves are multiplied by a hundred. Ashton snaps me out of my daze when we opens my door and I take a deep breath before getting out and walking with him to the door.

  I can do this.

***

calum's pov

"Come on, mate! You can't hide in there forever!" I yell.

"Really? 'Cause I feel like I'm doing okay on that," he responds.

I sigh, banging my fist on the door in frustration. It also earns a groan from Luke. He yells, "If you're trying to psych me out into thinking that you're not there anymore, you're doing a pretty shitty job of it!" he informs me. I roll my eyes.

"Ashton and — "

Luke groans at the mention of his name. It hurts me that two of my best friends are fighting, but it's not like I can do anything about it. I mean, I've tried, but nothing seems to heal Luke. I can only imagine what he'll say when Ashton and Abby actually show up.

I imagine Luke lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and conversing with me, but dead inside. This just makes me more relieved when Michael shows up with a credit card.

"Can you just leave me alone, Calum? I'm not coming out," I hear him say.

I sigh deeply, trying to cover up the sound Michael makes when he starts to pick the lock. "You won't get any better staying holed up in there, mate," I say.

Much to my dismay, Luke doesn't say anything, so I have to continue. "Tell you what, since you've been making it clear for the past 20 minutes that I'm nothing but a burden to you — "

"Because you won't shut up!" he says and I roll my eyes, making sure he's done talking so I can continue.

"How about I make you a deal?" I ask, biting my lip. I feel bad about deceiving Luke for the slightest amount of time because a) he's my best friend and b) I really would prefer if he wasn't also mad at me, but I know it's for the best.

"I'm listening," he says.

"If you come down for dinner," I begin and he huffs, already not liking what I'm offering. "I won't annoy you for another week." Normally, Luke would argue and say that a week wasn't long enough, but I'm guessing he'll do anything at this point and doesn't want to risk me dropping the deal all together.