Thick and Thin [l. hemmings]

sixty-six

Luke and I haven't talked since he kicked me out, thought it's only been just under twenty-four hours. Calum's coming by soon, he should be here any minute.

When I hear him knock, I get up and rush to the door. Quickly swinging it open, I smile at him.

"Kels, I'm so sorry." He quickly says, letting himself into the room. He sits on the edge of the bed, looking over at me as if he was waiting for me to come sit with him.

"What?" I question, not sure what he's talking about.

"I should've beat Luke's ass the second he kicked you out. I'm so sorry. I can't believe he did that."

"Hey, it's okay. I've been thinking about it and- I get why he did it. It fucking hurt, but, yeah. It makes sense."

"I don't think it was right. Glad you can accept it somehow, but I'm pissed off. I was so high last night I didn't react." Calum replies, sighing.

"Cal, stop. I'm telling you it's okay."

"Has he reached out?"

"No. But I really need to talk to him about it obviously." I tell him, taking a deep breath since the thought is already making me nervous.

"I don't understand why he's being like this."

"It's Luke. I think he's just in more pain than he wants to show. I've really fucked with his feelings recently, Cal."

He scoffs, "But did you really? He knew you guys weren't going to be anything more than friends."

"But I didn't expect to spend almost every second with him. Neither of us thought we would have sex twice."

"Twice?" Calum yells.

I sigh, "Yeah. Fuck, I never should've stayed with him. It was stupid. Things will be fine."

"I wish I could've offered you my place. We just don't have room."

"If you don't stop I swear to-"

"Okay! I just wish I could help you."

"Just being here for me is helpful. It's not your job to defend me." I tell him, weakly smiling at him.

He sighs, "I'm sorry. I just wish I could make things easier for you, and Luke."

"This will never be easy. But that's okay. If Luke doesn't reach out, I will. I'm leaving soon, it'd be nice to go over this with him."

"Good."

"Anyway, lets not talk about him."

The two of us quickly start catching up, though it was only a few minutes until my phone rang. Ashton was FaceTiming me.

"Can I just quickly answer this?" I ask, not wanting to offend him.

"Of course!"

I accept the call, smiling at Ashton through the screen, "Hey!"

"Hey! What's up, how are you feeling?"

"I'm good! With Calum right now." I tell him, scooting closer to Calum and putting him on camera as he waves to Ashton.

"Calum! What's good, man?" Ashton exclaims, smiling as he waves back at Calum.

Calum snatches my phone from my hand, deciding this call was just him and Ashton now.

Ashton chuckles, "I just wanted to make sure Kelsey's good but I know you're there for her, so."

"Oh, yeah, for sure. I told her I would beat up Luke for her if she wanted."