Addie’s POV

Mikey and I have been dancing for the past half an hour. I swear to god, he is going to hurt someone with his loose hands going all over the place. The music is loud and horrible, but that doesn’t stop us. I can spot Ash and Elena making out on the dance floor. Sweat is glistening on my forehead, making me look like a shiny tree ornament.
The song ends and I tell Michael that I’m going to the bathroom. I spend maybe five minutes walking around, trying to find it, and then another 10 waiting in line.
When I finally get my turn, and close the door behind me, the music and the voices are muffled. My ears are ringing, and I stare at myself in the mirror. At least my make up is still in tact.
I pee and wash my hands, and sprinkle some water on my cheeks. They are burning.
I check my phone. It’s 11:30. I have to go soon, and I’m not nearly as sober as I want to be when I get home. No more drinking for me, then.
I check my messages, and I see Lucy’s. He knows.
I quickly shove my phone in my purse, and push that thought away. I promised myself I wouldn’t think about that tonight. I can’t. Or else I’ll have another breakdown.
I get out of the bathroom, and I think the music is damaging my ear drums.
“Hey” Calum says. The hallway is empty, and there is no line for the bathroom.
“Heeey!” I say. “Where did you disappear?” I ask. We have to lean and shout in each other’s ears, so that the other one can hear us.
“Do you want a drink?” He asks me.
“I can’t.” I answer. “I have to get going soon” He smiles and tugs on my hand. Then I’m pressed against the wall, and he is leaning on it. I can smell the alcohol on him.
“Are you having fun?” He asks, taking a sip from his drink.
“Yeah” I say. Not a total lie. I am having fun, but my mind is drifting to something else right. Something I’m trying really hard to push away.
“They why would you leave” He says, and empties the cup. “Let’s dance” He says taking my hand, and leading me to the dance floor. Well…it’s not really a dance floor. More like a place where everyone is dancing, and there’s like a ton of people. He discards of the cup at one point, and then when we’re in the middle of the dancing crowd, he faces me and places one of his hands on my waist.
We start moving, and find the rhythm pretty quickly. We dance for what seems like forever. I lose count of the songs. His hand travels along my back, my waist, my shoulders, my arms. Mine explore his chest, his neck, his hair. He dips his head and kisses my neck, and the back of my ear, and sends jolts of energy through my body.
Our bodies are only separated by our clothes that feel uncomfortable right now. I can feel his heart slamming in his chest, and I can feel and even hear mine mirroring his. My vision is a bit blurry but my head is clearing up. The song stops, and people cheer, and the only thing I see are Calum’s eyes, and they are focused on my lips.
“I have to go” I say. I don’t know if I say it loud enough, but he reads it from my lips anyway.
He nods, and we slowly pull apart. I walk to where I left my purse, and he follows me. I scan the crowd for Michael, or Elena or Ash, but I can’t seem to find them.
I check my phone. I have a missed call from my mom. It’s almost 1am. Great.
I notice that the party is not nearly finished. I spot Marissa, and her friends, and she is glaring at me.
Marissa. Calum has a girlfriend. I don’t care how much she sucks; he should not be dancing with me, like that…like the way we danced. So close, and intimate. I spot Michael’s green hair, and I walk in his direction. I don’t know if Calum is still following me or not, but I manage to reach Michael.
He is talking to some girl, and the girl is giggling, but as soon as he sees me, it’s like the girl isn’t even there.
“Heeey!” He says.
“I have to leave” I say.
“Where’s Calum?” He asks. I look back and I can’t seem to find him.
“He was right behind me” I say, scanning the crowd of people. How did I lose him?!
We get out of the house, and the cold air is so refreshing, I suddenly realize how warm I actually was inside. My jacket is somewhere inside, but I can’t be bothered right now.
“How do I get home?” I ask, and laugh. Michael looks back at the house for a moment, then his eyes lock with mine.
“I’ll walk you, come on” He says. And then we’re walking. After a few minutes, I am freezing. I hug my arms around me, as if that’s gonna help.
“My feet are killing me” I say.
“You cold?” He asks. I nod, and then he is taking of button up shirt and hands it to me. He is wearing a long sleeved band shirt underneath that. It’s warm and smells like lemons and cigarette smoke. It’s not a lot, but it is better.
“Did you have fun?” He asks me. I nod. My phone rings.
“Hello?” I say, trying to sound sober. I am anything but.
“It’s 1am, Addie. Where are you?” Mom asks. She is furious. But I cannot interpret her anger right now. Too tired.
“I’m walking home as we speak” I say, articulating each word.
“We are going to have a talk when you come home, young lady” she says, and then we say bye, and I hang up.
“Well” I say. “I’m grounded for real now” I laugh.
Michael laughs as well, and puts his arm around me. The weight of it brings warmth, and I can’t say no to warmth.
That’s my excuse.
I put my arm around his waist, and we walk, laughing and making random conversations.
“But okay, you are a really dangerous dancer” I say, laughing.
“Whatt??” He scoffs, smiling. “I am a professional dancer. I should be on dancing with the starts.”
“Ha, yeah right!” I hit his chest with my free arm.
“And what about you?” He says, grinning.
“My dancing?” I aks, surprised, as if I danced a flawless choreography, and now Michael, of all people, is criticizing it.
“Yeah!” He says, still grinning. “You and Calum, you guys were having sex out there”
A laugh gets stuck in my throat and I start coughing. I can imagine I am as red as a tomato.
“We were just dancing” I say, a bit more serious, like I need to excuse myself and find a valid reason why we danced like we did. Mostly because I am sexually frustrated, but I am not going to admit that.
“Yeah, okay” He says, a teasing smile dancing on his face.
“Seriously!” I say, as if I need to explain myself “We just got caught up, that’s all” I say.
“So nothing is going on between you and Cal?” He asks, this time more serious.
“No” I lie. I don’t know about him, but something is going on my end. Not gonna admit it.
“Okay” He says, and then we are back to a very light conversation about something completely different.
Soon enough, we are in front of my house.
“This is me” I say, pointing to my house. He doesn’t look at the house. He just looks at me.
“You look really nice, tonight” he says, piercing my eyes with his, taking a step towards me. I smile and mumble a thanks. “Are you doing okay?” he asks me. He is really near me. “What happened to you?” I feel his hot breath on my face. Alcohol and cigarettes. Has he been smoking?
But it doesn’t matter, because he kills the flattering in my stomach and the wobble in my knees.
“Don’t worry about it” I say, and take a step back.
“That’s not an option” He says, taking his hand in mine. “You kept saying he knows, he knows. What does that mean? Who knows what?” And then my eyes are filling with tears, and that thing I’ve been pushing away all day, surfaces back. “No, no, no” He says, whipping the tear sliding down my cheek. I look down, but he catches my chin and gently lifts it.
He is searching for something in my eyes. I don’t know what.
“Is it something with your dad?” He asks. His voice barely a whisper. I look down, and nod. He wraps his arms around me, and I try so hard not to cry.
And then I move back, and he lets me go.
“Don’t worry about it” I say, and start walking towards my house. Michael’s warm hand gets ahold of my cold one. I turn around.
“Addie, we can talk about it.” He says. His eyes pleading and concerned. But there is no sign of pity. I smile and nod.
“Wait by my door” I say and point. Walks towards my door whiteout another word, and I enter my house through the front door.
Mom Is sleeping on the couch. I walk to her and wake her.
“What time is it?!” She asks, a bit disoriented.
“Something past 1.” I say. “I’m sorry mom, I lost track of time.” I say. She is too tired to fight with me.
“We’ll talk about it in the morning” she says, “Goodnight” She kisses the side of my head. I say goodnight, taking of my heels and walking to my room.
My feet ache, but it’s a good kind of pain, like a relief.
I open the door, and Michael comes in. Suddenly I just want to crash, and not talk about this. But he’s right. I should talk to someone about it, and he is here and willing to listen. Here goes nothing.

Mikey’s POV

I enter her room. The walls are covered with shelves and books. So many books. I never knew she was an extreme reader, if that’s even a thing. She goes to the bathroom and when she comes out, she is wearing pajama shorts and an oversized t-shirt. It takes every ounce of willpower not to give her a once over. I sit on her bed instead, taking off my shoes by the door.
She brushes her teeth, and I fall asleep a bit, while waiting, but then I feel her weight on the bed, and I jolt awake.
“Hi” I say, and smile lazily.
“Hey” she says. Her voice is small. We’re whispering.
“Tell me about it” I say. She looks down, and I take one of her hands into mine and give it a little squeeze.
“There’s not that much to say, really” She says, still not meeting my eyes “He comes and goes from our lives. And it’s nice when he’s gone, but it’s hell when he is here.” She says.
“How come?” I ask. She looks at me, and before she speaks, she looks away.
“He controls my mom. And he controls our lives, and he is aware of the power he has over us, so he uses it.” I say. “He yells at us, and manipulates us, and at one point, he’ll get money, which is what he is usually after, and then he leaves.”
I say nothing. Sometimes you just need to bare witness.
“He took money from the savings from an account that’s suppose to be money for college for me and Aggie” She continues “He thinks he is in charge. He sometimes comes with his friends. They are disgusting, and they treat my mom, my sister and me like trash. Like they own us.”
I squeeze her hand. She isn’t crying. Her voice has no emotion.
“He…” she says, and then she cracks. “Him and his friends, they beat my mom, and they constantly throw very graphic and sexual insults to Aggie and me. And…” She is crying and squeezing my hand, as if hanging on for her life. “And he’s unpredictable. He does drugs, and drinks and he is fucked up and has nothing better to do with his pathetic life, so he fucks up ours”
I come on her side, and pull her in a hug. She balls her fist on my chest, squeezing my shirt.
“And now he knows” She says.
“He knows what?” I say, as calmly as I can.
“We moved here to get away from him. No one knew where in Australia we were. And now he found out. I don’t know how, but he knows. And he is going to come and ruin everything” She says. She is speaking really loudly, and I squeeze her in me.
“Shhhh” I say, trying to calm her down, to calm her crying down. It works a bit. She stops after a few minutes, and then pulls away. Her eyes are bloodshot, and her eyelashes are wet. She must’ve removed the make up, because she doesn’t look like a raccoon.
“And my aunt and uncle are gonna move here” She says, taking control of her voice “And he might’ve found out from them that we are here, but I don’t know. All I know is that asshole knows where we are, and sooner or later, he is going to show up on our doorsteps.”
“How do you know that he knows?” I ask her.
“My cousin Lucy told me.” She answers and then she takes a deep breath, closing her eyes, trying to even out her breathing.
“You need rest” I tell her. She nods and lies down next to me, putting her head on my chest. My heart speeds up, and I try to slow down my pulse, but it’s hard. She closes her eyes, and falls asleep immediately.
At one point I wake her to tell her to go under her duvet, and she does, but then she just snuggles closer to me, and I put my arm around her, so she is more comfortable and she goes back to her sleeping.

I wake up to my phone vibrating in my pocket. I take it out, and the light blinds me. It’s Calum.
“Hey” I say, trying to keep my voice down. Addie shifts a bit.
“Where did you go, mate?” He is in his car.
“I walked Addie home” I answer. And then there’s silence. “Cal?” did he hang up on me?
“Yeah, I’m here” He says. “Did I wake you?” He changes the subject.
“A bit. But it’s fine, I have to get home anyway” I say. Pause. Silence.
“Where are you now?” He asks me.
“At Addie’s” I answer. “We kinda fell asleep” I say.
“Shhhhh” Addie groans, and snuggles even closer to me. Our legs are tangled and her arm is on my chest.
“Oh, okay” He says, and then I hear his car outside.
“Can you give me a ride?” I ask. And Calum mumbles a yeah sure, and I tell him to wait a minute and then we hang up.

Calum’s POV
I hang up and hit the steering wheel with force. It’s 4am. I don’t know why I am so angry. He just walked her home. And fell asleep. Nothing big happened.
Images of them sleeping together, and kissing and doing…other stuff, flood my brain. And then I see him getting out of her room. She is standing by the door, wearing those shorts. She looks so beautiful.
And then she is pulling him in an embrace, and it lasts longer than a friendly hug. And then he kisses her on the cheek, and his hand lingers on her cheek and then she says something to him, like a thank you or something. And he smiles, and scratches the back of his neck. He is so into her. And I avert my eyes before I do something stupid.
A minute later he is in my car and I’m driving him home.
“Did you have a good night?” I ask him, a bit hostile. He looks at me confused.
“Yeah” He says. “You?”
I say mhm, and then we don’t say anything. They kissed. I know it. And it makes me crazy. But I can’t ask. Because if he says yes, then I don’t know what I’ll do. And I can’t say anything bad about him. He is into her, and they get along, and they would work together. And I want to barf.
I stop in front of his house. He looks at me confused.
“Alright,” He says opening his door “See you tomorrow?” I answer yes and then I’m driving away.
I am so angry with him. But I have no reason to be. Can I really blame him for liking her? That thought haunts me the whole ride home, and then all the way to dream land.

Notes

I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as i enjoy writing it. Sorry for spelling mistakes and all that shit.
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