Calum’s POV

I drive to Ash’s, and I take the long way there. I don’t know why, but something shifted between me and Addie. I also don’t know why the hell I got so upset about the whole Marissa-thing. I knew she was cheating on me with Stephen. I knew that. It’s the reason we broke up. I got over this. I had re-bounds and everything. I don’t understand.
I park the car next to Ash’s but I don’t get out. I feel angry and upset and I don’t feel like rehearsing. I don’t feel like being around them, around Michael. And then it hits me.
“Are you gonna sit in your car, or are you going to play?” I see Mikey approaching.
I get out of the car, lock it, and follow him without saying a word.
Lucy is sitting on the floor, her laptop in her lap, and a coffee mug next to her.
“Okay so” She says, and then takes a sip from her mug “I’ve moved a couple of songs around, and removed some, because of time issues, but other than that, you guys are set for tomorrow”
“Aw, yass!!” Ashton exclaims from behind his drum kit. I get my bass and we go over the setlist with Lucy. She seems really on top of things, and Luke cannot take his eyes off of her.
We then rehearse for an hour and a half, with a small pee break, and then Ashton, Lucy and Luke go out to buy food for everyone. Which leaves me and Mikey alone. As soon as they are out of the garage, and I can’t hear the loudness of Ash’s car, that whole anger I’ve subsided, bubbles up.
“How’s Addie doing?” He says, putting on the snapback and sits across from me on the floor.
“Alright” I say.
“I should call and check up on her” He says, and takes out his phone.
“I mean she is still upset and shaken up, but I don’t think she want’s to talk about it” I blurt out. Not entirely lying, but I feel bad as soon as I say it. Why am I mad at Mikey? He didn’t do anything.
“You’re probably right” he says after a moment and puts his phone away. “What did you guys do?”
“Got high and watched a movie” I answer. We stay quiet for a couple of moments.
“You okay?” He asks. I look at him, give him a yes-obviously-that’s-a-stupid-question look. “Come on mate. I can tell when something is wrong. Spill”
Of course he can. He is my best friend. And this is ridiculous.
“She told me that she overheard Marissa comparing me and Stephen once.” I say. “To Stephen. About sex.” I add. This should get him off my back.
“Oh, shit!” He rests his back on the wall. “When was this?”
I tell him all that she told me about that situation. And then we have a 5 minute conversation about how shitty Marissa is, and how it’s not worth it to get upset over. He is, of course, right, but it’s also not the reason I’m upset over.
I mean, I don’t know what I was expecting when I asked Addie if she liked Michael. It’s kinda obvious she does. And I know that he likes her. And I would never stand in the way of Mikey and a girl he likes. Especially not Addie, because they fit together. She is so relaxed with him, and it’s organic, where with me it’s all awkward and tense.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you” I say, and what comes next just kind of shoots out of my mouth, without me thinking twice about it “When are you planing on asking Addie out?”
“What?” He asks, caught off guard.
“I mean, you still like her, right?” I don’t know what or why I’m doing this.
“I..I don’t know. I guess” He says, still looking confused as hell.
“So ask her out” I force a smile, which I hope looks genuine.
“I don’t know, mate” he looks down, finally accepting the fact that we are having this conversation “I don’t think it’s the best…timing”
“What are you talking about?” I laugh. I honestly do not know what is coming out of my mouth.
“Plus…I don’t think she likes me like that.” He adds, as if I didn’t ask a question. “It could get awkward and…weird”
“It has never been awkward and weird between you guys” I say, more as an accusation, but I hope he doesn’t notice the change of my tone. If he does, he doesn’t say anything about it.


Mikey’s POV

I don’t know where the hell all this is coming from, but I am getting uncomfortable with it. I’ve seen the way Addie looks at Calum, and that night we kissed…it wouldn’t work.
“I know, but I like our friendship. It’s easy” I say.
I’ve also seen the way Calum is with Addie. How awkward he gets sometimes, how, since he met her, he’s actually going back to the old, pre-Marissa Calum that I became best friends with.
“Where is this coming from?” I ask. What happened between Calum and Addie today to make him act weird?
“I don’t know. I remembered you said you like her, and we’re going out tomorrow, so maybe make it a date between you guys. Like, get a separate table or something” He says, shrugging, and not meeting my eyes. I have no clue what is happening.
In that moment, to save me from further weirdness, my phone rings. But when I look at the caller ID, I see Addie, and I see that Calum sees it too, and then he suddenly gets up and mumbles about going to the bathroom.
“Hey” I answer, still very confused.
“Am I interrupting band practice?” She asks. She sounds tired.
“Nah, I’m just chilling with Cal. The others are out buying food. How’re yo-”
“Oh, okay” She says, before I can finish my sentence.
“Is everything okay?” I ask and then realise the stupidity of my question. “With you and Calum, I mean” I clarify.
“Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t it be okay?” She answers a bit too fast.
“I don’t know. He is being weird. And you were just weird about it, answering my question.” I say.
“Oh” she says and after a moment of silence “Well, I think he is figuring out some stuff. About Marissa. I think he realised he still has feelings for her” She says, and I almost missed the last part because she said it too quietly.
Calum walks in after that, and fiddles with his bass. Or pretends to.
“That’s ridiculous” I laugh. Suddenly, I don’t want Calum to be hearing this conversation. “Anyway, you coming tomorrow night, right?”
I think Calum has a coughing fit?
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She answers.
“You need to get out of your house, Addie. Drink away your problems” I say and I hear her cute laugh.
“I guess you’re right. I’ll talk to my mom.” I then hear some more voices on the other end, and then her’s “Umm, speaking of my mom, I have to go. I’ll text you later if I’m coming tomorrow. Say hi to the boys. And Lucy. Bye!” And then she hangs up.
Calum is still fiddling with his bass, but he doesn’t seem to be focused on it at all. What is with the two of them?!


Addie’s POV

“What’s up?” I ask mom, who just came home.
“Well, I did what I should’ve done a long time ago” She says. “I’m just going to get your sister”
She then leaves for the stairs, and I look at the boxes of Sushi she has brought for dinner. We almost never have sushi, what is this?
Aggie comes downstairs. Her hair is in a ponytail, her hair has grown out, and her roots are the same color as mine hair, contrasting the red.
“What’s going on?” She asks me, but I just shrug.
My mom then hands us a piece of paper each. I read the top of the paper which says Restraining Order and after that I stop reading and just skim the paper.
“Seriously?” Aggie asks, smiling up at my mom, who is nodding proudly.
“All you have to do, is sign it.” She says, beaming.
“This is fantastic!” I say.
We have a nice moment here. All three of us on the same side, against Tom. My stomach is doing flips, and as soon as I sign it, and my mom promises to be back in 10 minutes, and goes to leave the signed papers at the station, I feel this sense of dread lifting. Honestly, I half expected Tom to burst in today, and pretend nothing happened, or pick up where he left off, but right now, it seems as if that’s not going to happen. Maybe at all. Hopefully.
“Well” Aggie is beaming. And then she hugs me, and I hug her back, momentarily forgetting how horrible she has been to me since we moved here.
My mom comes back after 10 minutes, just like she promised and we have a very uplifting dinner. We talk a little about what the consequences would be for Tom if he contacted us in any way, and I can already see my mom going back to normal, just minutes after the orders were filed. Apparently, one of the officers, who asked her out on a date by the way, very exciting, said that it will be approved by a judge no later than tomorrow morning. We have too much evidence, and it’s urgent, so the process has been sped up.
I also mention that we are invited to Calum’s on Sunday night, and my mother calls Mrs. Hood to confirm.
We then have a nice quiet night in, just the three of us, and Aggie and I get along. We are both too relieved and happy to fight over anything.
At around 11pm, my mom is too tired, and goes to bed, leaving Aggie and me to tidy up the kitchen and living room. We manage to have a conversation without bickering, and it’s like we never had a falling out, and we are six again, and playing a game of Simon Says to pass the time, while tidying up our bedroom.
“How are you, by the way?” She asks me. I haven’t actually heard that question from Aggie since….well, I can’t remember.
“It still hurts” I say, pointing to the lip. She looks sad, so I quickly add “It was worth it though. I mean, it got mom to get a restraining order, right? So all is good”
I wipe the island in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry” She says.
“It’s not your fault Aggie. He is an abusive worm.” I chuckle.
“Not just about that” I stop wiping when she says it and look at her. But she is not looking at me, as if she is a bit embarrassed. “I’m sorry I’ve been a horrible sister to you. A horrible person, really. I don’t know why I do it”
I am stunned. It sounds as if she is genuine.
“I know how horrible Marissa has been to you and I haven’t been standing up for you. And you did it for me. And not to some bitchy friend, but to Tom. Who is terrifying and punished you for it. You did it because I was scared to do it, and you’ll never know how much that means to me” She finally looks up at me. Her eyes are filled with tears, but knowing Aggie, she won’t actually cry in front of me.
I am speechless. Mostly because this is Aggie realising all this stuff on her own, without me having to knock it in with a hammer into her head. Which felt like a last resort, really.
“I think I’ll stop being friends with Marissa” She says. “I don’t know why I have a need to hang out with terrible people. She is terrible to me too, you know. And she says horrible things about Calum, and his friends, and you, and Ashley won’t shut up about Lucy. I…I don’t like being around them.”
“Then why are you?” I ask, but it doesn’t come out as harsh.
“I don’t know. She was the first person I met and she accepted me immediately” She answers, and i can see the blood rushing to her cheeks. “And she makes me feel, I don’t know…important somehow.”
“Yeah” i say “But she is horrible!” there is a short silence, and then we both laugh. And it’s so easy, I almost feel like we are close again.
“You have no idea” She wipes some of the tears that spilled. “She is a little obsessed with Calum. Like she won’t shut up about him.”
“What does she say?” I ask, moving towards the living room. She follows me.
“That he took her virginity. That you and him are…well you know. That Calum and his friends are like hard-drugs junkies, and their older friend Ashton is their dealer.” She says, but a bit cautiously. Looking for confirmation signs on my face. I shake my head in disbelieve. I knew some of these things, but it’s just a bit disbelieving how low and pathetic she is.
“Is it true? Do they do hard drugs?” She asks, and then adds, really fast “I won’t tell mom, I promise. I just…are you safe with them?”
“Do you seriously believe any of that crap she says?” I laugh, sitting on the couch. She sits on the opposite side, and folds her feet under her.
“I don’t know. She talks a lot about how he was always high when they would go out together, and how he was…well, I don’t want to say forcing her, but she used that word, so…like he wanted her to do drugs. And his friends were harassing her all the time. And I don’t know.” She lowers her head. “I guess it’s not true, huh?”
“Not one bit” I laugh.
“Are you and him…are you guys together?” She asks, again, using the cautious voice.
“No” I answer quickly, and realise maybe that’s too fast “I mean, we’re really good friends, but it’s just that. I’m not dating any of them”
She nods, and doesn’t ask follow up question. But she is eager to tell me all the stuff Marissa and Ashley have been saying.
Apparently I sucked Calum off on Saturday, Lucy is probably fucking Luke (which Ashely has been talking a lot about, so we have a theory that she has a thing for Luke, but just doesn’t want to admit it), Ashton has been to rehab twice, their band sucks, Calum used to write Marissa love songs (which makes me a little jealous against my will. But then again, jealousy is always against one’s will), I’m probably also doing something with Michael, there were also some nasty details about Calum and Marissa’s sexual experiences, which I did not want to think about or talk about or ever recall. Some things you cannot unsee in your head though.
Then Aggie told me what Marissa told her about Stephen and Chris, and how Stephen wanted to beat Calum up because Marissa was still talking about him, and still had feelings for him, as if that was his fault. She never gave the order for them to follow through with that, and she found out only afterwards. She seemed upset about it later that night, according to Ashley.
Aggie admitted to confirming Marissa’s speculations that I’m dating Calum (she apologised and said that me and Calum just probably had sexual tension which made me choke on my laughter and had blood rushing to my cheeks)
Then I was telling her about what we do at Ash’s, and how Lucy is their manager now, and how she is really organised and basically a different, more confident person now.
We talked until 3am, and when both of us couldn’t keep our eyes opened anymore, we retreated to our own rooms. I took out my phone, which I hadn’t checked since I talked to Mikey, and saw two missed calls, and a text, all from Michael. My heart sank when I realised they weren’t from Calum, but I told myself to stop thinking about him.
‘Do you need us to bring you food?’ the text message said. It was sent before the two missed calls, and the time stamp read 9pm.
‘Hey sorry. I was having a family night. It actually went pretty well. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow’ I quickly wrote back, and then went to sleep.


Calum’s POV

I wake up on Saturday morning in Ash’s living room. I was too lazy to drive home last night, and we all just decided to sleep over. Except Lucy, who went home at around 11pm. Michael is on the other couch, and Luke is on the floor.
I sit up, and see, Mrs. Irwin in the kitchen fixing up breakfast.
“You guys’ll need to start paying rent” She smiles at me.
“We’ll pay in food and love” I say, and she laughs.
“I have some errands I need to run today. Tell Ashton I’m out. If I don’t see you guys before tonight, have fun!” She says, and then ruffles my hair.
“Will do” I say, and wave. She puts on her shoes and then says a final goodbye, before she closes and locks the front door behind her.
I accidentally step on Luke’s hand, which wakes him up. We get a mumbly ’Shut Up’ from Michael, who turns his back to us, and we move to the kitchen, to avoid waking him.
Luke makes coffee, while I set up two plates with french toasts.
Not long after we eat, Ash comes in and eats breakfast, and then Michael wakes up from our talking and grumpily eats his food. He checks his phone while chewing, and since I’m sitting next to him, I can see that Addie texted him. We tried calling her last night to see if she wants food, Luke’s idea, but she never picked up, or texted back.
“Is it Addie?” Ash asks, and I silently thank him, because now I don’t have to.
“Yeah” he says, typing out a text while chewing. He reads us her text and then his own response.
’So you coming tonight?’
We then move to the garage, have a talk and run some of the songs, and then we are all off home to shower and show our faces to our parents, so they don’t think we got kidnapped or anything.
After I drop Luke and Mikey home, and as I’m parking my car in our driveway, I see Mali on her way out.
“Hey hey” I try to high five her.
“Don’t.” She says, and passes me.
“You’re in a foul mood” I say, looking at her.
“Can I have your car?” She asks, ignoring any indication that I have said anything to her.
“Only if you bring it back before five. And get it cleaned please” I say. She nods and I toss her the keys.
She gets in, with her gym bag, and drives off.
I then walk in and overhear my mom and dad talking in the living room.
“…I know, but she just doesn’t take responsibility!” My mom is saying.
“You’re being too harsh, Joy” My dad says. I stop in my tracks and even start controlling my breathing, so I can overhear further.
“Please! She doesn’t want to go to Uni, and we said it was fine, but now she says she wants to do music? Like work in the music industry? Does she have any idea how hard that is? She has done gigs and shows here and there, but-” She is saying. I feel like blood is draining from my body. What is with my mom?
“You remember being her age! You had dreams of your own. I think we should be supportive” My dad says. It clicks to me why sometimes I walk in on heated conversations between my mom and Mali.
“Of course I support her. But she has no plan! And when I try to talk to her…well, you see what happens.”
“She is sensitive about it. I’m not saying we shouldn’t talk to her about it, I just think we should be more positive. And stop teasing her. I don’t think she likes it” My dad chuckles, and then my mom eases up.
“I know. You’re right” my mom is saying and then their voices are lower, and I can’t really hear what they are saying, so i open and slam the front door, to announce my presence.
“Hello” I say, peeking in the living room.
“Hi, sweetie” my mom says, all smiles.
I walk upstairs, and get in the shower almost immediately. I change after that, in a dark t-shirt and basketball shorts. The same ones Addie slept in when she was here. Speaking of…
I check my phone, but there are no new messages from her. Only one from Ash reminding me that we’re meeting at his place at 5:30 to pack up all the stuff and head downtown.
I still don’t know if Addie is coming or not, so I use it as an excuse to call her. She picks up on the third ring.
“Hey” She answers.
“Are you coming tonight?” Great Calum. No ‘How are you’, or ‘How was family night’, or ‘What are you doing’.
“Um, I think so. When are you guys meeting?” She asks.
“5:30 at Ash’s. I need to pick up Mikey though, so we’ll leave at 5:20. That good with you?” Okay, I sound casual. I think.
“Yeah. See you then” I say bye, and then hang up


Addie’s POV

I woke up this morning at 9am, because of a loud crash in the kitchen. Turns out, it was my mom dropping a pan, but I still can’t shake off the feeling I get when Tom’s in the house. I keep reminding myself he can’t be here, he is legally not allowed. At around 2pm, Calum calls asking if I’m going tonight, and even though I still haven’t talked to my mom about it, I say yes.
Aggie has been dodging Marissa’s calls all day, and it looks like she is sticking with the I-don’t-want-to-be-friends-with-her-anymore decision she made last night. Good for her.
She is extra nice to me all day, which irks me a little, to be honest. I mean, to be fare, we haven’t talked in weeks, and now suddenly because she realised her friends are toxic, she is being all friendly and sisterly towards me. I keep reminding myself this. I know she want’s to make it up to me, but I also haven’t forgiven her fully. So when I do talk to my mom after lunch about going out tonight, and she lets me, I don’t invite her.
Lucy calls at around 4 to check what I’m wearing (and offering to come over so we can get ready together), and to just check up on me. Apparently my mom has been talking to my aunt, so she is up to date on the whole restraining order business, and our parents are hanging out tonight, celebrating.
I start getting ready, slowly but surely. I take a shower and then, when Lucy finally arrives, we begin getting ready.
“I brought some outfits for you” She says, unzipping a duffel bag. She starts laying out dresses, and shirts, and jeans and two pairs of high heels. “I’m wearing this” She points to a tight black metallic, and then takes out silver jewellery.
“It’s amazing how you can pull of dresses like these” I say, letting my hair loose from the towel that was wrapped around my head.
“I have these red leather jeans” She says, taking them out “And you can wear it with this crop-top. Show off that flat tummy!” She throws it at me, and then slaps her own tummy. I start laughing.
“Ummm, no. I like this thing…whatever it is” I say, picking up a navy blue, what seemed like a dress a moment ago, but it turns out it’s a playsuit. It’s not that tight, and it would go well with a big necklace.
“Yeah, I knew you’d like that one.” She says, and takes out her make up bag “I have yellow necklaces, and I have this one, which is like more elegant and silver and shit” She takes them out, as she talks about them.
“The silver one” i point.
So we lay out our outfits on the bed, just as Aggie knocks on the door. She is dressed in leggings and a big t-shirt, and joins us. I remember to tell her about all the stuff Aggie told me last night, and she fills me in on details I miss out. Lucy is in a laughing fit, and cannot properly do her eyeliner for a good minute.
Aggie sits there, watching us do our make up, and get ready, and then Lucy turns around, to face her.
“You can come with us you know” She says, putting glue on her fake eyelashes. Aggie looks at me, for guidance, and I realise how much the roles have been reversed. I was always the one waiting for Aggie to invite me to places, the one looking for confirmation in her, not the other way around.
But, I say nothing. Again, haven’t entirely forgiven Aggie, and I don’t want to get upset tonight over something stupid.
So when Aggie doesn’t see that confirmation she was looking for in me she just smiles, a bit sadly and says “I don’t feel like going out tonight. Need to catch up on Netflix”
Lucy tries to convince her, half-heartedly, but then gives up and after our make up is done, we put on our outfits. I don’t know how, but I look younger than Lucy.
“Have fun” Aggie says, while we put on our shoes. My mom is getting ready to head over for dinner with my aunt and uncle, and Aggie goes upstairs to change. Apparently, she is going out with them.
“Don’t be too late” My mom says to me, as we walk out of the door and I say something like “Kay bye” and then the door is closed behind us.
Calum is leaned against his car, which looks washed. He lifts his head as we close the front door of my house, and then he makes eye contact with me. And his eyes do not move from my face as we walk towards him.


Calum’s POV

I have no clue how I’m going to keep my hands off of her tonight. She looks stunning. But I cannot look away from her eyes. It’s like I’m hypnotised, and I know it’s really cheesy, but I don’t know how else to explain it.
“Oh my god” I hear Lucy and can hear her eyeroll in her voice.
“Hey” I cough and snap out of it. Keep it together, Calum.
Lucy gives me a knowing look, and I shrug, trying to play it cool but she winks at me and I know it hasn’t worked. Does she know that I like Addie?
Addie is already getting in the front seat and I get into the the driver’s.
Addie is going through the music and she sighs loudly.
“Not good enough for your taste?” I tease, and she smiles. Her lip is healing, but you can still see the cut on it.
“I’m in the mood for nostalgia” She says, still going through my CDs. I chuckle and then Lucy engages in a conversation, making it less awkward for me and Addie.
I pick up Mikey on the way to Ash’s (Luke is apparently already there) and the atmosphere lightens up.
Addie announces that Tom is out of the picture, with the whole restraining order and all that, and it’s even a bigger reason to celebrate tonight.
“I don’t want to stay out too late, though” She says. “I feel like my mom won’t be too happy, and I do not want to spoil her mood”
“Noted” I say.
I park the car in Ash’s driveway, and we all start moving stuff from the garage to the two cars.
“Oh no, by all means Lucy. Text away” Luke teases her. She chuckles, but doesn’t look up.
“Oh yeah, tease me all you want. I’m reading up on recording studios, and demos, and finding contacts.” She says, and looks up. “When I land your record deal, you will be kissing my feet”
“You are taking this job waaaaay to seriously” Michael laughs, and so do the rest of us. Addie is holding my bass and is struggling with the case for it.
“Here” I say and open up the case.
“Thanks” She says, and lays it carefully in it. I am too aware that everyone is gathered at the cars, putting the rest of the stuff in the trunk.
“You okay?” I ask her. I don’t want to be awkward with her. And right here, right now, I promise myself I won’t stray too far from her tonight.
“Never better” She smiles up at me, and hands me the case she just closed.
We head outside, join the others, and in the next 15 minutes, we are all set, and heading downtown. This time, most of the equipment are in my car, and no one volunteers to keep me company. Luke, Mikey and Lucy head over to Ash’s car, and they’re off. Which leaves me and Addie.
“Let’s go” She says, and enter’s the passenger’s door.
In two minutes we are driving away from Ash’s house, and the tension builds by the second.

Notes

Another update. Woop, woop!