Addie’s POV

The car ride is a bit tense and awkward. We have small talk all the way, but sometimes, it feels like we are not talking about the things we are talking about. It’s weird.
We arrive at the venue, and Lucy and I go to the VIP section, the same from last time. The boys set up and Robert, the guy who is the manager of this club, sits next to us.
“Hello ladies” He smiles up at us.
“Hey” I wave awkwardly, and Lucy shakes his hand.
“Thanks for calling Lucy” He says to her “As I said, the feedback has been great. And opening night was better than expected.”
“Does that mean we get free drinks tonight as well?” She only half jokes, but Robert laughs.
“Those boys are lucky to have you” He smiles and calls the barista over. “This is Josh, anything you need, just order. Don’t go too crazy though.” He winks at us, as Josh waves.
“Anything I can get you right now, ladies?” Josh smiles at us.
“Vodka red-bull?” I look at Lucy, and she repeats.
“Two Vodka red-bulls coming up” He then leaves, and after more small talk, Robert leaves as well.
We get our drinks and time starts to go by faster. The boys do a soundcheck, and then Lucy starts taking pictures for their website, which we pointed out that they don’t actually have.
“I’ll make it” She says, tapping Ash on the shoulder and we all laugh. “Laugh all you want losers, but it’s gonna make you look professional”
We sit there, and people start coming in the empty space. It gets filled quickly and I noticed Calum and I haven’t exchanged two words to each other the whole time we were sitting here.
The music is loud, and they don’t go on until 10pm, which gives us one hour.
“Those girls are looking over here” Lucy elbows Mikey playfully. He looks over to them, and I follow. There are 5 girls downstairs, all beautiful and hot, and most looking up at us.
“Mikey has no game” I laugh. Michael looks defeated.
“Yes I do!” He says and I laugh harder. The alcohol has started to kick in long ago. Lucy joins in laughing “Alright, alright Addie. I’ll make you a bet. $50 I get with more girls tonight, than you with boys”
“Wait, you think you have more game than Addie?” Luke asks, laughing.
“I guess we’ll see” He laughs. “What counts as a point?”
“One of us has to see” Lucy sets the rules “And, it has to be longer than 20 seconds, with tongue. It has to be consensual and the other person cannot know that it’s a bet. All by the end of the night.”
We all laugh, and Mikey and I shake on it.
“You’re on!” He says
“May the best one wins” I say, raising an eyebrow.
He downs his beer, which didn’t have much left, and gets up. He walks to the bar in the crowded VIP section, and Josh smiles. He then makes 5 drinks and then a waiter boy picks up the tray. Michael comes back, smirking and we all see how the waiter brings the drinks down to the girls who all smile a bit confused. He then points up at Michael, and when they all look up, he gives them a little wave and winks. He eyes one girl in particular, her hair is short and a chocolate brown. She has a round face, and her eyeliner, even from here, I can see that it’s on fleek.
He then, gets up, and turns towards me
“What were you saying about my game?” He looks smug.
I laugh before I say “You don’t get a point if you buy them a drink, Mike. Only if you pull”
“Watch me” He winks and then leaves. I see him joining the girls, and in a couple of seconds, he is dancing with the short haired one.
We’re all laughing, and I catch Calum’s eyes. He isn’t laughing. I make a motion to ask him ‘What’s wrong’ and he makes one that says ‘I’m fine’ but something is obviously not sitting well with him. I shrug.
Lucy and I go downstairs to dance, leaving the boys, and we get in the middle of it.
“Oh, oh, they’re kissing!” Lucy says and turns me around. Mikey and the girl, are in fact, kissing. Both of us laugh, and I turn around. There are some guys dancing near us, one of them looks kinda attractive. I make eye contact with him, and looking over at my bare legs, and my neckline, he comes right over.
“Write down the points” I say to her and she laughs as she leaves.
I start dancing with this total stranger, the music moving us. I get really competitive, and this is NOT a competition I’m about to lose. So I start kissing the guy on the neck, and he gets the hint, so he starts kissing me, and then we’re making out. I peak to look at the VIP area and I see Luke and Ash pissing themselves. I make eye contact with Calum, and he looks like he’s about to punch a wall. So I look away, and after a couple of minutes, when the song ends, and Robert is talking into the microphone i step away.
“Thanks for the dance” I say, kiss the guy on the cheek, and start walking away. I hear him high five his friends, but I don’t care. I got a point.
I go to the stairs, as all the boys are getting up to go.
“Not bad, Benson” Luke taps me on the shoulder and I laugh. Ashton is still laughing, and when I make eye contact with Cal, he looks away, and keeps walking. I see Mikey walking away from the girl and when he looks up at me, he holds a finger up. One point for him. I smile, and hold one up myself. He look confused and I shrug like ‘it’s not big deal’
He then follows the rest of the guys and they get on stage.


Calum’s POV

I am fuming. If this was a cartoon, I’d have smoke coming out of my ears. I should not be getting this jealous. I know it’s a game, I know it doesn’t mean anything, but it sure as hell is bothering me.
We get on stage and Luke introduces us, and then we are playing our set list. It takes my mind off of Addie, but everytime I make eye contact with her, she is dancing with a guy. Not always the same guy.
She makes encouraging gestures, like giving me smiles, and thumbs up, and I look away each time.
Lucy is upstairs in the VIP area, her phone on us. Is she filming this? But when she changes in what seems like an uncomfortable position to stand it, I know for sure that she is filming. So I push away all thoughts of Addie, and focus on my singing and playing.

We are done after almost two hours and all of us are sweaty, but still hyper.
I go to the staff bathroom to splash my face with water, and Mikey joins me.
“She got two points while we were playing. That’s not fare” He says, while washing his hands. I say nothing, just nod. “I need to step up my game.”
I try to get out in a rush, but he notices. Again, of course he does, he’s my best friend and me being mad at him right now is not rational.
“What’s wrong mate? Are you mad at me or something?” He asks. I can hear the muffled music and talking from behind the door.
“No” I manage to say, but it’s very unconvincing I might add.
“Come on. I’ve known you since forever. What’s up?” I say nothing and look down “Cal, talk to me”
“It’s a stupid bet” I say. Wow, ok being intoxicated and having this conversation is not a good combination.
“It’s just a game” He says. I look up and something changes in him “I’ll call it off” He says.
“You don’t have to do that” I answer, looking away from him.
“Calum. I can see that it’s bothering you” He says to me and I still avoid his eyes “I know you like her”
And then I’m quiet. Not confirming, nor denying it.
The door opens then, and it’s Luke. He starts talking to us, something about the gig, completely ignorant of the conversation me and Mikey had. Mikey answers him, equally hyped, and Luke doesn’t notice anything. I exit, leaving them alone and walk towards the VIP area. Addie is there with and Lucy, and the girls Michael bought drinks for. She looks at me, and waves an awkward turtle wave. She looks cute and smug. When Michael joins me he looks up and I can hear him sigh.
We walk up and say hi to the girls. I do not remember anyone’s name.
I immediately go to the bar and order a tequila shot.
“Two” I see Addie sitting next to me.
“How’s your bet going?” I ask, while Josh slices the lemon.
“I’m winning.” She grins. I chuckle. We both look back and see Michael making out with a girl. Not the same girl.
“And he is catching up” I laugh.
“We’ll see about that” She downs the tequila and sucks on her lemon slice.
She walks off, a bit wobbly and joins everyone. I look at her walk away, until she sits. Then I down my drink and join them.
In the next 30 minutes, Addie, Lucy and Luke go downstairs to dance, and even though there is a really pretty girl sitting next to me, who’s name I did not remember, I still look for Addie in the crowd downstairs, and I keep tabs on how many people she makes out with (which is one, making her total score 4, whereas Michael is still on 2)
I can’t really blame her. She looks gorgeous, and really drunk, and guys think they’ll take advantage of her, but after she kisses whoever, and the song ends, she discards them, and moves on.
I turn around and see that the girl next to me is expecting an answer.
“What?” I pretend I can’t hear her because of the music, which isn’t a total lie.
“I said, do you want to get out of here?” She then puts her hand on my knee and sends a jolt through it.
I stand up, give the girl my hand, and lead her down the stairs. And then I start walking towards the exit.


Addie’s POV

I am dancing with some guy, who is really grabby, and re-thinking my decision to kiss him, when I see Calum hold some girl’s hand and lead her downstairs. Great, I’ll have to see him grinding on her. But then I notice them passing me and heading for the exit. He’s leaving. With that girl. The room is spinning and my heart is hammering in my chest and I suddenly feel a lump in my throat. It has nothing to do with the fact that I might be sick as well.
“You alright?” The guy asks me, and I shake my head.
“I just need some air. I’ll be right back” I say and he lets me go, thank god. I go to the bathroom. I wash my hands and dampen my neck, to cool myself off. It is really hot in here. I take deep breaths and tell myself I’m overreacting. I’ve been making out with guys all night, so I have no right to be mad at him for wanting to take some girl outside. Or to his car. And it’s not like we’re together. We’re not. At all. He wants me and Michael to be together, which since he said, has been the last thing I’ve wanted to do. And in this moment I realise I don’t like Michael like that. This whole bet is proof. I don’t get jealous when he kisses other girls, or dances with other girls. But I do get jealous when Cal does it. And I know, yes, I like Calum. But it’s a lot more complicated than that….Or is it?
Maybe I should just go and tell him that I like him. I’ll brush it off tomorrow if I get rejected, say I was drunk and don’t remember. What if it ruins our friendship?
Well…me and Mikey are still friends, even after we made out. Does Cal know about that? Nevermind. I should go tell him. Right now. OK.
So I exit the girl’s bathroom, and head for the exit. When I get outside the cold air stops me in my tracks. It feels so good, but I know, sooner or later, I’ll be very very cold. Whatever. No time for that.
My heels are killing my feet, but I keep walking. I don’t even know where to look for Calum. Where would he take her. His car? Yes, his car! It’s parked out back!
So I start walking out back, wobbly, cold and almost certain this is a bad idea, when I see them. Or rather, I see the steam in the car. There is no one here. and he’s…he…
The next thing I know, I’m vomiting. My knees almost give out.
“Hey!” Someone catches me, and I don’t know who it is, so I try to get away, because that’s the rational thing to do. “Mate, sit down”
I recognise Mikey’s voice and he sits me down on a makeshift bench (it’s just a block of concrete really).
When there is nothing else for me to throw up. I stop. Mikey leaves me for two minutes, and comes back with two glasses of water.
After I’m done and as clean as I can be, he gives me gum.
“What happened? Why didn’t you get one of us if you were feeling ill?” He asks me, brushing my hair back. I shrug, not trusting myself to speak. Tears are filling my eyes, and i try to blink them away. My make up is probably ruined.
“My make up is being ruined” I say, and then I start crying.


Michael’s POV

I am very confused.
“It’s okay, we’ll fix it. I mean, I’m no make up artist, and I’m drunk as fuck, but we’ll fix it, I promise” I say, trying to brush away her hair, which is in her face.
“I don’t care about my make up!” She says a bit too loud.
“What’s wrong Addie?” I ask her. She tries to wipe her tears away, and then stands up.
“I’m cold, and drunk, and I want to go home” She announces.
“Okay, yeah. We can go. I’ll get Calum, he seemed pretty done, so we can go. Okay?” I stand up but she grabs my hand and her eyes are filled with tears again. “Addie, we’ll take care of you okay?” At this point I don’t even know what I’m saying. She is shivering, and because I have no jacket to give her, i hug her, and she hugs me back, hard. She then looks up at me. Her mascara is a bit run, but other than that, her make up seems okay. I don’t know. I don’t understand make up, but she still looks good. The cut on her lip, though, is red. I touch it, wanting to check if it’s bleeding. But as soon as I do, she reaches up, and kisses me.
I am stunned for a moment, but then i start kissing her back.
What am I doing?!
“Addie, Addie” I pull her away a bit. “Don’t”
“Why?” She says. She sounds sad.
“Because we are drunk, and we’ve been over this” I say. Last time we kissed, I regretted stoping that kiss. This time, I don’t. “And I know you don’t like me like that” I add.
“Why does everyone assume they know who I like or don’t like?!” She takes a step back from me.
“Addie” I reach for her but she takes another step back.
“Just don’t okay. I just want to go home. “ She hugs herself and looks down.
“Alright. Let’s go get the others.” I say and start walking towards the main entrance, but she doesn’t follow.
“No. I just want to go home now.” She says, still looking down.
“But…we need to get everyone so we can all go. You and I don’t have a car, Addie. “ I smile, trying to lighten it up.
I take my phone out and dial Ash’s number.
“Yeah?!” He yells into his phone, and my ear.
“Addie isn’t feeling well, can you grab everyone?” I say, trying not to shout too loudly.
I then have a back and forth, where I repeat what I said three times, and we decide texting is the best way to go at this.
‘Addie isn’t feeling well. Can we grab everyone and go home?’ I text him. After a couple of minutes he texts me back
‘Yeah. I’ve got Luke and Lucy.’
‘Where’s Cal?’ I ask.
‘Don’t know, I can’t see him anywhere. Try calling him’ he texts back after a minute.
So I dial Cal’s number and wait for him to pick up.
“Can you call back in 10 minutes?” He sounds as if he been running.
“Why, where are you?” I ask confused.
“Alright, thanks” He says, as if there were no follow up questions, and hangs up.
“Weird” I say to myself texting Ashton.
‘He told me to call him back in 10 minutes. Stay there, we’re coming in’ I text him and turn around to get Addie. She is sitting on the makeshift bench, shivering.
“Hey, let’s go inside and get our stuff” I say, because telling her we’re staying an extra 10 minutes, will not sit well with her. She nods, and follows me.
We enter, and the warmth is very welcomed, but Addie is still shivering though. She tries to fix her mascara while we’re walking to our seat. The girls have left and it’s just Luke, Lucy and Ash sitting and laughing.
“Heeeeyyyy, babe, what’s wrong?” Lucy goes to Addie. They go to the bathroom together and I am left with the boys.


Addie’s POV

We walk to the staff bathroom, Lucy convincing someone on our way there to let us in, and she closes the door behind us.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?” She asks me, locking the door. I shrug. “I have a hair tie” She announces, taking a black hair tie out of her purse.
“I’m fine. I threw up outside.” I say, and sit on top of the toilet. She gives me a pitting look.
“Why were you crying?” She asks, crouching in front of me. And then it all comes out - Calum asking if I like Michael, and then telling me Mikey likes me, Michael and I kissing for the second time, Calum making out with random girls when we go out, us dancing, us sleeping together (literally), our talks, but most importantly, that he is having sex in his car, right now, with one of the girls from earlier.
“Oh god” Lucy says, giving my hand a little squeeze “I didn’t know you liked him this much”
“And that’s another thing” I say, lifting my head. “Everyone keeps telling me who I like, or who likes me, and everyone just please stop!”
“Hey, hey it’s okay.” She hugs me and I hug her back. “Listen. We are gonna go home right now. I’ll stay over at yours, and then, tomorrow, we’ll have a nice unhealthy breakfast, and we’ll talk, okay? Right now you’re drunk, and upset, and you just want to go home. So I don’t care what the fuck Calum is doing, we are going home right now, okay?” She says determined, and I just nod.
She cleans up my make up, so I don’t look like a racoon, and we are out of the bathroom, hand in hand.
When we go up in the VIP section, to get our coats, Calum is still not there. Which makes me want to cry more. Stupid drunk thoughts. Stop.
“Hey, so we’re going, with or without you guys.” Lucy talks for me.
“What about Cal?” Luke asks. I clench Lucy’s hand.
“Well he has a car. Ash, you can drive us home, and the rest of you can go with Cal later” She says, passing me my purse and my coat. I put it on without saying a word. I don’t know what else is being discussed, but in the end, it’s me, Lucy, Ash and Luke leaving.
I look at Mikey, who looks a bit pissed, but not at us.
Luke comes back to say something to Mikey, and Mikey nods. Then we are off.
Ash’s car is parked near Cal’s. But Cal’s car doesn’t seem like it’s hosting anyone. We get in Ash’s car, Lucy gets in the back with me, and we’re driving off in minutes.

I get awoken by Lucy. She and Luke help me out of the car.
“You got her?” Luke asks Lucy.
“Yeah, no worries” She says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. I then hear hugging and a quick kiss, so when I open my eyes, I’m disappointed to see, Luke’s lips leaving Lucy’s cheek.
“I’ll call you tomorrow” he says, and then walks back to Ash’s car.
“Goodnight guys” Ash says to us.
The next couple of minutes felt unreal - Lucy cleaned off my make up and got me changed in my warm pajamas. And then I was in my bed, a glass of water next to me and i fell asleep almost instantly.


Michael’s POV
A short while after everyone left, I moved my ass to the bar, where Josh was cleaning glasses.
“Who won?” He asks. I raise an eyebrow and he just smiles. He looks a couple of years older than me.
“She did” I say, defeated. Josh laughs.
“Did everyone leave?”
“Yeah. I’m trying to find Calum. He’s suppose to drive me home” I say, dialling Cal’s number. Josh gives me more privacy by moving on to talk to someone else. The club is still pretty full.
“Hey” Cal answers.
“Where are you?” I ask, still a bit pissed.
“Chill, I’m walking up the stairs." I turn around and there he is, his hair messy and his shirt was buttoned wrong. “Where is everyone” He walks to me at the bar.
“They left. That’s why I called you” I say looking at him closely.
“What?” He looks crushed. “When?”
“Yeah, I called you but you hung up on me.” I say and give him a once-over “Did you get laid or something?” I laugh, only half joking
But when his cheeks go a bit red, and he looks down, I know it’s true.
“Oh, shit, with who?” I ask, no longer pissed as much as I was.
“Umm..one of the girls Addie brought over” He says, re-buttoning his shirt. “Kamila? I think?”
“Woooowww, where man?” I say, and he sits down at the bar, and orders a glass of water.
“In my car” He says.
“Mate, we’re in that car every day, why would you do that to us” I give him a playful punch on the shoulder. He laughs.
“Don’t worry. I wore protection and all that. Nothing got on the seats” We laugh, and then he goes into how it happened, and what exactly happened, which I was not a real fan of, the details I mean, but it was funny. We stayed for around 20 minutes there, just talking.
“So why did everyone leave?” He asks, innocently, but I have a feeling he just wants to know why Addie left.
“Addie wasn’t feeling too good. She was upset over something, and she got sick outside-“ I start, but Cal cuts me off.
“Outside?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah. And then she was crying and wanted to go home, so I called you, but-“ I stop abruptly “Oh shit, we were literally at the parking lot at the time!” I laugh but Calum doesn’t seem to find it funny, so I stop. “Anyway, yeah. So we came back, Lucy took Addie to the bathroom, and then came back and they all left. You were my ride so…” I shrug.
“Yeah, okay” He nods, downing his water.
“You good to drive?” I ask him.
“Yeah man, I haven’t had a drink in an hour or so. It’s all good.”
It’s around 1:30am when Cal and I leave. We go to the car, which I tease him about, and then we’re driving home.


Calum’s POV

No, hooking up with that girl did not make me feel better about Addie kissing random guys. I mean, it did at the time, and it was good (not that I’ve had a lot of experience) but right now, I regret it. I’m also scared that she saw us. I am not dizzy or anything, but I’m still thinking like a drunk person. I know this for a fact because I want to go over to Addie's right now, and talk to her. She’s probably asleep.
“You asleep?” I ask Mikey, as I drive home. We have 15 more minutes.
“Nah” he says, and sits up straighter. His head was leaned agains the window up until now.
“So who won the bet?” I ask, wanting to talk about Addie.
“She did. She got 4 or 5 i think? I got like 3.” He answers. “She officially has more game than me”
I laugh, and so does he.
“But I mean, those kisses meant nothing” He says after a while “It was just a stupid bet”
“Yeah” i say, more to myself than him.
“Are you angry with me?” He asks me.
“No? Why would I be?” Which is a question I’ve been using to convince myself all night that I’m not mad at Michael.
“I don’t know. You’ve seemed weird since friday. And don’t give me that Marissa bullshit.” He says. I don’t know what to say, so I just shrug like I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about. “Did you have a fight with Addie? Because she’s been weird around you too” He adds.
“No?” My voice goes higher “We’ve barely talked since I went around her place. I mean, we talked about like…her dad, and school, and Marissa and Chris and stuff, but we didn’t have a fight” I say.
“Whatever” Mikey shrugs and leans his head against the window again. “You don’t have to tell me. Just don’t keep it bottled up. Not healthy. For both you and your friendship or…you know…whatever with Addie”
I don’t say anything, and I know, like, I know that he is right. And the conversation about bottling up stuff and how unhealthy that is, is circling my brain, but I still say nothing.
I drop Mikey off at home, and then I drive home by myself.
I park the car, but I don’t get out immediately. I sit there, and I look over to Addie’s house. All the lights are off. It’s well past 2am right now, and I’m really tired, so I sneak in home, and I go to bed. But I have trouble falling asleep. And I remember the sky was getting lighter and lighter when I did eventually close my eyes and drift off.

Notes

yooo new update. Is it too dramatic? I feel like I'm making stuff too dramatic. Sozz