Adelaide's Point of View

"You really should come," Lucy persuaded, her dainty hands tieing a tight knot of the glossy ribbon around another bouquet.

"I don't know," I replied wearily, working on my own bouqet as well. My mind hasn't stopped racing with thoughts ever since I had received the news of Calum spending time in prison two days ago. He has yet to contact me since then, which was much harder to deal with than I expected, and I have been having a tremendously hard time concentrating on anything else.

Lucy shook her head at me. "Addy! You've been living here for almost a month now and you have what, three friends?"

"Four," I corrected, considering Mali-Koa a friend as well. Maybe she didn't think the same of me, but I needed her for my current argument.

Michael chuckled, swinging his arm around my shoulder. "Come on, Addy. You should come to the party. Lucy throws excellent bangers."

"It is not a banger, Mikey," Lucy protested, giggling slightly. She turned to face me. "Addy, at least come and stop by. You can meet some of our lovely friends and you can have an excuse to get dressed up. It's a win win situation."

I grinned. I had to admit that I was the stereotypical girl who adored the feeling of putting on a dress and heels every once and a while, but I was just not feeling like going to a party. I quite enjoyed sitting in my own home and sipping my bland coffee and attempting to keep in some sort of touch with my friends or family back home. "I'll think about it."

"Fine," Michael said in defeat. "If you don't come then the three of us will just have to go get pizza after work another time to make up for it."

"Hanging out after work? Wow, you two are just so obsessed with me, aren't you?" I teased, filling the room with my laughter as I transferred from my stool in the corner to fishing my way through the next basket of bouquets. I only had a few more to make before my shift ended.

--

If I could marry an article of clothing, it would definitely be this red dress that was currently hugging my body. Despite my typical lanky shape, this slinky material accentuated the curves I always wished for. My chocolate colored hair was sleek and straight, a rare occurance for the usual curly mess. I had a smoky grey eye shadow piled onto the top of my generally bare lids. Glimpsing in the mirror through my mascara covered lashes, I genuinely looked like a different person.

My ankles had straps around them, holding up my heels in case my clumsy behavior causes me to trip. I strolled across the sand to weave towards Calum's house before he left. I wanted to talk to him. I missed him in this brief time apart which was almost uncanny.

I wiped the beads of sweat that had formed just below my hairline onto the back of my palm as I inhaled a deep breath. My hand clenched into a fist as I carefully knocked against his front door. There was an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway and a lot of chatter that traveled through the house and to the front porch that I was currently standing on.

Calum opened the door and his eyebrows immediately raised towards the starry sky that was settling upon us. "Adelaide," He stated breathlessly as he chewed down on his bottom lip, his brown eyes scanning over my entire outfit. I suddenly felt overexposed.

"Hi Cal. I was going to go a party at Lucy's but I wanted to talk to you first. Is everything okay with us? I miss you," I said shyly.

He smiled brightly, leaning against the door frame. Calum was dressed in a muscle tank like usual, portraying those muscular biceps that made me swoon. "Aw. Yeah, we're good I just figured you wouldn't want to be around me now that you know I was in jail."

I shrugged. "Honestly, it doesn't really bother me. Which is kind of weird. I mean, I'm curious about what happened, but it's really not my place to judge. Everyone makes mistakes right?"

"This is why you're my favorite person on the planet," Calum stated, which only made me grin.

Out of nowhere, two teenage boys emerged from behind his door. One had soft blonde hair that was tousled up in a quiff on the top of his head. He had a lip ring attached from his pale skin to his mouth and he was sporting a flannel shirt. The other had curly mop of golden brown hair and protruding dimples on his cheeks. He was wearing a shirt similar to Calum's, only his revealed strong and buff arms as opposed to scrawny. They were both undoubtedly attractive, and they were staring me down with subtle smirks plastered over their beautiful faces.

"And who's this hottie?" The blonde cooed, sticking his hand out. I shook it gently with a laugh. "I'm Luke. This is Ashton."

"I'm Addy, it's nice to meet you," I greeted, blushing slightly as they both winked at me simultaneously. "I was just about to go to a party."

"Aw, babe, you should stay! We're having a party of our own right here," Ashton presented. "Come on, Addy. We have chocolate milk!"

I chuckled loudly, my eyes flickering from Calum back to the boys. I would feel slightly bad for ditching Lucy and Michael, but then again they weren't exactly expecting me to show up. I would much rather hangout here and get to know Calum's friends. My mind registered that these must have been the other two friends that Mrs. Hood had mentioned at the dinner.

"Well how could I say no to that?" I exclaimed, making the two lads cheer with bubbling excitement. Calum rolled his eyes, placing one hand on the small of my back as he escorted me inside of his home.

"These are my friends from Sydney, they're staying here for a bit," He whispered into my ear, making goosebumps rise on my skin due to our proximity. I nodded my head, kicking off my uncomfortable shoes and letting my bare toes come in contact with his hardwood floors.

The home was empty except for the four of us, and music was blaring from a speaker, as well as balloons covering the surface of the living room. "So where is this chocolate milk I was promised?"

Luke slung an arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to his extremely tall body. "Well you see, Miss Addy, you have to beat me at a staring contest first. And this might be hard, I'm a pro at staring contests."

"It's true, Addy," Ashton piped up as he planted his butt on the barstool, taking a sip of his cup in front of him.

I giggled, turning to face Luke. He angled his body so that I was directly in front of him and grinned down at me, his teeth biting down on his lip ring. I had to admit it was turning me on a bit more than I would have liked to admit. "Okay, ready? One, two, three go."

I did my best to keep my eyes open and to not advert my gaze away from his blue irises. They were piercing right into mine and I could hear Ashton's adorable voice chanting. My eyes began to feel dry and I laughed, giving up and blinking to rejuvenate them. Luke clapped his hands together in victory. "Sorry, babe. No chocolate milk for you. But you do win prettiest eyes."

My hands playfully pushed Luke away from me. I glanced up at Calum who had his jaw clenched together tightly. "Cal, will you please let me have some chocolate milk?" I pleaded, batting my eyelashes dramatically.

"No, Ad, you're a loser," He joked. I pouted, stepping closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist tightly. I whined as I placed my head on his shoulder. "Fine."

"Yay!" I shouted happily, kissing his cheek in gratitude and sliding onto his seat as he headed for the stainless steel fridge. "See, Luke, I don't even have to win those staring contests."

"Yeah, it's not your fault Calum is whipped," Ashton teased his mate, chuckling to himself as he made a whipping motion.

Calum joined him in the laughter. "F off, Ash," He said playfully, setting down a red cup filled with dairy product in front of me. I lifted it up to my lips, feeling the liquid slide down my throat with ease. "Ad and I are just friends."

"Ah so she's fair game?" Luke wondered. He crept his arm around my waist and kissed the top of my head gently. Calum tensed up from the other side of the counter, which I had to confess that I secretly loved seeing.

"You wish, Hemmings," Calum stated with a roll of his eyes, throwing a pretzel at his friend's head. The three boys cracked up together and I loved seeing Calum so genuinely content. This side of Calum I rarely got to see. It was so cute to me, to see the way he acted with his guys, so comfotable in his home, in contrary to the last time I was here.

The song playing through the speakers changed and Ashton's jaw dropped as he recognized the tune. I giggled as he started slapping his hands against the granite countertops to the beat of the drum. "Do you hear this riff right now? I think this song is going to change my life. Listen to that bass!"

"I just learned this song yesterday!" Luke chimed in, releasing his arm from around me and sprinting into the living room. He opened up a case and revealed a gorgeous guitar which he strapped across his broad shoulders and his fingers instantly played along to the tune in an effortless manner.

"You've got to be kidding me," I practically screamed. "You play guitar? You have to teach me. I've always wanted to learn."

"You'd be good at it, Ad," Calum agreed, lifting his body up so he was sitting on the counter in between Ashton and I. He was grinning down at me which made my heart pound against my exposed chest.

Luke trotted over to me, placing the guitar onto my lap and picked up my hand, fixating it against the neck of the instrument and putting his hand on top of mine. His arm eneveloped around mine as he strummed the guitar carefully. "There. You just learned your first chord."

"Wait, really? That was so easy."

"Don't get too cocky, babe," He chuckled, repositioning my fingers again and letting me strum the cold strings this time. "Look at you, you're practically a pro!"

I smiled with pride. Luke pressed his body against my back as he moved my fingers again, and we were so close that I could feel his breath on my neck and the rise and fall of his lungs.

Calum's hand clasped over the neck of the guitar as I continued to play it with Luke's help. "Alright, enough of that."

A giggle escaped my lips as I hopped off of the chair and out of Luke's grasp. Calum lips were pursed together and I could tell he was not fond of how touchy-feely his friend was being with me. I nudged Ashton with my elbow. "Not only is he whipped, but he's also a jealous freak."

"Cal has always been jealous. He is especially jealous when I cuddle with Lukey instead of him. The kid throws a fit," Ashton told me, the two of us bursting into hysterics.

"So how do you guys know each other?" I inquired, my curiousity getting the best of me. I curled my feet up to my chest in the spinny chair, to get more comfortable.

Ashton took another sip of his milk. "We used to live here. But we hated it. So Luke and I moved out when we were eighteen and got an apartment together in Sydney. We tried to convince Hood to come with us, but Joy wouldn't let him move out for anything. Protective mothers these days, you know? So we just visit each other like once a month now. How did you meet my best friend?"

"I moved here from America and we're neighbors," I informed him with a shrug.

"Ah, so you moved into Ellie's house. Makes sense now," Ashton mused. His statement was vague and puzzled me. I assumed Ellie must be Calum's ex-girlfriend who had moved away.

"Ash," Calum yelled firmly, interrupting his conversation with the blonde. Ashton nodded, the two of them speaking with only their eyes. I admired their bond that allowed them to understand body language so easily, but I was also disappointed that I had no clue what was going on.

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Author's Note: i couldn't remember if i updated yesterday or two days ago so i decided to just update again woo

LUKE AND ASHTON HAVE MADE THEIR WAY INTO THE STORY FINALLY

thank you soooo much for reading, i love you all lots have a fantastic day ok

dedicated to ofmichaelandmen because she is absolutely fab and i was so happy to see that she's reading this and enjoying it!