Adelaide's Point of View

The slamming of the front door erupted throughout the entire first floor. I felt myself sigh out of relief, but the sobs continued to escape my mouth. I couldn't help being so emotional, and it was rather embarassing for my new friends to view me in this state.

Calum's hands had dropped from around my waist as soon as Michael had exited. I wanted him to continue to hold me and soothe me, but even with my back facing Calum, I could tell he was more than pissed.

"Why are you all wet?" Luke asked, his outburst shocking me. His skinny fingers pointed to my see-through shirt, one that I had completely forgotten I was wearing with the mix of events.

"Michael spilled water on me," I explained through sniffles. He nodded awkwardly. I felt terrible for interrupting their party. I was the cause of so much drama.

Calum scoffed loudly. "Why were you even with Michael in the first place? We literally just had this discussion today about how much we all hated him, and you just had to parade into my house with him two hours after you were supposed to be home? Why would you do that, Ad?"

His shriek was unbearable. I hated getting lectured and yelled at, ever since I was a child. I either had broke down crying or I would get equally as irritated. "It wasn't on purpose, Cal! We had more work than expected and stayed late to finish it and then it was dark out and Michael offered to drive me home."

He shook his head at me, looking at me as if having the audacity to accept a ride was a crime. "Why would you get in a car with him? Do you see all the crap he's feeding you? Why would you do that? Why didn't you just walk home and come over here like you were supposed to!"

"I wasn't going to walk past the Tavern at ten o'clock on Saturday where the place is filled with drunks! I didn't feel safe, okay? So I let him drive me. You should be happy that I got home safely!" I screamed right back at him, suddenly becoming infuriated.

He rolled his chocolate brown eyes. His condescending attitude was driving me insane. "Well then you just had to have him drop you off at my house, right? You had to have an argument on my front porch, right? You had to let one of the people I hate most have access to my house, right? Do you like seeing me get punched, Ad? Do you?"

"Are you kidding me?" I screeched, clenching my fists together with anger. I rarely used the f-bomb, but this time it was almost completely nessecary. "Do you really think if I enjoyed seeing you get punched that I would have jumped in front of you, risking myself? Do you really think that I would slap Michael if I liked seeing you hurt? God, you're such an idiot! First of all, I had Michael drop me off at my house, but then he tried to kiss me and I yelled at him and told him I couldn't because I didn't feel that way about him, because of you. He was the one who bolted over here and I did everything I possibly could to stop him, I did, and I'm really sorry that I couldn't. But don't you dare try to say to me that this is my fault."

"If you never got a job at that stupid florist in the first place this wouldn't have happened," Calum muttered, his body tensing up as his jaw tightened. He reached for his jacket and headed towards the back door. "If we never started dating this wouldn't have happened."

His hand covered the handle and he slid the glass door open, stepping outside. I sprinted to follow him, feeling an overwhelming sense of heartbreak form inside of me, but Ashton's arm grabbed me, preventing myself from moving any further. "Calum!" I called as he walked away, but I was too constricted to make any movement.

It was not my intention to fight with Calum. I hated fighting with him. I liked seeing that smile on his face and the sadness in his eyes washed away. I didn't like when he glared at me with disappointment. I didn't like viewing the vein on his neck pop out. And more than anything, I didn't like seeing him upset due to whatever the cause may be.

"Just let him go, love," Ashton stated, pulling me into his chest. "He does this all the time. He leaves for a little while to stop himself from blowing up and so he can think through all of his emotions. He will be back, I promise."

"Introverted tendencies," I mumbled, the knowledge from my freshman psychology class swirling through my mind. I rested my head against Ashton's body, feeling the tears spill out from my eyes again. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your guys weekend. I interrupted it so much and now I'm crying-"

"Hey," Ashton cut me off, putting one of his fingers underneath my chin and tilting it up, forcing me to look into his array of green and hazel colored irises. He gave me a small smile as he wiped away my tears with his large hitchhikers thumb. "It's okay to cry, Addy. You just had a hell of a lot happen. Luke and I don't care. We used to deal with this shit all the time when the incident first happened. Calum is the best he's ever been and that's all thanks to you. So seeing him happy these past two days and meeting you has already made this weekend a great trip, this situation doesn't change a thing."

I grinned weakly, giving the strong boy a hug. "You guys are way too nice," I stated with a giggle, watching Luke shuffle over and join our group hug. "I'm probably soaking both of your shirts right now."

Luke chuckled. "Yeah, why don't we get you cleaned up? You can borrow one of my shirts if you'd like? And then once you're all dry we can go put in a movie and forget about all this."

"Okay. Thank you," I told him gratefully, breaking free of the embrace and waddling down to the basement to be handed a change of clothes. I headed into the bathroom and washed my face, feeling the warm water cleanse my impurities and remove my tear stains. I wiggled out of my work attire, the wet material clinging onto my body like a glove. I pulled Luke's shirt over my head, enjoying the warmth that came with the baggy tee. The elastic on my dainty wrist came in handy when I tied my hair up into a bun, securing the lazy hairstyle with the hair tie.

Ashton and Luke were both plopped onto the big couch already, having some conversation with a film playing on the screen in front of them. They beamed at me with delight and patted the seat in between them and I graciously joined them, ready for a nice distracton. I curled up with a blanket and cuddled up between the two boys, my head resting on Luke's shoulder and my legs sprawled out across Ashton's lap. "What are we watching?" I inquired, fixating my head so it was comfortably placed in the crook of Luke's neck.

"I honestly have no clue. It was the first channel that came on. Let's hope it's good."

It was not good.

The film was excruiating and boring and I found myself dozing off within the first few minutes. It was a documentary on fish and had an incredibly monotone voice as the narrator, reminding me of one of my hated professors. If Morgan Freeman was the one narrating this maybe I'd be slightly interested, but instead I had fallen asleep shortly after.

--

"Adelaide?" A soft voice whispered, poking me gently. My eyes fluttered open and I saw Calum standing in front of me, a concerned expression covering his flawless face. "Can I talk to you?"

I nodded, carefully climbing off of Luke and Ashton's sleeping bodies, hoping that they wouldn't stir. I tip-toed up the stairs and into his kitchen, a place where I had been spending a lot of my time lately.

Calum sighed, running his hands through his hair. "I'm sorry. I completely overreacted."

"You think?"

He groaned quietly. "See this is why I didn't want to date, now you're mad at me!"

"I'm not really mad at you, I'm just more mad that we had a fight," I elaborated. Calum smiled at me in a sheepish manner, spreading his arms out wide. I instantly gave him a hug, nuzzling my head against his broad chest. "If you really don't want to be in a relationship we don't have to be. I kind of forced you into it. We can go back to being friends with benefits, it's okay."

I could feel him shake his head as he stroked my chocolate colored hair, planting a kiss on my forehead. "Ad, I want you to be my girlfriend. I didn't mean what I said. I just don't like seeing you upset and I know that it was all because of me, but Michael brought up such a touchy subject. And then I was pissed that he almost kissed you and I really don't want to lose you to Michael, okay? I was scared of that and that's why I left before I could blow up and hurt your feelings even more. I'm really sorry, baby."

I leaned back, still having my arms locked around his waist, so I could get a view of his face. It was still that same bronze color and his large, pouty, lips were still calling my name. I gave him a quick kiss, feeling the swarm of butterflies return as the spark was initiated. "It's okay," I assured him. "Where did you run off too?"

"It's my secret hiding place that I go to whenever things get rough and I need to clear my mind," He told me, grinning down at me as we subconsciously swayed back and forth. "If I told you where it was then you'd be able to find me, and that would defeat the purpose of a secret hiding place."

"Well what if I need to hide somewhere to think stuff over? I wouldn't have any clue as to where to go in this town. You should help me out," I persuaded, giggling lightly at my attempt at convincing him.

He stared at me for awhile. I could tell his mind was currently running on a treadmill, contemplating whether or not he should inform me. Cal pecked me on the lips again. "Fine. But only because I like you so much."

I cheered happily, gripping his hand and letting him take me on the journey to his getaway. Our fingers intertwined together, fitting like matching puzzle pieces, and my heart rate inclined by such a simple gesture. I loved hearing the sound of his laugh again and not having to worry about how he was controlling his sadness or anger. The sense of protectiveness I had towards Calum always washed away when I saw him acting truly happy.

Our feet squished in the grains of sand of the completely empty beach. The midnight air whipped across our faces. The sudden gusts of wind sent shivers down my spine. Calum seemed to notice and he shrugged his sweatshirt off of his shoulders, draping it across my body like a shawl. "Calum," I protested, attempting to take it off. "Now you'll be cold."

"I'm always hot," He stated, then laughed to himself. "And I'm not talking about temperature."

I cracked up at his lame and childish play on words. Lame jokes were some of my favorite jokes in the world simply due to the fact that they were so bad that it was humorous. Most things in life don't have that kind of reputation. If you have bad food, you spit it out, you don't enjoy it. But if someone tells a bad joke, you still laugh anyways. It's truly a remarkable act that humans partake in.

"This used to be my favorite place when I was a kid," Calum murmured. He seemed awestruck with a sense of nostalgia as we continued to walk further down the beach. "Before my parents and I would get in arguments all the time, my father and I would always come down here to play soccer."

I was swinging our hands as we furthered our journey down what seemed to be a never-ending beach. "Speaking of your parents, where are they?"

"They all went up to visit my grandparents on the other side of the country," He explained. "I was going to go too but I forgot that Luke and Ash were coming this weekend. It's nice though, being independent for a bit."

"Your parents left you boys home alone all weekend? Aren't they worried about you guys drinking all their alcohol or throwing a huge party?" I asked in surprise. My parents would have never let me stay home alone, which is one of the reasons I couldn't wait to live on my own.

He bit down on his lip. "Nah. I mean, they know that I don't drink anymore. And I don't even have enough of friends to throw some giant party."

I rubbed up his arm in a comforting manner. His sadness was clear. I could tell he was lonely, even if he didn't admit it. I desperately wanted to rid him of all of his hurt. "This is taking a long time, why didn't we just drive?"

Calum shrugged. "It's not too bad, Ad. Besides, I hate driving. I only drive when I absolutely have to." He abrubtly stopped our pace and stretched his arms out, much like the host of an infomercial would. "Well here we are. Welcome to The Pier."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: aw i love when people make up from fights easily wow that was so easy to do

what did you think of this chapter? there are many many many many many clues to the incident in this chapter and the last chapter so i'm challenging you to read it closely and try to predict what happened in the comments :)

thank you sooooooooOOOOO much for reading/voting/commenting. everything you guys do mean the world to me & i really hope you're all enjoying this story as much as i enjoy writing it. it's weird because i can write a 2000+ word chapter like it's no problem but a 2,000+ word essay is torture

remember that i update every other day so check back real soon

love you guys so much thank you for everything ♥ have a fantastic day muffins

dedicated to ThunderLuke bc i love nicole mucho