Adelaide's Point of View

The amount of fake coughing I have participated in this week is more than I ever have in my entire life.

Today is the third day I've called in sick for work. Conviniently, those are my only three sicks days I recieve. But I was terrified of seeing Michael after the recent events. I knew he was going to be angry with me, and I was still upset that I had to slap one of my good friends in order to break up a fight.

"Hey baby," Calum called as he stepped inside my house, a brown package resting between his palms. A white string was effortlessly tied around the box along with an obnoxious stamp covering the corner. "This was on your porch."

I raised an eyebrow, taking it out of his hands and setting it on my kitchen counter. His family had returned home yesterday, so today was the first time this week that we have spent at my house. Every other day I could be found cooped up in his bedroom, participating in a never-ending sleepover. I quite enjoyed Calum's company and our ability to have fun doing nothing, and although I tend to get sick of people relatively easily, I didn't predict that it would be happening with Calum anytime soon.

My hand found a cerated knife in my silverware drawer and I used it to saw through the layers of tape covering the mail addressed to me. Once I had gotten it open, a box of fresh double-stuffed oreos were revealed and I squealed with absolute delight. "Oh my God! I haven't had Oreos since I was in America! These are my favorite food ever!"

Calum chuckled at me. "Ad, you do realize we sell Oreos in Australia too, right?"

My jaw dropped. "What? You do? I searched the entire grocery store and couldn't find them anywhere!"

"You probably just didn't search hard enough," He teased. "Who are they from?"

I glimpsed down, finding a small, orange colored paper of construction paper at the bottom of the box. I immediately knew from the shade of the letter that these were from my best friend Margo. "My friend Margo," I stated while grinning as I scanned over her words telling me how much she missed me and how happy she was for me to be out on an adventure like this.

Margo is my best friend from America, one of the few people I truly miss. Her name is actually Angela, but after she read a John Green novel, she changed her name to Margo and insisted everyone called her that instead. I felt guilty for rarely giving her a phone call, only scattered text messages when I wasn't busy with Calum. It was hard due to the time difference and due to her sucky phone bill that charged her for long distance. I needed to fill her in on my relationship status and ask her about her junior year of college, but I have yet to find the time.

I peeled back the plastic film covering the Oreos and picked one of them out. I fetched two glasses from the cupboard and placed them in front of us, pouring milk into each one, equally half full. I took out four cookies for myself and seperated them into two groups.

Calum laughed at me. "What are you doing now?"

"Two for eating with milk and two for eating without milk," I explained non-chalantly, shrugging my shoulders.

He reached over and snatched three Oreos from the container, leaving them resting in his palm as he took a quick slurp of the milk. "Is it bad that I like the cookie more than the cream?"

I gasped. I'm sure that my exact reaction was full of disgust and surprise. "What? The middle is the best part! What's wrong with you?"

Calum shook his head with uncertainity. "I don't know, that's what I like, Ad! Here, why don't I eat the cookie parts and you eat the cream parts?"

"Okay."

He bit the crust off and munched away and then held the remaining Oreo out in front of me. I licked the cream off of it, the sugary taste covering my tongue and filling me with pure bliss. "Actually, let's not do that. You look incredibly hot eating a cookie and it's freaking me out."

I chuckled, dropping one of my cookies into my glass and hearing it clink against the sides as it was drenched in the dairy product."I'm always hot," I joked, flipping my hair over my shoulder.

"Yeah, temperature wise."

I opened my mouth to protest, but was interrupted by my phone ringing loudly. Lucy's name flashed on the display screen and I groaned, lifting it up to my ear as Calum proceeded in eating more of my favorite dessert. "Hi Lucy."

"Hey Addy. Look, I know you're not sick and I know some drama went down between you and Mikey but if you stay at home and avoid him nothing is going to change and you're going to get fired. We're already short staffed today and could use some help and you could probably use a paycheck for this week. Please come in, Addy. I'm begging you."

I chewed on my bottom lip, digesting her words thoroughly. I did need some money and I knew I would have to face Michael eventually. This situation was not worth losing my job for. A sigh escaped my lips. "Fine. I'll be there in a half hour."

"Thank you so much. I'm proud of you," The redhead applauded before hanging up.

"They need me to come into work," I explained, glugging down the milk. Calum seemed uneasy. "I'm going to figure this all out, okay? Michael knows I'm not going to put up with him treating you like crap."

He smiled sheepishly, getting up from his seat and coming over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist as I nestled my head against his chest. I could feel his heart pounding by our simple touch. "Just be careful, okay? Don't worry about me, just focus on your friendship with him."

"I don't have to be friends with him if it makes you uncomfortable," I declared, tilting my head up to get a view of his face.

"No, Ad. You need some friends. You work together. I would never take that away from you. Go and get ready for your shift," He urged, planting a small kiss on my lips.

--

The bell hanging from the glass door rang as I opened it, turning the attention from customers to me. Mrs. Clifford beamed with joy as I assured her that I was feeling much better and grasped an apron from the hanger, draping it across my body.

Mrs. Clifford's passionate personality reminded me of my own mother, who I also had been slacking with keeping in contact with. I did enjoy the excitement of independence, but I often wish my parents weren't always so hung up with managing their businesses. My older brother, Clayton, also rarely has spoken to me since the move. He was always overwhelmingly busy with his wife and landing his new job on Wall Street. The shoes I had to fill were many sizes too large.

I exhaled a deep breath as I stepped inside the back room. Lucy smiled at me, relieving some of my worry. Michael's back was facing me as he sat at the large table we typically cluster around, and he was talking to some boy with shaggy blonde hair that I have never seen before. When the sound of my sneakers squeaked against the linoleum floors, Michael instantly scrambled to his feet in a flustered movement, his eyes widening. "Addy!"

"Hey," I said uncomfortably, approaching them. I scratched my forearm awkwardly as I headed towards them. The blonde haired boy smiled brightly at me, oblivious as to what was going on. "Do we have a new employee?"

"No, he's your substitute," Lucy informed me and put her hand on his shoulder. "This is Eric Cunningham. Michael's best friend."

I nodded, sticking my hand out for him to shake, which Eric did. His handshake was quite firm and he held eye contact with me the entire time. I applaud him for his gentleman-like social behavior. "I'm Addy."

"The American."

Michael gently tapped my shoulder, redirecting my attention away from Eric. He licked his chapped lips, the nerves evident on his features which I'm positive I mirrored as well. "Can we talk, please?"

My breathing rate increased just with that small phrase. "Sure," I murmured, my fingers beginning to shake slightly. I was never very good at confrontation.

I followed Michael into the tiny break room and watched as he gripped onto a bottle of water that was residing inside the mini-fridge. He gulped it down in seconds, proving to me that I wasn't the only one sweating like a sinner in church. "I'm sorry, Addy. I'm really sorry. I ruined our whole friendship and that was the last thing I wanted-"

"No you didn't," I insisted. "I'm the one who slapped you. If anything I'm the one who ruined everything. I still can't believe I did that, and I'm so sorry if I hurt you."

"No I deserved to be slapped. I didn't listen to you at all because I was so stubborn and I was so angry and I took it out on you and I'm sorry. And I pretty much spilled all of my feelings towards you and that just make things ridiculously awkward when people don't return them."

I sighed. "I'm sorry, Mikey. I wish I didn't have to friendzone you. I'm sorry if I led you on. I didn't mean to. I just have a special connection with Calum and I really hope you can respect that."

He took another swig of his water, shaking his head forcefully. "See that's the thing, Addy. If you knew what Calum did there is no way in hell that you would ever consider being his girlfriend. It makes me so frustrated because of how dangerous this situation is and I can't do anything to stop it."

"Why don't you just tell me what he did? I'm sick of not knowing," I snapped.

"No," Michael protested. "I want the coward to tell you himself. But mark my words, if he doesn't tell you in exactly two weeks then I am telling you myself."

"Okay," I agreed. "I'm still sorry for everything and I don't want things to be awkward between us. Are we good?"

"Not until you give me a hug," Mikey teased like a child, making me giggle as he wrapped his arms around me and gave me a warm hug.

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Author's Note: so this is like the shortest and most boring chapter ever im sorry but keep your eye out for Eric because he's kinda important

Thank you soooooooo much for reading ilysm it means the world to me ok. sorry for not updating yesterday but it was easter but yeah I update every other day so check back for the next update!

You are hella rad. Stay hella rad.i love youuu

dedicated to awcalum cause she literally voted for like every chapter of every one of my stories