"Hey, Ca-"

         "Lucy!" I move the phone away from my ear, Calum's voice and the noise in the background a little too loud for my liking. "The fuck are you?"

         I raise my brows, "As in... what am I, or..?"

         "Where are you, Dr. House?"

         "Oh, I'm..." I look down at myself, ignoring his newest nickname for me, "I'm home, reading To the Lighthouse, in my pajamas, under a single floor lamp. Ashton went out an hour ago, if you're looking for him."

         "The fuck would I be looking for Ashton, he's right next to me!"

         "Oh, well, yeah, he said he's going out with Luke, not surprised that you're with th-"

         "Lucy!" He yells even louder, triggering my need to throw my phone the fuck away. "We're not out, Jesus Christ, why does he lie about these things?"

         I frown, my heart speeding up at that sentence; it wouldn't be the first time Ashton's lied about something to get out of having to spend time with me, and never has finding out about it been pleasant. "What-what do you mean?"

         "I mean, leave Virginia Woolf and get to Wonderland!"

         "Calum," I grin unexpectedly, saying his name in a soft tone, "I didn't know you even knew Virginia Woolf's work."

         "Of course I do," He says, replying monotonically at my teasing. "Ashton read five of her biographies to make you feel better about your mum's condition when they first diagnosed her, you were a mess and he didn't know what to do."

         My eyebrows go a little higher and I stare at nothing specific for a few moments before mumbling a small 'what?' – one that Calum didn't hear.

         "Come on, did you never figure it out?" The fact that I didn't figure it out makes it even more special now. "Okay, just don't start having a moment, please, I have another 30 seconds."

         "Where-where are you?" I ask him, deciding to postpone thinking about Ashton and Virginia Woolf later. When there's a more appropriate moment for me to feel delicate and mushy and fuzzy on the inside.

         "At Wonderland, I just told you to get down here!" He starts yelling again, "The place is crazy! This is our biggest fucking gig, I can't believe this nimrod didn't tell you!"

         Oh, he was talking about the club when he said Wonderland. The nightclub. Honestly, my past experience with nightclubs makes me cringe at the thought of them. "Well- alright," I end up giving in, "When'd you start?"

         "Half an hour ago, hurry up, we have an hour left!"

         "Okay!" I yell back, his yelling getting on my nerves, "I'll be down as fast as possible!"

         "Yes!" I've only heard him yell that loud when his favorite soccer team scores. "I'll tell the bouncer to add you on the list!"

         "That would be nice, yes-"

         "You know, Lu, someday you might be as cool as Dr. House, not just limping like him."

         "Ha ha, fuck you." I hang up before he can say anything else, knowing he would go too far if the conversation continued and possibly say something that I would find insulting and he would find hilarious. Well, better get dressed; if not Ashton, then Calum will be happy to see me jumping to their songs – as much as I can, due to my still unserviceable leg, for which Cal loves calling me Dr. House, and, unfortunately the other guys are picking up on it.

         Except Ashton. But maybe, this will soften him up. A bit.

         Just a little bit.

*

         "Come on, it has to be there!" I almost whine, bouncing a little in irritability, "Harrington, that's H-a-r-r-i-n-"

         "I know how you spell Harrington, okay? There's just no Harrington here," The man in front of me tells me, for what is probably the tenth time, but still looks and flips through the several pages of his list. "You sure it's not Harrison, or Harley, or... Harjochee?"

         I widen my eyes at him, in disbelief and, by now, hopelessness. "Do I look like a Harjochee?!"

         He frowns down at me, "No," He says blankly, "You look like you need to go to the end of the line, miss."

         "Come on," I frown back at him, "Calum, the-the band member, the bassist, he told you to add someone on the list roughly half an hour ago, didn't he?"

         "How would you know that?"

         "Because I am that person!" I exclaim desperately, causing enraged sighs and hushed whispering among the approximately 50 out of 150 people standing in line behind me, the line I stupidly cut into. "He told you a female name, right? Just tell me what he said, and I'll kill him later."

         I probably shouldn't have said that last part. I had people talk to me about making public threats a number of times. "I'm afraid I can't do that," The man says, at this point looking at me like I have two heads- I've already thought about calling Calum out, but I don't want to interrupt him in the middle of their biggest gig. Then again, if I don't, I'll be standing here the entire night.

         "What about Lucy?"

         "What?"

         "Is there a Lucy on the list?" I ask, sighing in desperation, "Lucy, Lucia, Lucia Beatriz-"

         "There is-" He starts, but gives me another look- probably to assure himself I'm not actually mad. "There is a Lucia House."

         I don't believe this. I don't fucking believe this. "That's me," I nod firmly, but the fact that I urged him on to find Harrington on the list is most likely the reason he's shaking his head now, not believing me. "I swear it is, he calls me House because I was in an accident a month ago and I broke my leg and now I'm limping, see? I'm carrying an umbrella so I can lean on it, why else would I carry a fucking umbrella?"

         The look on his face as I laugh at my own self, is enough to make me decide to never again come to this place. Never ever. "Like I said, either go to the end of the line, or go ho-"

         "What's going on here?"

         Even though I was plotting his death in my head, there isn't a person in the world whose voice I would've wanted to hear more than his. "Calum!" I yell, throwing one hand up in the air so he'd see me, "Please tell him to let me in!"

         A very sweaty Calum comes into my sight, frowning at me and then the bouncer too. "Wha- come on, man, I told you if a Latina says I put her on the list you let her in!"

         "I would've, if she didn't insist on being a Harrington for ten minutes."

         "What- oh." Calum pulls his lips between his lips, trying not to giggle while I'm dying of anger and embarrassment. "That might've been my fault."

         "See? He admits it. Now open the-the rope thing."

         "I'm sorry, miss," The doorman says as he finally lets me pass, "But a lot of people try to get in using the bands that play here, and you were just being-"

         "Shady? Yeah, I know."

         "I'm disappointed, Lu," Calum says, releasing his laugh, "How could you've not guessed that-"

         Instead of using an unnecessary amount of energy on something else, I get a firm hold of my umbrella and whack him across the chest – he bends in pain just a little bit, but it's enough for me. "That's for House," I furrow my brows at him, "You anus, I could've been out there the whole night!"

         "Relax, I would've remembered to look for you at some point."

         I barely hear the end of his sentence as we enter the club, the noise deafening me momentarily. "Okay, everybody's dancing, but you go sit at the bar close to the stage, okay? So you can watch us."

         And so that I wouldn't be standing on my feet when only 3/4 of my two legs are functioning, but okay, watching them is more important. "Okay. If I find a seat at the damn bar," I mumble the last part to myself as Calum rushes off, and I'm left pushing through the crowd to find a much needed empty bar stool. To my surprise, I spot a free stool in between two girls; I'm almost positive that they're saving it for a friend, but neither of them say anything when I slowly take a seat. The one closer to the stage even gives me a smile when she sees me sitting there.

         "They're good, don't you think?"

         "Yeah, really good." I smile when I spot Ashton, chugging a bottle of water, looking sweatier than the others; I can picture him reading a Virginia Woolf biography even as I watch him now, in this state. "Really good."

         "Have you heard of them before?"

         "Yeah, I knew them back when they played in Luke's garage to nineteen people."

         The girl grins at me, laughing a little even, "Me too! We could be great friends, you know."

         "Because we knew them when they were just starting?"

         "Well, yeah, there's that," She shrugs, looking around as I pick up the coke I got while she was thinking about her answer. "And I'm fucking the drummer."

         Well, good thing I'd only touched the glass bottle with my lips as she said that. Or the soda would've been spat all over her. "What?" I blink at her a few times, as she laughs at my baffled expression. Honestly, I think my brain is just refusing to take her statement seriously.

         "I'm sorry," She says, glancing at Ashton herself, a rather shy smile on her face as she shrugs innocently, "I've never been involved with a band member, it's like a teenage fantasy come true. I love saying it."

         "You do?" I raise my eyebrows at her, this time my response making her a little puzzled. "Well. I'm living with the drummer."

         Instead of the surprised and possibly embarrassed reaction I would've expected from a decent person, she just widens her eyes for a second, before realization washes over her face. "Oh," She says, pointing her beer at me, "You're Lucia. Yikes."

         I didn't think she could say anything to make me feel even worse – but she did it. "Are you Brittany?"

         She frowns, to my surprise, "What? No, who's Brittany?"

         At first the information makes my lungs forget how to function – if she's not Brittany yet she's fucking him, how many girls like her that I don't know about could be there? – but I quickly decide to take it as an opportunity. "Well," I shrug my shoulders, "Looks like he's fucking someone behind your back too."

         The girl licks her lips as I take a gulp of my coke, laughing lightly shortly after. "Honey, unlike you, I'm not delusional," She says, picking up her purse and getting off her stool, "My conscience would never allow me to even think about getting him back after sleeping with his band mate behind his back. Really, Lucia?"

         With a frown that doesn't leave her face, she walks away, to the crowd of people close to the stage. I've been here for merely five minutes, but I've already had enough. I don't need to be reminded of the mistake I made, a mistake so big it's enough to last me a few lifetimes. I'll just try to talk about it with him when he comes home.

         If he even comes home tonight.

*

hiiiiiiii this is a small chapter (with a cliffhanger though wink wink) and the next part will be longer and more exciting for sure, i'm just still getting back into writing this story :))))

and vote and comment pleeeaaaaaaaaase :D i love you x