C a l l i e

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"Hey Callie," My best friend ever, Luke, gushed as I walked into the wide living room that we all shared as I plopped down onto the couch next to him. He smiled widely as I leaned up against his side, and he flung his arm over my shoulders. The other boys gave him looks, but he ignored them and continued smiling at me.

"Hello, cutie. I missed you," I smiled at him and the other boys. Luke and I have known each other since birth, basically, and I moved in with the boys last year when they suddenly became one-hit wonders. It's nice to be close to my best friend, and he's just as equally content.

"So you had fun at work, I assume?" Calum asks me from the other side of Luke, and he sits up, trying to see me over Luke's big build. I breathe deeply through my nose. "Barely. I was just ready to get home and relax." I snuggle into Luke and breathe in his scent.

Working at the studio where the boys record their songs is tiring. All I do is sit around in my office and fill out record deals. "Well, now you've got the next week off for Christmas though, right?" Michael plops down on the fluffy rug in the floor with some Goldfish and starts crunching loudly.

"Yea," I breathe a sigh of relief. "Now I can spend Christmas with you guys." I look up at Luke, who was smiling at me, as usual. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but he's like always bubbly and cheerful when I'm around. He really is sweet, and he's been especially sweet lately, and in the middle of our conversations, he would just stand up and walk away, going and having some kind of secret discussion with the boys.

Sure, it's weird, and I wonder, but I let them have their boy talks. I have to give Luke space occasionally.

"Callie, you and Luke are gonna be alone Christmas Eve, do you mind? The cool kids have a secret meeting at the booze counter that night," Ashton butts in, situating himself on the couch opposite ours, a Coca-Cola resting in his hand.

I scoff. "Sure, tell me this now, three days before Christmas."

He grins and wags his eyebrows at Luke. "Well, then you and Callie can have some alone time."

Luke frowns at him, blushing. "Hey, shut up. It's not like anything is going to happen."

"Ha!" Ashton smirks.

"You're blushing, you dork!" I tease, poking his lip ring. He turns even redder, and I laugh. Luke can be so adorable sometimes, without even meaning it.

"Well, what're we going to have for dinner?" Luke asks, completely changing the subject. We all shrug, unsure.

"Zaxby's!" Michael shouts, and Calum glares at him.

"We've had that three times this week, Michael," Calum complained, and Ashton agreed. We have had Zaxby's three times this week, and we still have leftover chicken in the fridge that no one dares to eat.

"How about Callie cooks her famous chili?"

Everyone turns to Luke, and I look up at him. My eyebrows raise, questioning everything. Luke doesn't like chili. He absolutely despises chili. It's either cold, hot, or spicy. He always has a reason to hate it.

"Alright. Let's do this," I challenge him, grinning. He sighs, running a hand over his face. "Let's do this."

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And so there we were, standing in the kitchen together, preparing chili. Every time I try to put spice in it, he slaps it away.

"Don't put that in there!" He says sternly, snatching the spice from me and setting it on the counter.

"Hey Luke!" Michael shouts, and he looks up at him. While he was distracted, I take the chance to shake some spice into Luke's bowl of chili. After all, only he was eating that. Luke scoffs and continues stirring his chili. I look up at Michael, and he winks at me. I wink back.

"So Luke, how bland is your chili gonna be? Stop being a wimp and put some spice in there," I say, grinning.

"Oh yeah? I'll show you bland," he mutters, grabbing the spice and pouring a ton in his chili.

My eyes widen, and I sneak a look at Michael, who was snickering in his place at the bar. Calum and Ashton were doing whatever on their phones, and Luke was concentrating deeply on his chili, his eyebrows furrowed, refusing to look at me. He looked frazzled, frustrated, nervous. But Luke wouldn't be nervous around his own best friend, would he?

I push the thought out of my mind and continue spicing up my chili. I catch Luke cast a glance at me, and I smile to myself. I look up, and he looks away quickly.

"You okay, Luke?" I ask, rubbing his back comfortingly. I hear all three boys snicker behind us. Luke sighs.

"Yeah. I'm just feeling a little stiff."

"You want me to give you a back rub or something?"

"What? Um, yeah. I mean, no. I mean- ugh, just forget it."

I wrap my arm around his waist and glance at him, smiling. He grins goofily at me and doesn't push my arm away like he usually would. He doesn't like it when I touch him at all around the other boys. They snicker at him and end up leaving me out of yet another private discussion.

(Omg I'm listening to 5SOS RIGHT NOW! ❤️)

"Chili is ready!" I announce, and I catch Luke wincing. I rest my hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, you'll survive, you dork."

"Thanks so much," he deadpanned, and I smacked his arm. I put his chili into a bowl and give it to him. He grabs a spoon, hesitantly scooping it in and taking a bite. His eyes widen and he starts coughing.

"You. Snuck. Spice. In. My. Chili," he whines between coughs. I hit him on the back, as if he were choking. When he finally stops, he has his large hand wrapped tightly around my arm, and he doesn't let go.

L u k e
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I'm hopelessly in love with Callie. Everything about her is beautiful. Her hair, eyes, curves, laugh, personality. And as I lay in the kitchen, gagging my intestines out, she was at my side, her hand protectively resting on my back.

"You. Snuck. Spice. In. My. Chili," I said between coughs. She patted my back. "I did, but it was because I figured you weren't going to actually pour the whole can in there," she said, hitting my back a little too hard. I wrap my hand around her small arm, holding on tightly as Michael, Calum, and Ashton laugh their heads off.

I stand up, my hand still locked around Callie's arm. She pulls out of my grasp and makes a small cup of water, which I gulped down.

"Drama queen," I heard Michael mutter, and I frown at him.

"Can we just eat the leftover chicken?" I ask, and Michael nods his head feverishly. Calum and Ashton contemplate, but then quickly decided to just go ahead and get rid of it.

So instead of Callie's famous chili, we were eating leftover, soggy chicken.

C a l l i e
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I sighed and sunk down into the fluffy couch. I was exhausted at this point, but the boys were full of energy. They were bouncing around the floor acting like the bunch of dorks that they were.

And Luke was laying on the floor, stretching his arms past his legs repeatedly. Calum was snorting he was laughing so hard, and Michael wasn't even paying attention, his eyes glued to his phone. Ashton elbowed him in the ribs, and he shot up, glaring at Ashton.

"Oh my gosh, Luke, you're such an idiot," I giggle and roll my eyes. He has that grin plastered to his face, and I had the strange urge to tackle him.

"It's all for you, Callie."

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Sorry this chapter was shitty. It'll get better. Bc trust me I've the whole storyline planned out. It's kind of a sad story, but it'll all end good. 👍

It always does. ✌️

Anyways, keep reading, my nuggets.

It always gets better.

-Steph