-but you're still flawed-

It was a simple day. Paisley was sitting with her best friend and casually writing everything she observed about him into her notebook.

The way his nose had light freckles from the sun. The way his hands held onto his stomach as it hurt him too much to laugh. The way he would make low, lame comments about the show they were watching.

The two best friends were just hanging out, not having spent the day together in awhile. Valentina had Luke on lockdown after the award show. The girlfriend had made sure that not even his bandmates could contact him.

"Whatcha writing?" Luke asked, turning his attention to his best friend. She had her notebook in her hands again, something he was used to since they had been twelve years old.

"Nothing."

The book was quickly shut close with a loud sound escaping the pages.

That was another thing Luke was used to. Not even when they were in school was he allowed to read her work. He understood that it was scary to have someone criticize you but she let Calum read her writing all the time.

"Can I please read what you wrote?" Luke asked softly, he moved over so that his chin was resting on the top of the notebook which resulted in Paisley pushing him away.

"Maybe another time," Paisley responded.

"Pais, what can you be writing that's so bad that I can't read it?" Luke asked, huffing as he crossed his arms across his chest.

Paisley blushed and fiddled with the book before responding, "I'm talking shit."

"I always knew you were shady," Luke said, leaning back against the armrest of the couch once again.

Paisley snorted at what her best friend had said. This induced a panic into the small girl as she covered her mouth. Small laughs started slipping past Luke's lips after hearing her snort.

She occasionally did snort while laughing and each time was better than the last.

Paisley wallowed in self-pity, while Luke still laughed, when her phone started going off. She threw a pillow at the blond to get him to shut up before answering.

"Paisley," a voice rushed out quickly. The person sounded out of breath as they spoke her name.

"Hey Calum!" Paisley said, pushing her foot against Luke's chest as he tried to get close to hear his other best friend's side of the conversation.

"Check Valentina's Twitter," he said quickly, "Ok bye."

Paisley was left puzzled after Calum's cryptic message but complied anyways. She closed out of the Phone app and opened up Twitter. She hadn't been on the social media app in awhile. The small girl hated that people thought that they could say whatever they wanted just because they were online and hidden with a screen.

Valentina was one of those people.

The small girl slowly pulled up the twitter page, her heart pounding against her chest though.

@Valentina: when your boyfriend's best friend is trying to steal him away from you. just remember who he belongs to twitter.com/pic/jwe539hdj7

Placed within the tweet was a picture of her and Luke, both cuddling and it was very intimate. Luke was hiding his face and Valentina was smiling widely. Her arms were wrapped around his shoulders and he had his arm on her waist. It made Paisley uncomfortable. Majorly.

Valentina was the most petty person she knew.

"Um Luke? Did you see what Valentina posted at all?" Paisley asked softly, holding up her phone towards the blond.

He peered over and looked to see what the small girl was showing him. His blue eyes widened when he saw was on the screen and muttered profanities under his breath.

"Fuck," Luke mumbled.

Paisley knew that he hated when she did this. Luke was a private guy and hated having pictures of himself on the internet that were this intimate and without his consent.

"She's so petty. I'm not trying to steal you away. I haven't even seen you in a solid week," Paisley muttered, rolling her eyes.

Luke looked up to Paisley and stifled a laugh at what she had said. Valentina could be a bit rude sometimes but she was a good person.

"I wouldn't say she's petty. She's just protective," Luke tried to reason, "She's very insecure and has always been scared of how close we are. I'm sure she doesn't mean harm."

This time it was Paisley's turn to hold back a laugh. Valentina had never been anything but harmful to her. It was a reoccurring thing.

"Are you kidding me? Valentina despises me. She's hardly ever not been a bitch to me," Paisley let out. She never talked bad about his girlfriend to his face but she knew Luke was not going to react well.

Luke's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed as he watched the girl he loved as a friend talk horribly about the girl he actually loved. He never had heard Paisley talk so badly about anyone in his life.

"It's because she's insecure! She's scared that I'll leave her for you! Valentina is not a bitch. If anything, you're the one being the jealous bitch right now," Luke ranted. His voice slowly got quieter until the end of sentence came out in a hushed tone.

Paisley's eyes widened at what her best friend had just said. They had jokingly called each other mean names before but it was always in a teasing manner. It was never so brash and uncalled for.

"If you think that I'm a bitch, Luke, then why don't you just leave," Paisley scolded, her voice coming out clipped.

She got up off of the couch, shoving Luke's feet so that they'd land on the floor with a loud thud. She grabbed her book off the coffee table and started heading to her room.

"You know the way out," she called it over her shoulder.

"Pais! Wait! I didn't mean it like that!" Luke exclaimed, calling out after the girl he knew he just hurt immensely.

The words had just slipped out. He didn't mean it.

Paisley was his best friend and he never wanted to intentionally hurt her. He didn't mean it.

"Of course you didn't or else you wouldn't have said it," Paisley sneered, "I just really hope you remember who your real friends are Luke. I've been there for you since we were eleven-twelve years old and I'm going to be there for you one hundred years later. She is a wild card. She doesn't know you like I do. Your love could be gone within the next year, month. Hell, even next week. Don't call me a bitch when you very well know that I'm not."

She turned on her heel so that she was facing the blond that was still on her couch during her small rant. There was a strong bite to her tone and Luke knew he had royally fucked up.

Paisley could be rude and she could be petty. It wasn't without probable cause though. If Valentina had been a good person, she would've let it go. She wouldn't care as much.

Even if she was somewhat in love with her best friend, she could've put her feeling aside. The small girl wanted what was best for Luke.

"Just leave," Paisley said, before turning around again.

She made her way to her room. Closing the door and locking it behind her, she flopped down onto her bed.

It was funny to see how a good night could turn into a bad one.

***

This lowkey sucks lmao. It took me forever to write. I've been so busy with the semester starting and applying for a job rip. I also am probably going to update even less because I want to start working on a story that I actually want to be published and I'm so so so excited for it!! So yeah sorry y'all. I'll try my hardest.

-El