Dedicated to @those_damn_bands bc you guessed omf (I'm on my phone so I can't actually dedicate but I will asap)

17: female robbery - the neighbourhood

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©alum

My head hurt and my chest hurt but I managed to shove the door of the ice cream parlour open and stumble over to the scene unfolding in front of me.

"Calum," Cassidy shouted, scrambling to follow me.

As she shouted my name, Luke and Michael looked up at me, their eyes widening as they noticed is spotted them. Luke's mouth hung open and Michael shot out of his seat and grabbed me. He sat me down and I struggled for breath. Breathe, I told my self. If only it was that easy. After a couple of minutes Luke started hyperventilating and I looked up.

"Calum," Luke grabbed at my arm. "We can explain."

"Explain what?" I said flatly. "why you were kissing? why you're on a date together? Why-"

"Calum," Cassidy swatted Luke away and grasped my arm, pulling me up.

"No," I yanked free from her grasp. "No, no, no. What the fuck... I'm so confused. Help me here guys, what's going on?"

"We-" Michael started, but he stopped himself when Luke shot up and ran to the toilets. "Oh, for fuck sake, Luke!"

"What?" I asked. "finish, Clifford."

"Oh, fuck off Calum," he snapped. "It's none of your business, I don't know why you're having a stupid hissy fit about this."

"That wasn't a 'hissy fit'," said Cassidy, glaring at Michael. "That was a Goddamn panic attack. Don't degrade him, Michael."

"I don't need this. I'm going to check on Luke," Michael slammed his fist down on the table (being angry seemed to be something he was good at) and stormed off into the toilets.

©assidy

"Calum," I pushed him down onto the seat and he breathed heavily, in, out, in. "Calum, listen to me. I'm sorry, but you're over reacting. I understand they kept this from you but you don't need to get worked up about it."

"Shut up, Cassidy," he muttered darkly. We were causing quite a lot of attention, although there weren't many people around, and it was making me feel slightly light-headed.

"Don't, Calum," I warned. "What's the big deal? You knew Michael was bisexual. Your friends are dating, what's so weird about that?"

"You wouldn't understand," he shouted. "You don't understand friendship at all, mainly because you don't even have any proper friends!"

I shot forwards, grabbing Calum's collar. "That," I hissed. "was uncalled for. Calum I'm asking you why you're making such a big deal out of this, to work out what triggered your panic attack. I'm trying to fucking help."

"Secrets," he sat back and pulled away from my grasp. "Secrets trigger me. Because for two years my mum told me my dad had gone on holiday, but really they'd gotten divorced and he was in America. I didn't know they'd gotten divorced until two years after my mum made my dad leave. I-" he rubbed his forehead. "That's why I feel like shit when people don't tell me things, ok?"

I was still hurt about that snide comment, but regardless, I sat down beside Calum and rested my head on his chest. A waitress made her way over to the table.

"I'm very sorry but would it be possible for you to keep the noise down? only we've had a complaint."

I nodded. "We'll just grab our friends and be off, sorry." She walked away and I got out of the booth. "Stay there. I'll go and check on Michael and Luke."

I walked over to the toilets (which were, fortunately, unisex) and knocked on the door. "Michael? Luke?"

All I could here was faint moaning, so it was pretty obvious what they were doing. "Michael! Damn it, Luke!" I screamed. The noises stopped and Michael's apologetic face peeped from behind the door.

"Sorry, we can't hear in there," he said.

"Calum wants to say sorry," I informed them. "One word; secrets."

Michael's wore a look of pure guilt when everything clicked. "Fuck. Oh, fuck. What the hell have I done? Fuck. Oh fuck. Fucking fuck."

"Stop cussing," Luke mumbled.

"Sorry, babe," Michael said. "Oh, shit- sorry Luke- I mean, oh, balls. I forgot about that. I'm such an awful friend. I'm the one that should be apologising."

I smirked. "He's sorry. He also has a secret of his own I'm sure he'll be wanting to tell you. He hasn't mentioned America to you, has he?" Both boys looked confused and shook their heads. I nodded. "Little hypocrite."

We trudged back into the diner and met a nervous looking Calum at the table. "I-" Calum started, but Michael cut him off.

"I'm a dick," Michael announced, and Calum looked baffled. "Secrets," Michael winked and tapped his nose.

Calum face softened and he nodded. "I'm also a dick. I'm sorry, Mikey, Luke."

I pushed Michael and Luke into Calum and they all group hugged awkwardly. we then made our way out of the cafe, which I'm sure the waiters there were ecstatic about.

"So," Luke said slowly. "What's this about America?"

Calum's eyes widened and he started breathing deeply. "Trigger."

"What?" said Michael, confused. "What's wrong with Ameri-"

"Trigger," Calum said sharply. "I'm going. Cas can tell you. I'm sorry, I can't..."

Calum ran off, leaving me to explain for him for the second time today.

-

what the fuck

how the fuck did u get 100 votes in 1 day

guys

the reads goal is 1.5k, votes 120, and comments 30.

this is v v v rushed bc of the goal being so quick but wow

like thank you this literally means the world like people actually voted bc they wanted an update wow omg

sorry bye

IF YOU READ THIS BEFORE I'm really sorry I accidentally changed pov halfway through. it won't happen again but I don't want to edit it cos I like it how it is. Cassidy's PoV will be next, although I might do 2 chapters in a row in the same PoV later on in the story, idk.

-cx