•Cassidy

I sent Calum one picture of myself, opened up his, and then never responded again. I had prior commitments. I wasn't going to let him dictate my life when he was the one who had dumped me. I was angry with not only him, but with myself. I needed to build my independence again and start standing up for myself.

I was scared that I was becoming one of those foolish girls that would let the boy she was in love with control her.

This was exactly what I did not want to happen. I craved putting some distance between us, because maybe that would make me be able to fend for myself for awhile. Talking to him everyday was great in the sense that he was still in my life, but I was beginning to feel so pathetic after every encounter.

Calum was still getting all of the benefits of a relationship: unconditional love, assistance when he's horny, and someone to confide in. Whereas he would barely even listen to me without cutting me off, and completely disregarded any of my feelings just to satisfy his own wants. Since he was the one who broke up with me, I don't think this is fair. And I needed to make some changes.

However, I had no idea how to communicate all of this to Calum without giving him an ultimatum. So I was doing what I did best- I was ignoring the problem for now until I came with a plan for discussion. The best form of distraction was going out, so that's exactly what Troy and I were going to do.

Bree and I hang out together all the time, but now that we live together it just consists of the two of us laying on the floor and stuffing our faces with greasy, fattening foods. I was excited to actually leave my house for once, because maybe a change in scenery would help clear my cluttered brain.

After I had finished getting ready, Troy picked me up exactly on time. He was always a very punctual person, something I greatly admired. I wish I was able to be one of those people who had their life together enough to never be late to anything.

"Well look at you!" Troy exclaimed, as he lifted his back off of his sleek car that he had been leaning up against. He wrapped his arms around me in a quick hug before opening up the passenger side door. "You look beautiful, Cassie."

"Thanks, Troy," I replied gratefully, a smile inching its way onto my face. I slid into the leather seat and buckled up, and he shut the door like a true gentleman.

He got onto the driver's side, his chapped hands gripping onto the steering wheel. "So, where are we going?" I asked him.

This obviously was not a date, because Troy was very clear on both my relationship with Calum and the friendship the two of us shared, but I was still curious as to where he planned on taking us. Troy told me not to worry about anything because it was "his duty as a costar to make sure I had a fun break from filming."

He sent me a grin as we pulled away from the driveway, speeding off down the dimly lit streets, with the only source of light coming from the traffic signs and street lights and the incoming flashes of red from the brakes of the vehicles in front of us. "There's the place a little bit away that is like half arcade, half restaurant. I mean, unless you'd rather go sit at some awkward sushi place. But I thought it sounded fun."

"You know what's fun," I started, turning my head to face him at the same time as he glanced from the front window to glimpse at me. "When I kick your ass at Skee-Ball."

He let out a loud chuckle, shaking his head at me. "Is that so?" Troy responded, licking his lips. I nodded my head. "You know I'm actually secretly a pro at Skee-Ball, so I hope you brought some tissues, sweetie."

"Why? Are your awful skills going to make me cry?" I teased, which resulted in Troy rolling his bright eyes at me. "It's okay. Everyone starts out as a beginner. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

He bit down on his lip, a mischievous expression overtaking his features. "You wanna bet?" Troy suggested, bobbing his head out slightly.

"You're on."

•*•*•

As we waited for our food that we ordered to come, we got the chance to stroll through the arcade. The two of us had played a few of them already, and I was already starting to rack up some tickets. It was much more fun than I expected, and I secretly missed the thrill of all of these childish games, even when I knew I was destined to lose my money.

"So, how have things been with Calum?" Troy asked politely, his eyes locked on my own, conveying that he actually cared about my answer.

We were both walking pretty slow through the mild crowd of people, hoping that no one recognized us or that no one would be too loud so we couldn't talk.

I shrugged, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "I don't know. He still seems to act like we're in a relationship, except I'm supposed to be loyal to him and he doesn't have to be loyal to me. It's ridiculous. But I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Troy furred his eyebrows together in confusion. "What do you mean?" He asked, his voice raising with irritation. "You tell him that's not okay and that it's not fair to you."

We stopped in front of the Whack-A-Mole game, and Troy placed his tokens inside of the machine, grasping onto the oversized, squishy hammer. I leaned against the side of it, letting my head slump down. "I mean, yeah it's annoying. But it's better than nothing."

Troy pounded on the toy moles that popped up from their holes, trying to hit as many of them as he could. When the game ended, he ripped out his tickets and then turned his attention back to me. "Cass, no. I'm not letting you be one of those girls."

"I know, I-" I tried to respond.

"No, stop. You're in love, I get it. But you can't just let him treat you like crap. You need to stand up for yourself. If he can't deal with your terms, then he doesn't deserve to be with you. There are so many guys who would kill to be in his position. So I'm not going to let him make you feel like poop every time you get off the phone with him. You're only hurting yourself," Troy stated seriously, never breaking eye contact with me.

He spread his arms out wide, and I slowly shuffled into his arms, letting him give me one of his signature bear hugs. I knew he was right and that I needed to stand up for myself more often. "I'm sorry this is happening to you, Cass. You're the sweetest girl and don't deserve to be in this mess. But you need to push through it and be the strong, sassy, Cassie that I know you are. Alright?"

"Okay," I agreed, sighing with relief because it felt good to be given that little pep talk. I needed to snap out of the funk I was currently in. "So, let's go find the Skee-Ball."

Troy laughed, swinging his arm around my shoulder in a friendly manner and tugging me towards the Skee-Ball lanes. He was a very touchy-feeley person, which I had grown accustomed to as I worked with him every day for the past two movies, but I think that was just his way of showing affection.

"I'll go first," I decided, picking up one of the sort-of heavy white balls. I brought my arm backwards and rolled it up the gray lane, watching it skid off the top of the ramp and land in the hole that was marked with the number thirty, meaning I was starting out with thirty points already.

Troy went up next, and he ended up getting a twenty. I clapped my hands together as my competitive side kicked in. I wasn't going to let him win. For my next turn, I ended up getting only a ten. Troy rolled the ball down the mini lane and whipped out a forty. The pressure was building, so I went for the smallest circle to get a fifty, but I missed and got another thirty.

After all of the white balls were gone and placed back in the machine, hidden behind the hot pink cages, I ended up barely winning by a whopping ten points. "I told you I would win!" I cheered, jumping up and down obnoxiously, since I could never resist the opportunity to gloat.

Troy pursed his lips together, shaking his head. "No, let's do a rematch. On a different game."

"Aw, is Skee-Ball too wild for Troy Wilde?" I mocked in my best impression of a baby voice, cocking my head to the side sympathetically.

He just grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the closest game to us. It was one of those impossible games where there was a ring of colored lights, and you had to hit the button to stop it on the only white one out of the bunch, which happened to be the smallest out of all of them.

I pressed my fingers onto the glass covering, even though my fingerprints would surely be covering my exact spot right after. I smirked. "Troy, if you can win this game I will honestly be seriously impressed. Our whole bet can disappear."

"Fine. I'm up for the challenge," He responded, pushing the tokens into the slot. The light started to spin around all of them, and his eyes carefully followed it, and I was starting to get dizzy. Troy let out a groan. "Screw it, I can't do this."

He shut his eyes tightly and randomly slammed down on the button. Instantly, music and a dinging sound started to play, and hundreds of tickets started pouring out of the machine. Both of our eyes widened, flickering between the game and each other.

"Holy shit! I won!" Troy screamed, a huge smile growing onto his face. I screamed just as loud, while also laughing simultaneously, and leaped into his arms to congratulate him. "How did that even-"

"I have no idea," I confessed, still chuckling as his strong arms unwrapped me, but still holding onto my waist.

"I guess you're my good luck charm," He declared, grinning at me as if I was some magnificent human.

His gaze locked on me, then changed to my lips. Our bodies were so close that I could feel our rapidly beating hearts pound against one another. I began to lean in, as did he, and I started to feel his breath tickle the top of my lip. Troy's eyelids closed, and I knew what was about to happen.

But something prevented me from letting it happen. Or rather, someone.

"Troy, I- we can't," I whispered, causing his head to instantly retreat away from mine.

His palms dropped from my side and his cheeks burned a bright shade of red. "Right. I know. I was just excited about the game. I know you're still in love with Calum."

"I'm sorry. I wish I wasn't," I admitted, feeling awful from viewing him so disappointed and embarrassed. "You're a great guy. And I love how much you care about me and are always there for me, Troy. I need that kind of friend more than anything right now. But I'm really not ready to be involved with anyone else."

Troy and I have kissed each other hundreds of times before, and we probably will have to kiss each other on Monday morning too. But that was for our job. That was our characters kissing. I wasn't ready to put my own heart out to anyone else when I still felt like my heart belonged to Calum, no matter what he did to me. And that was terrifying and I hated it.

"Cass, I totally understand. It has only been a few weeks, obviously you're not over him. I didn't even mean to kiss you. This wasn't a date. You're my best friend and I don't want to lose that either, okay?" Troy told me, and I merely nodded my head. "I just want you to be happy, Cassidy. It may take some time, but you need to get your life back on track, because who knows how long it's going to take Calum to figure out what an amazing girl he let go of."

"Thanks, Troy," I mumbled sincerely, giving him another hug. "Why don't we go see if our food is ready yet?"

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author's note: well well well what do we have here

ok so like one half of you guys are like omg she needs to get with troy to make calum jealous and get over calum and troy is so sweet and the other half of you guys are like TROY STAY IN UR LANE  BEFORE I TURN U INTO A SQUASHED PINTO BEAN

ugh why does c squared have to have such a complicated relationship and like history together ffs

thank you guys so much for reading and commenting and voting and tweeting me (@calumfridge) i love how we have all became like a little sugarplum fam its so cute i love you all so much

dedicated to xxxxhaysosxxxx for saying that she loves how i encourage you guys to be good and smart with your lives and it makes you feel bettter cause that means so much to me since i care about all of you its so weird that like 28k people follow me like thats so many people with so many of their own lives and interests and problems and its so weird to think about but i love & appreciate you all so thank you guys