battle, michael clifford

dinner and talks.

Sage was quick to unpack the necessities — she was thankful for the room she got. It had a beautiful, beautiful view of the lake

She changed into basic black leggings, and a hoodie from Australia where she went on her 15th birthday to visit her grandparents, and put her hair into a ponytail before being called downstairs.

Calum greeted her at the bottom of the stairs, and said that dinner was almost ready.

"We sit on the couch for dinner sometimes," Calum had said, making her nod. "Which we are doing for tonight."

Sage nodded. "My mom would absolutely kill me if I did that."

Calum laughed softly, "I am not your mom, so I don't care."

Sage laughed, holding her mouth to hold in her louder laughs. They walked toward the kitchen where everyone was sitting.

"Hi Sage," Ashton greeted her. "How was unpacking?"

Sage shrugged. "Fine."

Sage began to notice little things as she examined the room. Michael would have to tap her mom when she didn't answer, or was focused on her phone — which was 90% of the time.

She looked over at Luke, who seemed to have noticed this too but relaxed his expression when he saw Sage looking at him.

Besides this, Sage listened to everything Michael had to say.

Michael was talking about his job, and what medical field he studied in, and she watched her mom lean over and mumble to Michael — "You're in that field? I thought you were in neurosurgery."

As much as Sage didn't like Michael, she sure as hell felt bad.

"Sage, what do you like to do?"

Sage looked up from the fruit bowl which her and Calum had been snacking on, and chewed her watermelon before saying. "Not much. I work at a surf shop, I know how to surf too, I just don't do it often."

Calum tilted his head. "How come?"

"Surfboards are mega expensive," Sage countered.

"You'd get along with my brother," Luke commented, plopping a grape into his mouth. "He loves surfing. He also teaches it."

"It's hard to master," Sage nodded. "But that's the fun of it. Other than that, I don't do much."

Michael piped up now, "Me neither. Being a doctor is my number one hobby."

"You guys have very strong Australian accents for being in America so long," Sage commented, glancing between the 4 guys. "How did you keep it?"

"We watched Australian reality TV until we dropped." Luke hummed.

"And talked to our relatives a lot." Calum added. "We also talk in heavy accents whenever we get angry."

"Me too!" Sage said. "I always sound more like me whenever I'm angry."

The conversation ran off into their hobbies, what the boys grew up with, and everything until dinner was done. They were having lasagna.

They all sat down on the couch and watched some Australian reality TV, which made Sage laugh, and talked more about the boys.

Bella began drinking wine, and then more wine, and soon was drunk off red wine — which made Sage uncomfortable.

Calum stood, grabbing her plate which she was done with, and putting it in the sink as Michael dealt with Bella.

"Have a good night?" Calum asked as they walked up the stairs to their respective bedrooms.

Sage nodded. "I like talking about my hobbies."

"Don't do it often?" Calum asked.

Sage shrugged. "No one ever asked."