Even If You Don't // Calum Hood

Chapter 25: Just Me and My Shadow and All of My Regrets

Mari's POV; 9am

I woke up the next morning the sun shining directly on my face. I groaned quietly, rolling onto my other side, opening my eyes to find Kaylynn watching TV.

"Morning, sunshine," she giggled at my less-than-amused expression.

"Tell the sunshine to go away," I whined, burying half of my face in the pillow.

"I don't think I can do that, sorry," she smiled, getting up and going to the window, "But I can close the curtain."

"I'm already awake," I sighed, "I might as well just pack."

"Already done," Kaylynn informed me, "Your sweats are on the bathroom counter with your toiletry bag, so all you have to pack is that and your pajamas." I smiled slightly.

"Thanks, Kay," I murmured, dragging myself out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

I brushed my teeth, changed into my other clothes, and went back into the room. Kaylynn had turned the TV off and made both of our beds, ready to go get Kenzie and Vanessa to go to the boys' house.

"You sure you still want to go?" Kaylynn asked, "We can just hang around here until we have to head to the airport.

"I'm sure," I nodded, "I still have to kick Mikey's ass in GTA one more time."

"That's my girl," she beamed, holding her hand up for a high-five.

I grinned lightly again and we met the other two girls in the hallway after making sure we had everything we'd brought with us. Kaylynn had called Bryan after I went into the bathroom, so he was already waiting for us when we got outside.

Once we made it to the boys' house, we didn't even get to knock on the door before Ashton was pulling it open.

"Hey, guys!" he smiled brightly – way too chipper for 9:30am in my opinion, but hey, that was Ashton for you. "Come in!" he ushered us inside, "Guys! They're here!"

"Wow," Kaylynn nodded as she looked around, "It's cleaner this time around."

"Yeah, well, Ash made us clean when we got back from shows all week," Luke said, coming into the room with Calum following behind him like a lost puppy. We made eye contact for a brief moment, but quickly looked away when the blonde started talking again. "Mike's waiting for you downstairs, Mari," he looked at me, "Said he's looking forward to kicking your ass in GTA."

"In his dreams," I rolled my eyes. I tightly gripped the hoodie in my hands, holding it out to Calum. "Here, Cal..." I said softly, "Figured you'd want this back." He barely nodded, taking it from me before I hurried downstairs.

I trotted to the main room of the basement where Michael was sitting on the floor in front of the TV, already playing Grand Theft Auto V. He had propped himself up against the couch, a second controller sitting beside him.

"Hi, Mikey," I said softly, going around the back of the couch so I didn't walk in front of him.

"Mari!" he beamed, pausing the game and waiting for me to sit down so he could hug me tightly. Michael ended his current game and switched to multiplayer so I could join in.

~

About 30 minutes of in-game horseplay and Michael's terrible jokes later, he apparently decided to get serious.

"We know what happened last night, kitten," Michael told me as we continued playing the game. I let out a breathy laugh.

"I should have known Kay was gonna tell you," I replied.