It wasn’t much of a surprise when I showed up to work and Luke was nowhere to be found. Calum had a spare pair of keys so the store was already open when I made it there with Michaela that cold Monday morning. Her first class of the day didn’t start until 11 so she figured she’d hang around here for as long as she could before making her way to the campus.
"Hey, Calum," she said once we'd arrived, hand-in-hand. "Do you know where Luke is? I mean, it's not like I'm begging for his company, but it is his store." As she spoke, she swung our entwined hands back and forth - making everything seem like a daydream.
"I don't know but I know that he left once I came home last night with Tori," Calum replied, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders back as though he were sore.
"What do you mean 'Came home with Tori'?" I asked, using my free hand to insert air quotes.
"I mean I came home with Victoria last night," Calum replied calmly, wiping down the countertops as he spoke. "She was upset about Luke and wanted company -"
"She's always had me for company..." Michaela chimed.
"Okay, company of someone who has a dick," he smirked before walking over and leaning against the wall next to us. "She's still at my place sleeping in case you were wondering."
“…And then I said, ‘just because it’s a banana, that doesn’t mean I’m not happy to see you’,” Ashton laughed as he walked inside with his arm around Jennifer. “Oh, hey guys,” he smiled; scanning the room in an instant and realizing that someone was missing form our usual equation.
“We don’t know where Luke is, if you’re wondering,” Calum filled him in before he could ask the question for himself.
“Oh, I was just gonna ask where Tori was,” he smirked before plucking a drumstick from it’s placeholder and twirling it around between his elongated fingers.
“Same,” Jennifer chimed, scrolling through her phone. I’m usually surprised whenever she says anything because she never looks like she’s paying attention.
“She’s at their place,” Michaela said, peeking over Jennifer’s phone ever so slightly, only to get flicked in the forehead. “What the duck, Jennifart?” She winced, rubbing harshly at her head.
“Don’t fucking look at my phone, don’t be fucking rude, what the fuck is wrong with you?” she spewed out at such an alarming pace and intensity, it made me want to cower in a corner (the comment wasn’t even directed at me).
“Take a chill-laxative, dude,” Michaela sighed, rolling her eyes almost as though Jennifer hadn’t dropped the f-bomb eleven times in one sentence.
“What time do you have to go to class?” Jennifer asked in her usual monotone as she continued to scroll through her phone.
“Eleven,” she replied casually as she purposefully bumped into my shoulder.
I bumped back when Jennifer responded, “Well, it’s 10:30 right now – isn’t your building on the other side of the city?”
