*Isabelle's POV*
Four of us sat round a circle table; Imber and Michael were in deep conversation, which Luke occasionally joined in to but other than that he sat quiet next to me, absentmindedly twirling the ends of my, recently dip dyed pink, hair in his fingers.
I hadn't really been listening to what any of them had been saying, my thoughts on anything but the conversation in front of me.
"What do you think Belle?" Imber sounded distant even though she was sat right next to me.
"Hm what?" I focused my attention on the three people sat around me.
"For your 18th! What are we doing?" Imber's voice was full with excitement. Everyone on this table was 18, making me the baby of the group I suppose.
"I don't see why it's such a big deal, it's not like being 18 will change anything for me. I mean I've done everything you can legally do when you turn 18." I grabbed my McDonald's strawberry milkshake off the table and placed the straw between my lips, taking small sips.
"Everything?" Luke raised his eyebrows at me and a smirk played on his lips.
"Everything." I gave him a quick wink and we both broke into small giggles,
Michael stuck his fingers in his mouth and started making gagging sounds, "If you two are quite finished. Why don't you have like a house party or something?" I shook my head and put my cup back down on the table,
"Don't think I really want drunken people in my house when my mum, Marcus and my brother are home." Michael snatched my drink from the table, popped the lid off and drank the rest.
"I wasn't finished with that you asshole!" He shrugged with a mouthful of milkshake, plonking the empty cup back on the table.
Once he'd swallowed the liquid (I know what you're thinking and it's dirty) he began to speak again, "Okay but if-" Luke interrupted him quickly,
"Are you going to throw that in the bin?" Luke pointed to the empty cup and Michael shook his head. Letting out a sigh, Luke stood up and paced over to the bin, cup in hand.
He was always cleaning up after Michael; he cleaned up after everyone really, where as Michael claimed 'they have people who do that for you.'
The three of us were carrying on the conversation about party places when Luke sat back down, I turned to him to see a tall figure in all black stood close by him. It wasn't until he sat down that I was greeted with Ashton's smiling face. His hair was freshly cut and a black fedora rested nicely on top, I'd be lying if I said he didn't look absolutely gorgeous.
"Tell her what you told me!" Luke elbowed me gently and a large grin began to form on his face.
"Well, Luke told me about your 18th next Saturday, which I didn't know about by the way thanks for telling me," The once smiling boy was now pouting and I stuck my tongue out at him, "But my mum is taking my brother and sister down to Brisbane that weekend so my house is free. I'm basically saying have your party at mine."
I perked up in my seat at his words, my excitement now rising.
"Are you serious Ash?!" I rested my elbows on the table and leaned forward cupping my chin in my palm, my attention now completely on the golden haired boy.
"Very serious. I just need to know who you want there and stuff."
"Considering it's your house and I know next to no one you can make all the decisions, I'm counting on you." He gave me a quick nod,
"I'll make sure it's the best 18th you'll ever have Belle." I snorted at his comment,
"It's the only 18th I'll ever have Ashton." He pondered on what I said then began laughing at himself, realizing what he had said.
The five of us fell into a comfortable silence. About 5 minutes passed when I eventually stood up, bringing all of my hair over one of my shoulders,
"I'm going to look for an outfit then, anyone coming with?" Ashton stood up almost immediately, offering to help me look so I could have a guy's opinion.
I was about to walk off when I felt tugging on my shirt; I looked down to see Imber's hand clenching the fabric.
"Meet me in an hour outside the mall?" I nodded and after saying goodbye to Luke and Michael, I headed towards the shops with Ashton following closely behind.
~~~
Ashton and me had only been in four shops and he was already complaining about being bored and hungry. Slipping a top I had in my hands back on the rack, I grabbed his wrist and started pulling him out of the store.
We were half way out of the door when a middle-aged couple stopped us in our tracks,
"Can I just say you two are adorable!" She practically squealed, hooking her arm through her husband's. I opened my mouth to speak but Ashton intertwined his fingers with mine and squeezed my hand,
"Thank you so much!" He gave the woman a cheesy smile, waiting until they had completely disappeared before letting go of my hand.
"What was that about? We're not dating?" I cocked an eyebrow at him and he flung his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him in a tight hug.
"Yeah but I wanted to save them the embarrassment." I let out a small chuckle at his actions. Ashton was never one to let someone down; he tried to make everyone happy.
After 10 minutes of walking, we found a small sushi place. After both of us got something to eat and drink, we sat down on a small table placed right next to a large, stone fountain.
I watched as little kids threw pennies in, smiling to myself at how innocent they were. I missed being little, everything was simple and the only thing I had to worry about was learning how to ride a bike.
"This is the center of the mall. Everyone believes that the fountain is a good luck charm, I mean every fountain is meant to be good luck if you throw money in. But there's something about this one that everyone loves."
I looked at Ashton who was staring intently at the clear water, his face solid.
"I used to come here all the time when my dad first left and let me tell you I wasted a lot of wishes, hoping he'd come back and I could do everything right. I never understood why he went, but I stopped blaming myself when I learned Calum's story and other people's stories."
I looked down at my hands, my appetite suddenly disappearing.
"Ash-" He cut me off before I could finish,
"He misses you, a lot." Ashton didn't have to say any names because I had a feeling I knew who he was talking about, "I've never seen him get so worked up about a girl like he has with you, and he doesn't like it. I'm sure you've figured out by now he doesn't trust too easily. I feel bad for him most of the time, he shuts the world out and there's no one to blame but his parents, his real ones. No matter what their reason was for leaving him, he's gone 19 years feeling like he has only one real friend and that's gotta take it's toll."
"You're not his only friend Ashton. He has loads of friends, he just doesn't want to see it." Ashton looked up at me, his face full of sympathy.
"I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about Luke." I thought back to the morning in the hospital, when I woke up to Luke and Calum arguing. I had never understood why Calum had gotten so worked up about that but now it made perfect sense.
Calum almost lost the only person he had left, he needed Luke, he needed someone. Then there was the morning at mine, when I was the one who shut him out. It wasn't as if I didn't feel bad already, but knowing this new information made me feel even worse.
I let out a loud groan and brushed a hand through my hair, trying to get it off my face. Ashton was about to start speaking again when a hand came down in front of him, firmly slamming into the table.
Both Ashton and I jumped in surprise, the force from the hand caused my drink to fall on the floor. Luckily I hadn't opened it so it was still intact when I bent down to retrieve it.
I looked up to see who the hand belonged to, and I felt like my stomach was going to drop to my knees.
Calum was glaring at Ashton, his eyes were wide with absolute horror, but that wasn't what made me sick. One of Calum's eyes was black and purple where a bruise was just leaving a mark. His lip was swollen and cut and dried blood covered most of his face.
"Calum mate what the fuck happened?" Ashton voice was shaky but full of concern.
"Where's Luke?" Ashton gave me a quick look, trying to apologize with his eyes. He stood up from his seat and took Calum's arm, leading him swiftly away. Not being prepared to just sit there while Calum looked like he'd just been thrown into a boxing ring, I got up and took after them.
I ran in front of them and planted my hands on Calum's chest making him stop.
"What happened?" I cupped his cheek in my hand and turned his head to the side so I could inspect his blackened eye better.
"It doesn't matter." His words were shot out but I wasn't giving up this time.
"Calum, what the fuck happened?" I gently placed my free hand on his other cheek and turned his head back towards me, not allowing him to look away.
His eyes became full with tears and some even slipped down his cheeks. Using my thumb I wiped them away, trying to read the broken boy in front of me.
"It doesn't matter." He covered my small hands with his larger ones and pulled them from his face.
"Ashton I need Luke, please. He won't answer his phone so can you tell me where he is." His voice was quiet and lacked any sort of power, despite how angry he looked just a minute ago.
Ashton looked at Calum, his face a mixture of emotions. "I'll ring Imber or Michael and find Luke once you tell me what happened."
Calum sighed, clearly not wanting to put up a fight, "If you're not going to help me I'll look myself."
I began to shake my head, not wanting him to go anywhere.
"Calum c'mon mate." Ashton wrapped his hand around Calum's arm, while his hands were still holding mine. He shrugged off Ashton and pushed me backwards a few steps so both of us were out of Ashton's reach.
With Calum's hands now on my waist, he looked at me and squeezed my sides gently. He carefully pushed me to the side out of his way and I watched helplessly as he strode off without giving me a second glance.
A/N: lil luke being a good citizen aw cayootie but poor lil calpal :(
thank you for reading and remember to vote pls maybe x