Social Casualty

*Luke*
2015

I kiss the girl standing next to me. She looks at me, surprised, but doesn’t stop me. I hear someone yell my name as I continue to kiss the girl. He stomps up to me angrily.
“Are you f*cking kidding me, Luke?” Ashton shouts.
“Got a problem?” I say. I hand the girl my phone number before Ashton pulls me away. He glares at me. Calum comes running up, out of breath.
“What’d I miss?”
“I can’t believe you, Luke! How could you cheat on Reign like that?” Ashton asks. Calum immediately glares at me.
“All I did was kiss some girl. It could have been worse. Besides, she cheated first,” I say. I feel dizzy.
“Oh, so we’re playing that game, aren’t we? Reign cheated on me so I’m going to cheat on her. It seems fair enough,” Calum says, disgusted. By me or by Reign?
“Pretty much,” I answer.
Calum pulls out his phone and steps away.

*Calum*

“Reign?” I ask.
“Did you find him?” she says.
“Um, yeah. I have something to tell you though.”
“What is it?” she asks, worried.
“I’ll be home soon to tell you. I just wanted to let you know that we found him and that we’re on our way home,” I say.
“Okay, bye Cal.”
I sigh. “Bye Rainbow.” She hangs up and I walk over to Ashton who is yelling in Luke’s face.
Luke looks at me as I would have sympathy for him. Yeah right.
“C’mon. I need to go talk to Reign. Can you take him somewhere?” I say.
“Where?” Ashton asks.
“Anywhere but where Reign is. He can’t be there because I know that she won’t be able to stand the sight of him. Not after what he did.”
“I’ll take him to a hotel for the night,” Ashton says. He grabs Luke and we go out to the car.

*Adelaide*

“Reign!” I shout. “Calum’s here!” Reign and Hayley run down the stairs. Amber and Michael walk out of the living room to where I’m waiting for cookies to come out of the oven.
The timer dings and I pull the cookie sheet out. The smell fills the kitchen. Michael tries to grab one and I swat his hand away.
“No, Michael. They’re hot. You have to wait until they cool down,” I say, laughing. I turn away to grab a plate. He frowns and quickly takes one anyway. He tosses it between his hands.
“It’s hot!” he says.
Amber shakes her head and smiles. “Told you,” I say.
Calum walks in with a frown. His face lights up when he sees the cookies.
“Cookies!” he shouts. I scoff. “What?” he asks.
“You come in with a frown on your face and the cookies make you happy?” I ask. Wow.
“What do you want me to be happy about?” Calum asks, confused.
“I want you to be happy to see me!” I shout desperately. He suddenly understands and tries to apologize.
“Addy-“
“It’s fine, Calum. I shouldn’t be like this. You have more important things to deal with right now,” I say. Why do I always try to draw attention to myself?
“No, it’s not. You are important, Addy.”
I walk out of the kitchen, not saying another word. I stomp towards Calum’s room. I just want to be alone. I climb onto his bed with his laptop. I wrap the quilt around my body. It smells like him, in a way that I can’t even describe.
I open the laptop and go to YouTube. I type in Amnesia 5SOS. I click on the music video and watch Calum sing. I fall asleep to the sound of his voice on repeat.

*Reign*

No. He didn’t. No way. It can’t be true.
“Tell me that you’re lying, Calum,” I say. He looks at me seriously.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” he says. I break down into tears. He wraps his arms around me and I cry.
Calum carries me to my bedroom and lays me down on the bed. He turns on my CD player to I Miss You by Blink-182. My favorite song. I listen and quietly sing along.
“Where are you? And I’m so sorry. I cannot sleep, I cannot drink tonight. I need somebody always. This sick strange darkness comes creeping on, so haunting every time.” Calum listens to me until I fall asleep in tears.

*Calum*

I walk into my bedroom to find Addy asleep with the quilt around her. I hear myself on the computer singing.
“I drove by all the places you used to hang out get wasted. I thought about our last kiss. How it felt. The way you tasted.”
I lie down on the bed and wrap my arms around Adelaide. I hear her singing in her sleep as usual. This time she sings Adam’s Song.
I gently close the laptop and listen to her sing.
Strange. Addy is the only person that I have know to sing in her sleep.
Suddenly, she jerks awake.
“Calum?” she whispers.
“Yes?” I say.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, Addy. If you ever feel like I don’t give you enough time, I want you to tell me so I can fix it. I want to be with you more than anything. I love you, Addy.”
“I love you too, Calum.”
She lays her head on my chest and I pull her closer. I hold her as we fall asleep.

*Ashton*

“Luke! I’m not doing this anymore! F*cking listen to me!” I shout. Luke lies on the hotel bed, staring at the ceiling, giggling.
“You’re funny.”
“Get up right now, Luke! You are going to take a shower!” I shout more. I probably should be quieter.
“I like pizza,” Luke says. “Kittens are so cute. Blue is a pretty color. Where’s my guitar?” Luke rambles off random things.
“Pizza is good, kittens are cute, blue is pretty, and it’s with management, Luke. Will you please take a shower?” I say, in a nicer voice.
Luke sighs and stands up. He follows me to the bathroom and I turn on the shower. He stands and waits for me to leave.
I leave after setting the temperature. I sit down on the bed and turn on the news. I watch the CNN reporter drone on about politics.
I hope Calum calls soon. I can’t wait to get out of this place.
Luke walks out of the bathroom. He collapses on the bed and falls asleep.

Notes