Lost Boy

As soon as we both emerged outside, I was immediately brought to attention of two things; the first was the two incredibly good looking and athletic, yet aggravating and self-obsessed boys who were standing at the bottom of our drive way, each of them nose to nose with Michael and Luke.

The second thing I noticed, however, was the large circular hole in my smashed back windscreen and the soccer ball which was being twirled around almost tauntingly, by the taller of the two boys. I was completely prepared to rip into him over it, but once again, Michael had beaten me to the punch, quite literally.

As soon as I saw Michael’s fist fly forward, Jade and I shared a worried glance before sprinting to the end of the drive way and grabbing a pale arm each; holding Michael back just as the fist belonging to shorter of the two boys connected with Michael’s nose which was already slightly crooked.

I shot a glare over my shoulder at them both, scowling in disgust at the smug smirks on both of their faces, before turning to look at Michael and Jade worriedly, an idea popping into my head all of a sudden.

“Jade, I think you should take him into the house, there is a first aid kit under my bed, Luke will help you carry Mikey in; he needs to get that blood cleaned up before it gets infected” I instructed her, unable to stop the smug little smile that spread over my lips as I watched the three of them hobble inside.

I had no doubt that Luke would disappear into his room to gossip about the debacle to Lani as soon as he had helped the two of them up the stairs. I couldn’t help but admire my own matchmaking skills with glee, at this rate they would be together by my birthday next month.

As soon as I was sure that they were safely inside, I whipped around to unleash my wrath on the boys – only to find that one of the dumbasses had run off, leaving me with the taller and seemingly more arrogant boy whom was still smirking at me with that smug look.

It honestly made me want to slap him into the next century. I was fully prepared to do that, but once again, somebody had beaten me to the punch; I was really starting to get sick of this interrupting bullshit.

“So, you’re Mikey and Lukey’s little best friend, Meegan was it? My sincerest apologies about your car but it got in the way of mine and Ashton’s soccer practice” He smirked as he looked me up and down, making me feel exposed and vulnerable under his sharp gaze – something I hadn’t allowed myself to experience for nearly 4 years now.

I wasn’t about to be reduced to a self-conscious little school girl just because of his intimidating manner though, I wasn’t one of his little fan girls. “I’m Calum by the way, darling, Calum Hood.”

I fought the urge to gag and roll my eyes at his clichéd greeting, he practically reeked of over confidence and sweat.

“I know who you are and I don’t care how many trophy’s you have or how many notches there are in your bed post, if you or your asshole of a mate comes near Michael, or Luke again, I will personally make sure that you both end up in a hospital bed, okay Darling?” I seethed as I stepped closer to him, unfamiliar to the flipping sensation which was currently occurring in my stomach, it almost felt like ... no, don’t even consider that for a moment, Meegan!

I had expected him to skulk off after that comment from me, but he did the opposite, and what’s more, his smirk never faltered for a second.

“You know who I am? That makes things even easier! You might want to keep less of an eye on Lucas and Michael, and more of an eye on your pretty little friend; I think her name was Jade? You see, Ashton has a thing for pretty girls, and it won’t take long for him to charm her into his bed, it’d sure be a shame if Mikey were to get his heart broken again, wouldn’t it now?”

I had about a million questions to ask and was basically stumbling over them in my mind, my head whirring at various parts of his little spiel, what did he mean again? Did Michael have history with these boys? Was that why there was so much tension between the four of them?

I didn’t know what to think, but one thing I was sure of, was that there was no way in hell that Ashton was getting anywhere near my innocent best friend, or screwing up my matchmaking plans. If I didn’t despise him so much, I would have tried to set him up with one of my friends, but I didn’t hate any of them that much.

Before I could even splutter out any of these questions though, Calum was smirking at me and giving me a final once over before opening his mouth to speak again “Take care darling, i’ll be seeing you around soon.”

With a wink and a smug little wave, he was off again, heading into the house right beside our own, making a groan escape from my mouth.

Not only was I going to have to deal with seeing him around the complex, but he was now my next door neighbour, along with the other dumbass. I really did have just the most fortunate of luck, I mean it was almost like someone was deliberately trying to mess with me.

I knew exactly what my mother would say on the predicament, and that was certainly not something I wanted to hear just right now; as much as I adored my mother to absolute pieces, she was a firm believer in fate and destiny and all of that jibberish.

I wasn’t saying that I disagreed with her or didn’t believe in those things, but sometimes shit things happened to good people and it had nothing to do with some divine power or the way the planets aligned for particular events to occurred, sometimes shit things happened just because they did.

With thoughts of my mother and Calum Hood swimming around in my head, I twirled around and proceeded back up the driveway, heading inside with the resolve to call my insurance company to get this whole debacle over and done with.

I knew my insurance company would cover this and I didn’t see how it would be right for me to demand that Calum pay for my repairs when I knew it was covered.

He might have been a jerk and a moron and god, that boy managed to make my blood boil like it was nobody’s business, but he was still a uni student, just like all of us, and uni students weren’t exactly known for being loaded with cash.

I wouldn’t do that to anyone, no matter how rude, arrogant or condescending they were towards me. Besides, I knew he would get what was coming to him eventually.

I wonder how the first aid was going for Jade and Michael, if things were going according to plan then they should have been making out by now. I’d give them the privacy for a little while longer though, god knows Luke wouldn’t afford them, or anyone, the same luxury.

[&&&]

Jade’s POV

“Mikey, hold still! You’ll make it a hundred times worse if you don’t, stupid!” I scolded the pink haired boy in front of me, unable to stop the giggle from bubbling past my lips as I watched him squirm and whine in front of me, with the dried blood still staining the pale skin of his face.

He had dried blood around his upper lip and his nose, which was also a deep shade of purple and had swollen to almost two times its usual size, he looked pretty comical to be honest. But he was still perfect to me.

Wait what?!

I shook my head, blinking as I tried to shake the thought from my head as quickly as it had entered my subconscious, where in the world had that even come from? Michael was my best friend in the world, apart from Meegan, we may have fought and bickered like cats and dogs but he was still my best friend, I didn’t think of him that way, did I?

I mean I know I had confessed my feelings over a bottle of tequila and chocolate cookies last Christmas, but that didn’t mean I was okay with them, or even close to accepting them!

I held onto Michael’s jaw as I wiped away the dried blood and cleaned his face with the antiseptic, faintly aware of the butterflies swarming my stomach as his hands came up to rest on my waist firmly yet carefully, trying not to freak me out.

I felt my heart beat speed up, my breathing pattern quickening as my gaze flitted down to his lips, had they always been that pink or was I just noticing all of these things for the first time? Like the dark blue flecks in his green eyes, or the small scar above his eye that was always hidden by his choppy fringe which fell so perfectly over his pale forehead, or the way our bodies had seemingly gravitated towards each other to the point that his hands were laced together at the small of my back.

“I um I think you’re all good” My voice came out in the faintest of whispers, internally cursing the crack in my voice as my eyes met his, my fingers brushing along his jaw as I found myself unable to break the staring competition that was going on between us.

“Jade ...” His voice came out in a soft whisper that mirrored my own, and for the first time in my life, I was unable to read Michael Clifford; he was usually an open book but not right then. All I knew was I really wanted to kiss him, like a lot, and his face was most definitely moving closer to mine, was this really happening?

A sudden knock on the door interrupted the moment, making me leap back with wide eyes, looking everywhere I possibly could except for Michael Clifford’s face.

I could hear Meegan’s voice coming through the door, even though I could almost swear that I could hear the laughter in her voice, the little shit. It was almost as if she had this filter, she would swear she did too, and she could just tell when Michael and I were getting a little closer than was considered normal for best mates.

“Jade? Honey, your mum’s on the phone, shall I tell her you’re making out with Michael Clifford or did you want to come down and talk to her yourself?” My eyes nearly bugging out of my head as I took in her words, bolting out of the bathroom and down the winding staircase in our house.

I had never been more thankful for my mother’s timing, even though I wasn’t naive enough to think I wouldn’t get the third degree later on, I could at least, hopefully, ignore it for a while and evade Meegan’s endless questioning today.

As I pick up the phone and started to listen to my mum discussing the plans for the family barbecue that weekend, well more like she talked and I listened, I couldn’t help but let my mind trail back to what had happened not even two minutes ago in the bathroom. Had I really been about to kiss my best friend, Michael Clifford? I hadn’t even accepted the feelings that I had for him and then this happens, it was enough to give a girl a migraine, there was one thing I knew for absolute certain though.

I definitely wanted a do over of that moment right there.