Heart It Races

It had been two weeks since the boys' show. Two weeks since I had kissed Mike. Two weeks I had been wishing he would kiss me again, but he didn't. Without words, I think we had agreed not to talk about it.

The day after, we laid in bed all day watching Supernatural, completely exhausted, nearly finishing the first season, the boys then coming over after school, crashing our party and then heading to the studio.

"Are you and Mike going to homecoming together?" Calum leaned over and asked me as we worked on our Digital Media projects.

"No?" He had made no move to ask me, though I had hoped he would after mentioning it before. I'd never been to homecoming, or prom, or even a football game, but it was my senior year and I wanted to make it count.

"Why not?" His brow furrowed.

"Why would we be?" I hoped Calum knew something I didn't.

"Well, beside the obvious fact that he likes you, he's been going on for days about wanting to ask you for the past week." He rolled his eyes.

"Really?" I squealed.

He smirked, "Someone is excited, might you, dare I say, like him too?"

"You might say that." A blush crept up to my cheeks at the admittance and I hoped Calum would be smart enough to keep it to himself.

"I knew it! Ashton owes me twenty bucks!"

The news excited me and I grew anxious, hoping he would ask me soon, then worrying about finding a dress and all of the things girls normally worry about when it comes to such occasions.

"Are you going to homecoming?" I asked, turning the attention off of me, curious as to if Calum had his eye on someone.

"Yeah, me and Luke are gonna go, maybe meet some hot girls." He shrugged, showing he didn't have big expectations for the night.

"Well, there's always the after party."

He perked up at the idea of a party, "Oh?"

"Yeah, this one guy who graduated like two years ago throws them every year since I've been going here. I've never been to the after homecoming one, but his other parties are pretty great."

"You're going?"

I shrugged, "If Michael wants to."

"Well I'm definitely going."

Out of all of the boys, other than Mike, I would consider Calum and I the closest. We didn't do much in Digital Media, giving us a full hour to just sit and talk, so we always knew what was going on with each other.

The bell rang and we went to meet Luke and Michael so we could leave.

Upon reaching the meeting spot I saw the green eyed, black and blonde headed boy talking with a girl. Piper. My heart dropped.

I saw Calum glance down at me from the corner of my eye.

As we got closer I could hear them saying their goodbyes, and she hugged him before walking away.

"What was that all about?" Cal asked as we waited for Luke.

"She asked me to homecoming." He smiled his cheeks turning red and I held my breath hoping he hadn't said yes. There was no way he did, he was planning to ask me.

"What did you say?" I tried not to sound too eager.

"I said yes. She doesn't seem so bad." He shrugged, and I wondered if he knew his simple words had set fire to my every fiber, burning me from the inside out.

"What?!" Calum half yelled, mouth hanging open, eyes darting from Michael to me and then back to him.

"What's going on?" Luke approached gagging the hostility flowing between the three of us.

Could he see my chest ripped open, only small bloody fragments of my once beating heart remaining? Was it obvious to him that Michael held the very thing that kept me breathing in his hands, poking and squishing at it like a toy? I thought the sum of all of our little moments had meant more to him. Or was it only to me? Was I the only one sectioning off a piece of my brain for the moments we shared?

"Apparently Michael and Piper are going to homecoming together." Calum seethed, him and the other two having a conversation with their eyes I couldn't interpret.

"We should go." I spoke interrupting them, just wanting to go home and be alone so I could think.

"Yeah, let's go." Calum slung an arm over my shoulder, dragging us a few paces in front of Mike and Luke.

"He's such a dick. I don't know why he did that, but I'm definitely getting to the bottom of it."

"It's fine Cal, don't worry about it." I didn't like drama and I was afraid that was all this was going to create.

"No, I am going to worry about it, I know he likes you so none of this makes sense."

"Thanks, Cal." I wrapped an arm around his waist, leaning my head on his shoulder.

***

We arrived back at my house and I went straight to my room. The whole ride here I hadn't uttered but a few words to Michael. He didn't seem to notice my destine. I knew I shouldn't have been angry with him, it's not like we were dating and he wasn't obligated to ask me to go with him, but I was still upset and I couldn't keep my emotions from crawling up my throat every time I spoke.

There was a knock on my door.

"Come in." I expected my dad, or Veronica, maybe even Calum, but when the door opened Michael stood, a hand running through his hair, concern shadowing his features.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked gently, coming to sit on the bed next to me, shutting the door behind him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You just seemed kind of upset, I didn't know if something happened?"

Did he really not know?

"Oh, no, nothing happened, I'm just tired and a little stressed, I've been looking at colleges and stuff, and trying to get my grades up." It wasn't a complete lie, but definitely not the whole truth.

He laid down on the bed, patting the spot next to him, my resolve already fading the more concerned he became with my well being.

I hesitated, but laid down too, my head falling in the crook of his neck, his arms going around my waist. I could hear his heartbeat, and I wondered if I had completely misjudged times like these. Maybe he hadn't liked me the way I thought and this was all just friendly.

His fingers began to rub soft circles on the small of my back, momentarily blocking out the past two hours.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the studio?"

"Yeah, but I'd rather be in here."

We were quiet again and I couldn't help but feel upset, my mind regaining consciousness of everything that had happened before, living it all over again.

I scooted away from him, sitting against the headboard and crossing my legs, I didn't dare look at him.

"Well, I guess I should go back so we can finish the song, I'll see you later." He stood awkwardly, leaving.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, pinching the bridge of my nose, telling myself I needed to get over it.