“Let me in you moron!”

“Nuh-uh!” Michael’s childish laugh fogged up the small window beside the front door – the same front door he had currently locked you out of. It’s bad enough to be locked out let alone in the freezing cold, pouring rain.

“Mikey! Please! I’m wet and cold and I really need to pee!”

This only made him laugh more; “There’s a bucket round the back!”

“I hate you!” your teeth chattered as you spoke, wrapping your arms around yourself as the rain continued to pour. It only seemed to rain harder, the skies darkening. An idea suddenly entered your head; “Let me in!”

“Not a chance, babe!” his face briefly disappeared from the window so you took your chance. Running around the side of the house, splashing through the endless puddles, you made your way to the back door.

You jiggled the handle to no avail. You caught him laughing at the kitchen window.

“You’re such a dick, Clifford!”

“You love me really.”

“Debatable!”

A window opening above you caught your attention.

“Hey, !” Calum hung out of the window with a wide grin plastered to his face, “Need some help?” he produced the ultimate bargaining chip from behind his back.

You grinned, “Mikey; I’m dumping you for Calum!”

“Lies!” he giggled like a schoolgirl, “Calum’s not your type.”

“Then I guess I’ll just have to kill Daniel, then.”

“You don’t even know where he is!”

“Oh, don’t I?” you cued Calum to throw the stuffed lion at you. You caught him skillfully, brandishing him at Michael through the glass.

His eyes grew wide, “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Let me in or Daniel gets it!”

“Not our son!”

You put your hands around Daniel’s neck, “Then let me in.”

Michael scrambled to unlock the door, ripping Daniel from your grasp as you pushed past him to get into the warm.

“My baby! Don’t worry son,” he glared at you, “evil mummy will never hurt you again. You’re safe with daddy.”

Ashton

“Aaah…. FUCK!”

A barrage of expletives in a thick Australian accent outside of your window caused you to laugh.

Sticking your head out of it you called down to the familiar blonde;

“What have you done this time, Ash?”

He searched for where your voice was coming from causing you to laugh harder.

His head soon turned upwards, glaring at you; “Oh, you know. I’ve only gone and locked myself out.” He patted himself down, a look of pure horror appearing over his face, “Oh – and I’ve left my phone inside too!” He ran his fingers through his hair muttering more expletives under his breath. He was clearly stressed out.

You sighed, “Do you want to come in? Maybe use the phone?”

He linked his fingers together, placing them behind his head and looking back up at you, “No; I’m good. Luke should be back soon and he has a key so I’ll just wait out here for him.”

You shrugged, “OK, then. Let me know if you need anything.” You leaned out to grab the handle on the window.

“?”

You looked down at Ashton. He was now sat on the wall that separated your house from his.

He closed one eye, squinting in the sunlight, “Thank you, though.”

You winked at him and closed the window back over.

Ashton was still sitting in the exact same spot nearly half an hour later. You had discretely been keeping an eye on him – and the weather. The sun had long gone in and dark clouds had rolled in. The kettle had not long boiled and a mere few minutes later you emerged from your house carrying two mugs of tea. Ashton, hearing the door open, turned. Seeing that it was you, he smiled and stood up.

“Luke still not here?” You handed him a mug.

“Thanks,” he wrapped his hands around the heated ceramic, “Nope.”

“You looked cold so I came out to give you this and to tell you to get your arse in my house. It’s going to rain and I’m not letting you stay out here and catch a cold.”

“And if I refuse?” He had a glint in his eye as he took a sip.

You started walking back to your door, “You won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you’re already following me.”

Luke

“, let me in,” Luke had been banging on the door and pulling at the handle for the last ten minutes.

“Go away,” you sniffled from inside the locked bathroom. You had taken to locking yourself in the bathroom ever since his girlfriend had shown her true colours in front of him and had viciously knocked you over after you had stood up to her hateful comments. Luke had always either not been around when she had started on you or had passed it off as her joking around when you knew she wasn’t. You weren’t crying because she had been victimising you, though. You were crying because, despite him being witness to her abuse this time, he still hadn’t done anything about it and had allowed her to continue to kick you once you had fallen to the floor.

“Open the door,” he continued to pull at the door handle but it wouldn’t budge.

“I said go away. What part of that do you not understand?”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s a bit late for sorry. You saw what she did and yet you did nothing about it. I want you gone, Luke, and I want you to take that bitch with you.”

“Can’t we just talk about this?”

You rolled your eyes, “You’ve made it painfully clear that you don’t believe me and are siding with her despite actually witnessing for yourself that she literally just knocked me over. What more proof could you want?”

“Please. I just want to talk.”

“And I just want you out of here.”

“Not a chance.”

You balled up your fists in anger. You furiously wiped away your tears in the mirror then turned and unlocked the door. Without giving him a chance to even open his mouth you stormed past him, grabbing him by the arm and practically dragging him down the stairs. You were surprisingly strong when you were mad and he was just too stunned to do anything. You opened the front door and pushed him out of it;

“We can’t be friends anymore.”

Calum

You sat on the couch with your arms folded, ignoring Calum. He had just carried out the ultimate act of betrayal and you weren’t planning on talking to him ever again.

He sat down next to you, “Why won’t you talk to me?”

You stayed unmoved, staring at the muted tv. Some lame talk show was on and even though it wasn’t something you would usually watch, you gave it all your attention.

“ please?”

Damn it. Not the lovey-dovey nickname he had reserved only for you.

Don’t break you thought to yourself.

He put his face right in front of yours and pouted.

Fuck.

“You can’t just go around doing that to people.”

“Doing what?”

“You know what.”

“I didn’t mean to out you.”

“And yet you did. You embarrassed me in front of your friends.”

“I’m sorry. What can I do to make it better?”

“You can start by promising that you won’t mention it in front of other people again.”

“OK.”

“Say it.”

“I promise that I won’t mention it in front of other people again.”

“And what do you promise you won’t mention?”

“I promise that I won’t mention that you still have you baby blanket to other people.”

“Good. Now go get it because I want to cuddle.”