Pretty Girls Lie

One month. Hope spent one month tangled up with Calum. His arms would hold her close to his chest every night. His grip would be strong like he was afraid she was going to slip away, but she didn't mind, there was no other place she felt as safe as she did in his arms. Every night she would fall asleep to the sound of his heart beating and the caress of his breath while he quietly sang to her. Every now and then, when they would do something really cute, the guys would tell them that they're a match made in heaven, but that was nowhere near the truth. Neither of them were saints, especially not Hope. And what's funny is that Calum actually thought he knew just how dangereous she could be, but he didn't know the half of it. Her middle name didn't fit her at all, not unless someone still considered Lucifer an angel. The sweet, innocent girl she used to be was gone and she left long before Hope met her long lost brother and someone who thought all the stars were in her eyes.

- I love you. - Calum whispered.

- I love you too. - Calum smiled at Hope's sweet, honey like voice, but he had no idea just how poisonous her words can be.

He never saw it coming.

It seemed like a regular morning, but the boys didn't know a hurricane was coming. Ashton, Michael and Luke were the only ones downstairs, nothing out of the ordinary. A month ago Hope started spending every night at Calum's room, which they refuse to confirm, so it wasn't strange of them to have a late start, but, that wasn't what was happening that morning.
Annoyed by the bright morning light coming in trough the windows Calum slowly opened his eyes. Usually he would wake up to Hope peacefully sleeping next to him and her curly hair tickling him, but this morning he was greeted by an empty bed. After putting on a pair of boxers on his naked body he left the room. After cheking the two bathrooms and Hope's old room and finding them empty he joined the guys downstairs.

- Where's Hope? - Calum asked them, still half asleep.

- Come on man, cut the crap, we all know she's been sleeping in your room for a month now. - Michael said.

- No, I know that, but she's not upstairs. - Calum was beggining to worry.

- She's didn't come downstairs, we've been here for hours. - Luke added.

Alarmed, Calum ran back upstairs into Hope's old room. He opened her closet only to find it empty.

- Fuck. - Calum breathed out. - Where are you?

He was running his fingers trough his hair.

- Her clothes are gone. - Calum told the guys once he rejoined them.

- What? - Ashton asked in disbelief.

- Where could she go? - Michael asked.

Not wanting the guys to see the tears filling his eyes Calum went into the kitchen. After a few seconds of pacing around, trying to clear his head, he noticed a piece of paper on the kitchen counter. He picked it up.

- Fuck! - Calum yelled and slammed his hand on the counter.

Luke, Michael and Ashton joined him in the kitchen. He handed Ashton the piece of paper with only one word written on it, 'sorry'.

- Why would she leave? - Ashton asked quietly.

- Try calling her. - Luke said.

- She doesn't have a phone. - Calum told him.

- Yeah, she does. - Luke corrected him. - I saw her with it.

Calum and Ashton looked at each other. 'What the hell is going on here?', they thought, all of them.

- We have to find her. - Calum said, almost begging.

- I'll call Jesse, maybe he...or Orion know something. - Ashton said and took out his phone, leaving the room.

After a few minutes Ashton came back.

- Jesse doesn't know anything...and he said Orion's been unreachable for a few days. - Ashton delivered the news to Calum gently.

- You think she would...with him? - Luke asked.

- She seemed pretty pissed at him last time he was here. - Michael said.

- Maybe it was just an act. - Luke said and Ashton slapped the back of his head.

Luke started to complain, but noticing the look on Calum's face he shut up. Hope was Ashton's sister, but for the time she's been with them she connected more with Calum than her brother, that's why Calum was more hurt than Ashton.

- Should we call the police? - Luke suggested.

- She's not missing, I mean she is, but she left...willingly. - Michael answered, saying the last word quietly.

Six months. Calum spent six months locked away in his room trying to figure out where Hope could have gone, or why. After all the time they spent together and all the sweet words they said to each other it just now hit him how little he knows about Hope, is that even her real name? Was anything she said true? Is she even Ashton's sister? Did she fake her birth certificate just so she could get closer to them? Why would she do that? With all those question running around his mind, without a single answer, the most painful one for him was did she really love him, or was that just another one of her many lies.

The eight boys spent weeks trying to find her, following every and any lead they had, but when every single one of them turned out to be a dead end Ashton, Luke, Michael, Jesse, King, Blue and Romeo gave up, but not Calum.

Hope, having signed the contract to their label and being in a relationship with Calum, wasn't a stranger to the public, but that didn't make looking for her any easier. She was good.

Calum was sitting on his bedroom floor with his back leaned against the king sized bed, he was typing frantically on the laptop in his lap. A hopeful smile crawled up to his lips.

He was standing in front of a small apartment building, it didn't have more than 5 floors. It wasn't as luxurious as the boys' place, but it was livable and it had a certain charm to it, these are just some of the things Calum was thinking about, trying to distract himself and ignore his nerviousness. Night was slowly starting to take over the city and Calum hasn't moved an inch since he got there. His posture was slouched. He was a lot slimmer then he was six months ago and wearing all black only added to him looking unhealthy. His face was pale with dark circles under his eyes making him look like he hasn't sleept in months, which wasn't far from the truth. His eyes were puffy, his nose red and his hair a mess. Everything about him stated that he has been a wreck since she left. But still that day was different from the others, because he himself was different. His eyes weren't as dark and gloomy as they have been these past six months, his luscious lips weren't just a grim line like they have been all that time she was gone. He had hope. A glimmer of hope was noticable in his eyes as he stared at the building. Could this be it, could he have finally found her or is this going to turn out to be another dead end? Brushing off that depressing thought from his head, unsurely and nerviously, he walked into the apartment building.

He was walking slowly, with his hands in his pockets, quietly observing his surroundings. Finnaly, he stopped in front of a door. The door was simple, white like everything else in the building, with the number '23' on it. After inhaling deeply trough his mouth and exhaling trough his nose he softly knocked on the door. He ran his right hand trough his hair before returning it to his jacket pocket. His heart was beating loudly, it felt like it was going to rip trough his chest and jump out. Hearing footsteps on the other side of the door didn't help his uncontrollable heart. His heart was beating faster with every footstep he heard and just when it felt like it was going to break trough the door opened. It was her. There she was, Hope, standing in all her glory, like nothing's changed, nothing except her appearance. Her once long and curly, dirty blonde hair was now now black as cole, straight and barely reaching her shoulders. Seeing her face after six months, or what felt like six years to Calum, made him feel like he got the wind knocked out of him. She was standing in front of him in nothing but black panties covered in lace and an oversized shirt, a male's oversized shirt, her dark green eyes staring at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

- What are you doing here? - Hope was the first one to speak, emotionless.

- Well... I would've called and announced I was coming, but I didn't get your number. - He joked, chuckling nerviously.

She didn't laugh.

- How did you find me? - She was good at hiding her real emotions, but he could see right trough her.

- Why did you leave? - He asked with tears in his eyes and his voice on the point of breaking.

She stayed quiet for a few seconds. He waited six months, he could handle a few more seconds.

- I can't tell you. - It was all she said.

- Why not? - He asked, a bit louder, a single tear excaping his eye. - Am I not even worth an explanation?

- You'd hate me. - She said quietly, showing her emotions for the first time that evening.

- I could never hate you.

- You say that now, but... - Tears slowly started rolling down her cheeks. - I'm sorry.

She backed away and closed the door shut.

- Hope! - Calum yelled. - Come on...

He tried to open the door, but it was locked.

- That's all I get, a fucking sorry? - His voice was raised, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. - After six months that's all you have to say to me?

On the other side of the door Hope was sitting on the floor, her knees pressed to her chest and her back pressed against the door. Without making a sound she was listening to Calum yelling, breaking her heart piece by piece, with tears streaming down her face.

- Hope, please open up. - Calum begged her.

She didn't say anything.

- I know you're there... - He said while taking a seat on the floor, leaning his back against the door as well. - And I'm not leaving.

- I'm begging you... - Hope quietly spoke. - It would be easier for both of us if you just left.

- Maybe for you, but not for me. I spent six months looking for you and now that I've found you...I'm not leaving. - Calum said, determined.

- Why does it matter to you why I left? - She asked, trying not to let him know she's crying, but it didn't work.

- Because I love you, you idiot. - He told her, taking a break before speaking again. - Remember when I first told you that, the night before you left...and you said you loved me back? Was that just a lie?

- I don't want you to hate me. - Hope was talking quietly.

- Then just let me in and talk to me!

She didn't say anything.

- Why did you...why did you leave me? - He asked her again, tears were still rolling down his puffy cheeks. - I won't hate you, I could never hate you... Just tell me.

Hope took a deep breath before answering him. - Because I don't love you.

Calum felt like someone stabbed him in the heart.

- You're lying. - He said, but not completely sure she was lying.

He was right, she was lying, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

- Tell me the truth.

- I lied to you about everything... I lied when I told you I loved you, I hated your every touch, kiss, every time we slept together. - Hope said, her words hurting her just as much as they hurt him.

- Stop lying! - Calum yelled, hoping, praying that she was indeed lying.

Hope hugged her knees and started crying even harder.

- Why would you care if I hate you or not if all you've said was a lie? - He asked her quietly, not sure if he wanted her to answer.

- I may be an asshole, but I'm not a completely heartless one. - She tried to say it as emotionless as possible.

- Don't say that.

- That's what you wanted to hear, isn't it...the truth?

- I don't believe you. - Calum still wasn't giving up.

- Why not?

- Because I know you better than that.

Hope stayed quiet for a while.

- And would you believe me if I told you I did it all for money? - Hope asked him, whiping the tears from her cheeks.

Calum didn't say anything.

- I found out Ashton is my brother years before my mom died, but I didn't want to fuck up his world so I never reached out to him...but after my mom died I got a call, I don't know from who, but they told me they would pay me a lot of money to get close to you and the guys. At first I thought someone was just messing around, but then I found an envelope on my doorstep with ten thousand dollars in it and a note that said there's a lot more to come. - Hope had trouble speaking, the thought of him hating her and thinking ill of her broke her heart. - I was desperate, so when they called again I said yes.

- Why would someone pay you to get close to us? - Calum asked her, not saying whether he believes her or not.

- I don't know. - She spoke quietly, not knowing what he thinks was killing her. - They told me to just get close to you first and then they would give me a call and tell me what to do next.

- So then, why leave if there was so much money involved?

- You believe me? - She asked him.

- Why did you leave? - His voice seemed a bit harsh, but he was desperate to know.

- Because I got too attached. - Tears started filling her eyes once again.

- To what?

- You. - She said quietly. - And I didn't want to hurt you, any of you, so I left.

- And you didn't think you leaving would hurt us? - He asked her, tears haven't stopped coming out of his eyes once.

Hope didn't answer. Her head was leaned against the door while tears excaped her beautiful eyes.

- I don't hate you. - He told her, softly, his voice sweet.

Hope still wasn't speaking.

- Hope, are you there? - He asked here.

- I'm here. - She said quietly, trough the tears.

- We can start over, you know? - Calum said hopefully. - Don't you want our story to have a happy ending?

- Only fairytales have happy endings. - Hope told him, and he chuckled.

- Well, who says fairytales don't exist?

- Sane people. - They both chuckled at her words.

- You're still not gonna let me in? - He asked her.

- Calum...

- Look, I don't care about what you did, I just care about you...a lot. - Calum said. - You said you don't wanna hurt me, but you have no idea how much living without you hurts.

He was wrong, she knew, because living without him hurt her just as much, and knowing it was all her fault just made it worse.

- You know, we weren't together for even two months, but I was already thinking about asking you to marry me. - Calum confessed with a goofy smile on his face. - And being away from you these six months just made me realise how much I love you and how I would do anything to spend the rest of my life with you.

Hope stopped crying. A shy smile climbed up to her lips.

- I have shitty timing. - Calum commented with a chuckle.

Hope reached out to the door knob and cracked the door slighty open, just enough to push her hand trough and grab a hold of Calum's hand. The touch of her warm hand on his cold one made him smile. With his other hand he reached into his pocket and took this chance to slide a diamond ring on her finger. Feeling the cold touch of metal on her finger and realizing what he has done she held his hand tighter, never planning on letting go.

- I love you.

- I love you too.

The end.

Notes

This is it, guys.

I really hope you guys liked the story, it could've been better, but hey, I'm only human.

I know I've said a couple of times that I'm not really happy with the direction this story was going in, but I have to admit, I really did enjoy writing it and hopefully you guys enjoyed reading it.

What do you think of the ending? Did you expect this? Let me know your opinon in the comments, good or bad, it doesn't matter, I would love hear it.

Also, I already said this in the previous chapter, but let me know if you would want me to make that one last chapter and tell you all the little things I didn't get a chance to include in the story, some of them are PRETTY interesting.

Thank you guys so much for reading! Again, I hope you liked the story... I recently started working on another one, so hopefully you'll read that one when I post it, as well.

Love, Adrena Lynn