Pretty Girls Lie

She rang the doorbell of the guys' apartment. Soon after Calum opened the door.

- Hey. - He greeted her and moved so she can come in and she did.

- Hi. - She said with no emotion in her voice.

- Where's Ashton? - He asked her as they were walking towards the living room.

- He stayed with his mother. - She told him.

Calum stopped and took Hope's hand when she didn't.

- What happened? - He asked, his expresion very serious and worried.

Hope thought for a second before answering. - She called my mom a slut and told Ashton he can't hang out with a bastard like me anymore.

- What? - Calum couldn't believe. - Are you cool?

- Yeah, I just had to leave before I lost my cool. - She said.

- What did Ashton say? - Calum asked curiously.

- He defended me. - Hope said and half smiled, so did Calum.

- Come on. - Calum put his hand over her shoulder and they walked into the living room together.

Michael and Luke were sitting there on their phones snacking on popcorn.

- You two should be careful where you put your hands, someone might get the wrong idea. - Michael said teasingly and Calum removed his hand from her shoulder.

- Luke, are you feeling alright? - Hope asked him after she took a seat next to him on the couch.

Calum sat on a chair next to them and continued watching TV.

- Yeah, I'm fine. - He said. - I just don't remember anything from last night.

- Hope, keep that in mind... - Michael said.

Hope looked at him confused.

- Luke may have posted the picture from last night on Instagram. - He told her.

- What? - She asked in disbelievement.

- Yeah... - Michael told her. - And there are already multiple articles about you, ''The Mystery Girl''.

- Oh come on... - Hope breathed out.

- Sorry. - Luke said apologetically.

- I told you, you should be careful where you put your hands. - Michael said while the three of them looked at him confused. - In the picture Calum's hand is on your waist and your hand is on his chest.

- Don't tell me they think we're together. - Hope said and Michael just nodded, his lips pressed together. - Can I see that?

Michael handed her his phone. There was the picture of all of them together on Luke's instagram profile. Hope scrolled down and looked at the comments.

- Who the fuck is that? I thought Calum was with Nia? Whoever she is, she needs to get her hands away from him. How long have they been together? We need answers. - Hope was reading just some of the comments.

She was about to give him the phone back but she stopped.

- Wait. - She looked at the comments again.

- What? - Calum asked her.

- Her name is Hope, she was with the boys when I came over to talk to them. Her and Calum seemed extremely flirty with each other and he had his hand over her shoulder. Perfect. - She said the last part sarcastically.

- I'm really sorry, I'll delete it ri... - Hope cut Luke off.

- It's fine, leave it... It's too late to delete it now.

- Hey, what's going on? - Ashton came home.

- Luke accidentally posted the picture we took before leaving on Instagram and that girl that came over last night told them Hope's name. - Calum notified him.

- And since in the picture Calum has his hand on Hope's waist and since the girl saw them being all flirty and him holding his hand over her shoulder everyone thinks they're together. - Michael told him the things Calum probbably left out on purpose. - There are already a few articles about her and now probably a lot more since they know her name.

- Well they only know your name, not who you are... - Ashton tried to make the situation better.

He took a seat on the arm rest of the chair Calum was sitting in.

- I'm not upset about the picture or them knowing my name. I just...once again I fucked up everything for you, and that's the second time today.

- You didn't fuck up anything. Not the first time nor the second one. - Calum said, his voice sweet as honey.

- He's right and, wait...what do you mean the second time? - Michael asked.

Hope didn't answer, she just looked at Ashton.

- I got into and argument with my mom 'cause she didn't want me to be around Hope because...of the way she was made. - Ashton didn't know how better to put it. - But that's not your fault, Hope.

- She doesn't want you to be around Hope? - Luke couldn't believe.

- Yeah, and she offended her a few times, as well as her mother... Ashton said quitely, ashamed that he's talking that way about his mother.

- Are you alright? - Michael asked Hope.

- Yeah... I get why she acted the way she did, her husband did cheat on her with my mom. - Hope said quietly.

- But that's my father's fault, not yours or your mom's! - Ashton said.

- I know that. But she was still married to him and she doesn't know me...or my mom. - Her voice getting quieter with every word.

- Yeah, but he left her, and she was defending him. - Ashton told her.

- Can we just not talk about that anymore? - Hope asked. - Please.

Ashton shut up and nodded, so did the guys.

- Alright, so who's up for a movie? - Michael asked, breaking the tension.

Everyone said yes.

Michael and Calum went to the store to get some beers, Hope and Ashton went to pop some more popcorn in the kitchen and Luke was in the living room trying to find a good movie for them to watch.

- Can I ask you something? - Ashton asked Hope.

- Yeah, sure. - She told him. - I might not answer, but you can ask.

He chuckled before answering. - Alright, but you have to promise you won't get mad.

- Okay, I promise. - She said, wondering what's he about to ask her.

- What's going on with you and Calum? - Ashton asked, smiling widely.

Hope smiled slightly. - There's nothing going on between us.

- Oh come on, I saw you too at the club. That wasn't nothing. - Ashton was still smiling.

- We were just messing around. - She said.

- It didn't seem like it. - He seemed to enjoy teasing her.

- It's not enough Micheal is messing with us, so you have to do it too? - Hope acted offended.

Ashton couldn't stop smiling. - Alright, alright, I'll stop, but at least promise me if anything does happen you'll tell me...

Hope rolled her eyes playfully. - I promise, but that's never gonna happen. It's much more drama than I need in my life.

Soon all the lights were off and the only brightness was the one coming from the TV. Hope and Ashton came back into the living room with more popcorn, Michael and Calum returned with beers for everyone while Luke was starting the movie.

Luke, Hope and Calum were sitting on the couch and Michael and Ashton were sitting on the floor in front of them while ''The Conjuring 2'' was playing on the TV.

Notes

I hope you liked this chapter and I hope you're enjoying the story so far.

Thank you so much for reading!