"If only there could be another way to do this

'Cause it feels like murder to put your heart through this

I know I always said that I could never hurt you

Well, this is the very, very last time I'm ever going to

Wish I could turn you back into a stranger

'Cause if I was never in your life

You wouldn't have to change it"

✰

Arlo felt like she was dying.

She'd woken up with a hangover from hell and Beck stealing the blanket off of her in the middle of the night didn't make things any better. Arlo didn't really know when they got home, but Beck was somehow sober enough to drive his beat-up truck back to their studio apartment.

Everything after she heard that damn song was a blur.

She had a vague memory of standing in the corner of the living room and talking to Ashton, trying to act normal when she was on the verge of panicking. Their new song was playing through the house and Luke was leaning against the counter in the kitchen, a beer bottle to his lips as he stared her down.

You did this to me. That's all she could read in his blue eyes. The most vulnerable moments of his heartbreak- the heartbreak she caused- were blasting through the house on high-quality speakers, disguised with an up-tempo beat, and all she could do is watch.

Arlo told herself that Want You Back wasn't about her. It'd been three years, and one of the boys was bound to have another relationship. She ignored the lyrics about tears in the rain and remembering the freckles on their lover's back because if she didn't, she was sure she would break.

What he'd said to her was already destructive enough.

Arlo knew she probably deserved it but that didn't mean that the boy she loved making her feel worthless didn't hurt any less. Luke didn't mean what he said, at least that's what she'd been telling herself. If she even thought about the possibility that his words were genuine, Arlo would find herself in the very same place she was three years ago.

Arlo was selfless. She cared about the people she loved more than herself and she felt their pain as their own. It only made sense that she chose to make herself miserable after she walked away from the club that night.

"I know you hate it here, but this is important Arlo." Beck nudges her shoulder as they stand in the elevator of the label building. She watches the numbers climb, the little red numbers being the only thing grounding her.

Arlo cringes at his words. She was trying to be happy for him, for this would be his biggest tour yet and he'd worked so hard for as long as she'd known him, but it was hard to put aside her own fears. "I don't hate the label, I hate the people here." Arlo says quietly as if they weren't the only two people in the elevator.

Suddenly, it becomes clear to him why she'd been freaking out all morning. "James isn't going to fuckin' talk to you." Beck reassures her, slinging his arm around her shoulders.

Arlo rests her head on his shoulder, clinging to any sliver of comfort she can get. Beck wasn't very touchy and neither was she, but they both needed physical touch sometimes. "You're hugging me." Her lips turn up, just barely.

"No, I'm not." Beck denies as the elevator reachers their floor. He drops his hand down to her waist, his eyes scanning the area for the older man they both couldn't stand.

The night Arlo found Beck in that corner of the club, he was grieving too. Nobody knew this, not even Arlo, but Beck had his own reasonings for hating James.

Beck had a girl of his own, one that he'd been in love with for four years. From the time they were only teenagers, messing around after school until the moment he moved to New York to record his first album.

Beck loved her with his entire heart. He loved her little sister too and deep down he knows that's why he's so protective of Arlo. Even if he let his girl's little sister down, at least he was looking after Arlo. Arlo reminded him so much of her sometimes that it hurt.

Just like Arlo, Beck's girl had been threatened by no other than James. Beck's breakup was a lot calmer than Arlo's and Luke's, for there wasn't a big blowup. She told him that the life of dating a rockstar wasn't for her, but she didn't want him to stop playing either.

Beck loved her so much that he accepted that, but he hated James ever since. Even more so once he found out what he'd done to Arlo. To make matters worse, he was a fucking creep and Beck didn't trust him for a moment.

The green-eyed boy sets his jaw as he catches sight of James. He's careful to distract Arlo by annoying her about her slightly messy hair from the wind outside so she doesn't see him as well.

As they walk towards the board room, Arlo pauses. "I'm going to go to the bathroom before the meeting starts." Arlo tugs on the hem of his jacket, catching his attention.

"You want me to wait for you?" Beck asks, heat crawling up the back of his neck as he thinks about what's about to happen. He'd been keeping something from Arlo for months now and she was about to find out.

"I'll be fine." She waves him off. "That's the right room, right?" Arlo asks, pointing to a familiar office only just across the hall.

"Yup." Beck nods. "Call me if you need anything." He points a stern finger at her, narrowing his eyes considering her habit of 'not wanting to be a burden'. "I mean it, Lo,"

Arlo rolls her eyes playfully before setting off towards the bathrooms. She just needed a second to collect herself. This building always made her anxiety spike and it didn't help that last night's wounds were still fresh. Hell, Want You Back was playing on the radio on their drive to the label.

She'd spent three years trying to forget him and suddenly he was everywhere again.

Ironically enough, as soon as the thought crosses her mind, Arlo turns the corner to find him standing in the hallway. There's a look of anger on his face as he fixes his belt, not bothering to adjust his now wrinkled shirt or wipe the gloss from his lips as he whispers in the ear of what looks to be a secretary. She doesn't look to be happy either, a scowl on her face as she tugs down her skirt and runs a hand through her hair.

Arlo is frozen in her place, her eyes wide as a million different emotions swirl through her mind. It hurt, god it hurts so bad to see him with someone else. But, she knows it's not her place to be upset anymore.

As Arlo tries to slip past them unnoticed, Luke catches sight of her. How could he not? When her perfume was filling the air of the hallway and her presence seemed to draw his attention like a magnet? He hated that his instinct would always draw him right back to her.

Luke is angry- fucking fuming.

After he left her standing on the deck, a crestfallen look on her face from his words, Luke had tried to fuck somebody else. He went inside and took a girl up to his room. He kissed her neck and pulled up her skirt like he always did, but in the end, it didn't happen.

All Luke could think about was her and it was all Arlo's fault for showing up and fucking with his head. He'd spent three years fucking a different girl every night to forget her with no problem, but his body just wouldn't let him anymore.

And now, he'd tried to redeem himself. While the rest of the band sits in the boardroom waiting for the meeting about their upcoming tour to start, Luke gave in to the secretary's advances and planned to fuck her on the counter of the bathroom.

But, he couldn't and it made him so fucking mad.

As soon as the secretary walks quickly down the hallway to brood somewhere else, Luke catches Arlo's wrist, ignoring the red hot sparks that travel up his arm as he pulls her into the bathroom. "What the fuck are you doing here?" He seethes, closing the door behind him.

Arlo's heart is caught in her throat. She'd never heard Luke to speak her with such a low tone and it hurt. She also wants to point out that Luke was the one in the wrong, for she was simply trying to hide in the bathroom and try to calm herself down and he was... "My job." She chokes out. "I was just-"

"You're here with him?" Luke's blue eyes are dark, his back leaning against the sink.

Arlo's face is flushed and she was digging her nails into her palms like she tended to do when she was anxious. Even her legs had a slight shake to them and Luke knew her well enough to know that something else was going on.

But, it wasn't his place anymore.

Although, maybe if Luke had asked Arlo why she was panicking, she might have told him that she hates James. And maybe, just maybe Luke would have metaphorically torn down the building to figure out what the man had done to her, especially if he knew she'd met him three years ago.

Maybe if he'd done this, he would've found out what James made Arlo do.

Instead, he clenches his jaw and pretends like he still doesn't feel her pain as his own- that it doesn't break his heart all over again to see her upset. "Do you fuck every guy you write songs for?"

Arlo winces, his words the equivalent of a slap in the face. Now that she's sober, his words hurt more than she could have ever imagined, causing a sick feeling in her stomach. She's scrambling for a response when the bathroom door swings open.

"C'mon, Lo." Beck's green eyes are lethal as he steps forward, grabbing her wrist. "Let's go."

The older boy had been listening outside of the door from the moment he saw Luke drag her inside. Not to be creepy or invasive but because he knew Arlo was already unstable and she wouldn't allow some random fucking dude to send her spiraling even further.

He wanted to knock the blonde's lights out for talking to her like that. Instead, he pulls her into his side and sends a burning glance to Luke, whose hands are white-knuckling the counter he leans against. It's obvious he's trying to act unaffected, but something had clearly pissed him off.

Luke watches them leave, he watches Beckham fucking Hale drag Arlo away from him like he was the problem. If he weren't already dealing with a massive hangover from the night before and the annoyance of not being able to fuck a girl, he might've fought back.

Lo? He called her fucking Lo?

As badly as he wants to deny it, that name falling from Beck's lips made him sick to his stomach. He shakes it off the best he can, running his hands frustratingly through his blond curls before swinging the bathroom door open and striding towards the boardroom.

The blond freezes in his tracks as no other than Beck and Arlo sit in the boardroom, whispering quietly to each other. The rest of his band sit across from them, looking the least bit surprised. They had planned something and judging by the look on her face, he and Arlo were the only ones who didn't know.

Luke lets a scoff leave his lips as he collapses into the chair in between Calum and Michael. They have guilty looks on their faces but he knows they don't regret whatever the hell it is they've done in the slightest.

He's absolutely fuming as he watches Beck nudge her arm with his own, whispering to her quietly in an attempt to cheer her up- the same way he used to do. He isn't doing it right, Luke thinks bitterly, knowing for a fact that when Arlo was upset words don't get through to her.

For a split second, guilt floods his system as he takes in the fact that the crestfallen look on her face was his doing. He made Arlo feel that way, made her cheeks turn red in a way unrelated to happy emotions, and caused her eyes to water.

It felt fucking horrible, but it felt worse to think about what she did three years ago.

Thankfully, some guy in a suit walks in and begins talking about demographics or some shit- Luke wasn't really listening. He was staring at the wood table thinking about how soon he'd be on tour far, far away- wait a fucking minute.

This meeting was about their upcoming tour.

And Beckham Hale was in the goddamn room.

"Beck, we'd like to thank your team for being so cooperative. We have a feeling that this tour is going to be massive-" Luke tunes in, his blue eyes wide as he listens to the label official go on and on about how fucking great Beck is going to mesh with the band.

"I'm happy to be touring again." Beck grins, flashing his green eyes to the officials at the head of the table before he averts his gaze to the four boys across the table. "And more than happy to be opening for 5 Seconds of Summer."

The rest of the meeting seems to go in slow motion for Luke, for his heart had dropped to his stomach and he didn't think he'd be able to pick it up anytime soon. Beck, the guy who got to call Arlo his girl, was going to be opening for their tour. Arlo was going to come too, considering she was his manager and songwriting partner.

Luke was going to be in Arlo's presence for the next five months and he'd have to pretend like watching her with Beck didn't make him want to be sick.

As soon as the label officials leave, his bandmates jump into a conversation with Beck, obviously having become close already. It pissed Luke off, but it made him feel slightly better that Arlo looked as shocked as he was.

Arlo shakily tucks her brown hair behind her ear before clasping her hands together, wringing them nervously. Her eyes are focused on the table in front of her and Luke just knows her mind is running a mile a minute.

They were given breakfast by the label due to the early hour of the morning and Arlo's sits in front of her untouched as Beck picks up her bagel and takes a large bite of it, continuing to try to cheer her up.

Arlo is pissed at Beck.

He'd known that the label wanted him to tour with 5SOS for months and he didn't mention it to her once. He didn't let her know until it was absolutely too late for Arlo to say she wouldn't go. Even now, as he chews on a bagel and whispers something about the time he fell on stage to cheer her up, Arlo is pissed.

Arlo didn't get angry often either, so that was saying something,

"I hate you." Arlo narrows her brown eyes. "Like I'm going to pour your favorite carton of juice down the sink just so you have to go buy more." She whispers harshly to the boy next to her, cringing as he smiles with chewed-up bagel in his mouth.

"You two are such an odd couple." Michael muses, his elbows on the table as he props his chin up on his palms. "Really fuckin' weird but in a cute way."

"Right?" Beck grins, sneaking a glance at the brooding blonde across from him. He was tired of him staring at Arlo like a lost puppy when he'd done nothing but hurt her in the last twelve or so hours. "She calls me daddy, how fuckin' weird?"

Calum chokes on his breath, laughing so hard that he doubles over the table, and Ashton gasps, not expecting that in the slightest. The comment was even funnier to the tan boy because they all knew Arlo and the thought of her... it was just really fucking funny to him and the way her eyes went wide only made it even better.

Arlo doesn't even try to defend herself, merely shaking her head as she rolls her eyes and slides her chair away from Beck's, causing the older boy to pout and tug her right back.

"That was a good one." Calum wheezes, wiping a metaphorical tear from the corner of his eyes. "Tour is going to be so goddamn fun-"

Calum is quickly cut off as the door to the boardroom slams closed, and there's no sign of Luke in sight. His chair is empty, his food untouched, nothing but a balled-up napkin on the table from where he'd had the paper crushed in his palm.

Beck shrugs lazily, turning to the rest of Luke's bandmates. "What the fuck is wrong with him?"

oop