"I have loved you since we were 18

Long before we both thought the same thing

To be loved and to be in love

All I can do is say that these arms

Are made for holding you

I wanna love like you made me feel

When we were 18"

✰

Calum Hood had spent more of this day crying than he probably ever had in his entire life.

His palms are sweaty as he stands beside the small stage, prepared to give the most important speech of his life to his closest friends and family. His fingers tremble as he unfolds the paper that was tucked into the breast pocket of his suit.

The chatter in the room had died down meaning that he couldn't stall any longer. The tan boy knew his face was flushed from crying, but he didn't bother wiping away the remnants of those tears because he was positive they'd be back in a few moments anyway.

Ashton stands next to him, sniffling as he places a comforting hand on Calum's shoulder. "You've got this man."

Calum shakes his head in denial, his heart crawling up his throat out of pure nerves. Despite his profession, being on stage fucking terrified him. Especially considering the circumstances. "She should have chosen somebody else. This all just happened so much sooner than I planned."

"She wanted you." Ashton gives the boy a comforting smile through his own teary-eyed gaze. "Luke will appreciate it too."

"Alright." Calum nods, finally working up enough courage to get his feet moving.

As the tan boy walks on stage, his black suit feels a little too tight, his shoes squeezing his feet uncomfortably as he makes his way in front of the glass podium. Calum doesn't look out into the crowd until he's adjusted the microphone, his speech laid out in front of him.

Although, as soon as Calum does look up, his eyes instantly find Luke's bloodshot blue ones. He looks at his best friend sitting in the front row, an expensive suit on his body and his hair done to perfection.

Luke gives him a comforting nod, giving Calum all the encouragement he needs to start.

Calum clears his throat, his eyes scanning the crowd nervously. He can see her Mom and Dad in the front row as well, a few of her cousins, Beck, and all of the people most important to her. Luke didn't have any family that he really talked to, but all of his closest friends and colleagues are seated in the crowd.

"I met Arlo Abbott when I was five years old." Calum begins, watching as emotion flashes across Luke's face. He knows if he looks at him any longer, he might get choked up so Calum averts his eyes to the paper in front of him.

"She was sitting in her driveway drawing with sidewalk chalk when our moving truck turned onto the street. I was disappointed, being a five-year-old boy. I didn't want a girl neighbor, she wouldn't like things like dinosaurs or rolling around in the mud." Calum pauses as the room erupts with laughter, though he's still too nervous to speak properly.

"It took me three years to work up the courage to talk to her." Calum continues, glancing at the seat beside Luke. "At eight years old, I was intimidated by the girl who was already reading chapter books when I was still counting on pictures to get through a story. She was sitting on her porch, curled up in a porch swing with a book in her lap. I walked across the street and asked her what the book was about and instead of making fun of me, she read to me."

He flexes his hands as they grip onto the edge of the podium, trying his best to hold back a fresh round of tears. "I was a fucking shit-head of a kid, I think Luke can vouch for that."

The crowd laughs, the noise only intensifying as Luke nods, a smug smile on his face. Calum pauses to flip his best friend the middle finger before continuing. "Arlo barely got through one page of that damn book before I told her it was boring and ran off to my backyard to play in the mud."

Calum pauses, making eye contact with the girl sitting next to Luke in a pretty white dress. "I still think you're too cool for me, Arlo. But, I'm glad you found someone lame enough to sit and listen to you read forever."

Calum watches with a teary-eyed smile as Arlo bursts into laughter and Luke rolls his eyes before tugging her into his side and placing a kiss on the top of her head. One of her legs is stretched across Luke's lap and it kind of looks like the skirt of her dress is a part of Luke's suit, which makes Calum smile even wider.

"Although, as I grew up and I began to see the quiet girl across the stress less and less, I met my best friend." Calum begins getting choked up, only causing Luke to laugh even harder. The dark-haired boy rolls his eyes, wiping the tears from under his eye before continuing. "Luke and I did everything together."

Calum looks around the room- at Michael and Ashton standing beside the stage with their arms around one another, a glass of champagne in their hands and sappy smiles on their faces. He looks at his two best friends, utterly in love and practically glowing with joy.

Finally, he looks at the small girl sitting in Arlo's lap. He gives the toddler a smile, waving his fingers in her direction and a warmth settles in his chest when she waves back. She was his best friend.

Averting his eyes back to the paper, Calum clears the emotion from his throat. "Luke and I learned how to ride a bike together, we went from playing with toy cars to nerf guns to guitars, we learned how to talk to girls-" The audience laughs and Calum pauses, raising a brow. "I don't know why that was funny I actually have a lot of game-"

"Objection!" No Other than Beckham Hale yells from the audience, his hands cupped around his mouth.

Calum merely rolls his eyes, holding up both middle fingers this time and hoping that nobody can see the way his hands are still trembling. "Anyway. As Luke and I got older we came to enjoy a lot of things, but what we both loved the most was music. Luke was more talented than I think any of us could comprehend."

Luke's cheeks flush and Arlo slips her hand into his own, her head resting on his chest as she whispers something into his ear- most likely something about how true the statement was. As the toddler in Arlo's lap copies her mother, Calum feels his heart clench in his chest.

"No matter how many times I tried to get Luke to use some of that talent and join a band with me, he always declined. He said that he would be no good at it- that he couldn't write songs or sing or even play a proper chord on the guitar." Calum looks up at his best friend, a knowing smile on his face.

"When we were fifteen years old, Luke was at my house and I was trying to convince him to join a band with me again. Of course, he said no." The audience laughs again at the irony of the situation, considering the boy's profession. "Luke wanted to read instead. His grandfather owned a bookstore and he'd gotten a new shipment of poetry books."

Calum smiles as he recalls the memory, this one being one of his favorites when it came to the two of them. "While Luke ditched my imaginary band to go read, I remember standing in my driveway as Luke left and looking across the street to Arlo's house."

The curly-haired boy looks up to the audience with a smirk. "I don't want to brag or anything, but I stood there in my driveway and thought; Wow if Luke likes reading enough to ditch me, he'd probably get along well with that girl across the street."

The audience seems to be on the edge of their seats, all in awe of the side of this love story they'd never seen. It was beautiful and Calum was actually better at making speeches than anyone predicted. He wasn't even cursing that much.

"Man, was I fucking right."

Calum waits for the audience's laughs to die down and he takes a moment to look at Arlo and Luke again, the way they were so obviously lovesick with each other after so many years. He begins to get choked up again, watching how Luke had gone from being an angry teenage boy with more anger towards the world than the will to change it, how now he runs a gentle hand through his daughter's dark hair as she sleeps on his wife's lap.

"Three years later when we had all just turned eighteen and graduated from high school, I was setting up for a party in my front yard." Calum smirks at the few whoops and cheers he gets, his reputation still holding true. "Arlo walked out of her house and started walking down the street. It was about to rain and I just got his... gut feeling. So, I talked to her for the first time in years and she told me a new bookstore opened across town."

Calum pauses, a giddy smile on his face. "I took her to Hemmings Bookstore instead."

Arlo finally breaks, tears running quickly down her cheeks that only make Calum's own throat feel tight. He grips the side of the podium tightly as Luke pouts his lips and runs the pad of his thumb gently under her eyes, careful not to disturb her makeup or their daughter half-asleep on her lap.

"I think that was the best decision I ever made in my life." Calum smiles at the crowd once he'd swallowed down his emotion. "Besides that time I bet 10K on black in Vegas and won." Once again, the audience erupts into laughter and he nods his head in Michael's direction. "Happy late twenty-first, Mikey. I'm still not sorry I won on your birthday."

"Eighteen was a big year for us." Calum continues, well aware of the slideshow of pictures playing on the projector behind him as he talks. "Arlo finally convinced Luke to join my band. We got a record deal, moved out to LA, played our first sold-out gig, snuck into a nightclub, and pretended to be a different band... long story. Oh, and Ashton even got his first kiss."

As Ashton's cheeks flush and he yells something at Calum that only makes the audience laugh harder, Calum takes a look around the venue. They were in an elegant reception hall on the beach. The walls of the building are made entirely of glass and if you listen hard enough you can hear the rolling of waves cutting through the night air.

It was perfect. It was so Luke and Arlo.

"It didn't take long for the two of them to get attached at the hip." Calum smirks, winking in their direction. "I'm telling you, if soulmates exist, then they're sitting right in front of me because I've never seen two people so in tune with one another." As the honest words fell from Calum's lips, Luke begins to cry, causing Calum to choke on his breath.

The audience coos at Calum, making awing noises as he turns away from the crowd and wipes his eyes. "Stop fuckin' crying, Luke." Calum narrows his eyes playfully, causing both teary-eyed boys to laugh.

Once he's collected himself, Calum faces the audience again. "I swear, they can have a whole damn conversation without saying anything. I remember one time we were in the studio and it started raining and the two of them just looked at each other and smiled for a real long time and the rest of us were just sitting there trying to figure out what the hell was going on."

Arlo and Luke do that thing- their thing where his blue eyes find her brown ones and they just stare, saying a million words without ever parting their lips. It was something they did more often than they realized, but now that Calum had pointed it out everyone was beginning to see what he meant.

"See!" Calum says exasperatedly, shaking his head in faux bewilderment.

As the audience quiets down, Calum shuffles to the next page of his speech- albeit he was careful not to mess up the pages. He was getting this shit framed after how long he'd spent writing and rewriting it.

"Luke's bookstore became their favorite place." Calum continues, a small smile on his face. "No matter how many months we spent on tour or how busy we were with an album, if we had enough free time to catch a flight, Luke would take her back there. It didn't matter that they didn't even get a full day off sometimes. They were happy just being in the atmosphere, I guess." Calum shrugs. "I don't think any of us will ever understand why that rickety store was so special, but then again, I didn't fall in love in between those aisles."

"When we were almost twenty-one, Luke asked her to marry him there." Calum smiles so hard his cheeks hurt as he continues to read. "I wasn't invited to the proposal, for some reason." The tan boy stifles a laugh as Luke rolls his eyes. "That night Arlo answered the phone screaming so loud that I was sure Luke had gone and burnt his hair off trying to cook or some shit."

Calum pauses, watching in amusement as his joke lands and the audience laughs. He was really starting to consider starting a stand-up career after this. "I don't think any of us were surprised that it happened in the bookstore."

Calum clears his throat, nervously crossing his feet over the other. "When we were twenty-two, we found out that the mayor of our small hometown was planning on tearing down the old buildings in order to make room for a new supermarket."

Arlo and Luke both stiffen at the memory, their eyes glossy with tears. Although their relationship was the strongest it had ever been, that was a rough, rough time in their lives. It was hell living it, but it was comforting to know they found heaven on the other side.

"Hemmings Bookstore was scheduled to be torn down while we were on tour." Calum's heart aches as he reads over the next line. "Arlo was so distraught about it and we were on tour and I remember just sitting on the tour bus with her watching her tear the skin around her nails to shreds while Luke yelled into his phone."

"To this day, I still don't know how he did it, but Luke managed to buy the entire plot of land where the supermarket was scheduled to be built." Calum watches as Arlo leans closer to Luke, his hand running up and down her arm soothingly. "Instead of allowing that bookstore to be torn down, Luke built a house for them around it."

Tears burn his eyes once more as Calum reaches the next line. "Arlo." He begins, directing his eyes at the smiling girl. "I think that the book-obsessed little girl I grew up with would be thrilled to know her future husband was going to build her a house with an entire fucking bookstore integrated into it."

Arlo laughs, happy tears spilling from her eyes as she whispers something into Luke's ear, prompting him to place a kiss on her lips. Calum watches them fondly, as does the rest of the room. "I'm really fuckin' glad that little girl grew up to get what she deserved."

Calum feels his throat get tight and he inhales deeply, preparing to deliver his next line. "At twenty-two, as Luke showed me the floor plan for their house, I finally realized that my best friend was no longer the racecar-loving kid that I first met."

"At twenty-two, I realized that Luke Hemmings, my best friend, had grown into the type of man I can only hope to be one day. He reinvented the very idea of love right in front of my eyes." Luke begins tearing up now, but Calum doesn't pause in fear of getting choked up even more.

"Luke went from spending his teenage years reading in-between the aisles and writing songs behind the register to loving Arlo to raising his daughter in that very store." Calum says with a small smile. "And I couldn't be any more goddamn proud."

"Speaking of my girl." Calum continues, sending a smile to the toddler on Arlo's lap. The poor girl was half asleep, but Calum liked to think even if she didn't remember this speech, he'd show her one day when she was older.

"When we were twenty-four years old, we had just released our fourth album. The band was going on tour soon and we all decided we needed to spend some quality time together before our lives got too busy. The five of us flew to some island that I was too drunk on mimosas the entire time to even remember."

Calum pauses, a devilish smirk on his face as the crowd erupts in knowing chatter. Calum Hood hadn't changed a damn bit and that was clear to see. "On the second day of our trip, we made the mistake of getting food from some food truck on the side of a street."

Michal, Ashton, and Beck cringe at the memory, instinctively doubling over as they remember those tragic, painful few days. Calum winces at the memory too, but Luke and Arlo have nothing but wide smiles on their faces.

"Around two in the morning that awful night, we had come to the realization that we had managed to all get food poisoning." The room erupts into laughter- everyone except the unfortunate few who happened to be on the receiving end of the food poisoning. Calum, Ashton, Michael, Luke, and Beck were getting flashbacks.

"None of us spoke the native language, but somehow Beck and Ashton made it to the hospital and picked up the proper supplies." This was a story that most of the room didn't know and Calum was more than happy that he managed to keep the audience on edge. "After a few days, all of us were okay- except for Arlo."

"Arlo was still sick and Luke was driving us all crazy because if she was sick then he wouldn't rest until he either got a medical degree and cured her himself or she convinced him to calm down." Luke rolls his eyes as the band exchanges knowing looks.

"Now, I don't want to spoil the rest of the story..." Calum pauses, nodding his head in the direction of the girl sleeping on Arlo's lap, a pretty light pink dress on her body and a little flower in her dark hair. "But, Arlo did not have food poisoning."

After the audience's reaction dies down and Luke has managed to stop crying again, Calum continues. This part of his speech was particularly difficult to write and he just knew he was going to get choked up again.

"The night that Luke found out Arlo was pregnant he dragged me down to the beach. He was pacing in front of me, freaking the fuck out about how scared he was." Calum says, sending Luke a knowing look. "Luke was worried that he wouldn't be a good enough dad because his father was never there for him."

Calum inhales shakily, swallowing down his emotion. "I told Luke that I couldn't think of someone who could ever be a better dad. If he loved this kid anywhere near as much as he loved Arlo, then he had nothing to worry about."

"Besides." Calum forces a smile despite the ache in his chest. "This kid was going to have not one, but four of the best fuckin' uncles on the planet."

"Luke looked up at me and he had this look on his face." Calum continues, picturing the night clearly in his head. "He said; You know, I'm going to quit the band, right?"

Calum feels his heart clench in his chest as he glances at his bandmates, thinking about how far they've come. "I looked him right in the eye and told him that Arlo wasn't going to let that happen."

"The next morning Luke told Arlo that he was quitting the band to be the best he could be for their family. She looked him right in the eye and called him crazy. She didn't care that tour had pushed back their wedding for years or that he'd miss some of her pregnancy by being on the road. She just wanted him to do what he loved."

Calum makes eye contact with Arlo, sending her a wink. "And if I didn't already know it, that would have solidified how perfect she is for my best friend."