Loner City // a.u Calum Hood

Thirty

I wake up at 2 in the afternoon with Peyton banging on my door.
"Julia! I need food!" She screams.
I drag myself out of bed and open the door.
"Just order a pizza." I grumble walking into the kitchen.
"I don't want pizza." She groans back at me.
I reply with a mumble of sounds and get a glass of water.
"I'm taking a shower." I say and Peyton rolls from the back of the couch down into the cushions.
I walk into the bathroom and turn on the shower.
I check my phone.
(3) messages from .Loner #2 :)-

/Hey text me when you wake up:)
/Are you mad at me?
/Text me when you wake up . Dinner @ 5?

I smile down at my phone. Even if last night was extremely awkward I could never be mad at him for saying something so sweet. I reply to his text.

Of course I'm not mad. Dinner sounds great. Is take out ok?

I send the text then strip and get in the shower. I take my time, almost falling asleep from exhaustion.
I get out of the shower and wrap my hair up in a towel and put on my robe and slippers.
"Hey Jules?" Peyton calls from the other room.
"Yeah?"
"Would it be weird if I went out with your friend Luke?"
" Luke? I thought you said he was only as good as a füc|< -boy?" I call from my bedroom.
"Eh. He keeps calling me and I told him we could go out tonight."
I walk from my room into Peyton's.
"When do you leave? Where are you guys going? Tell me everything."
Peyton rolls her eyes.
"I don't know. He's picking me up at 7. He told me dress casual and to wear white. I don't know what I should wear."
I quickly walk back into my room and take out a white sundress. I grab a jean jacket and come back into the room.
"Wear boots or vans. Wear a necklace. Pull your hair back. You're good to go."
"Thanks." She says quietly.
I walk back into my room and go through my shirts.
I find a floral shirt and grab a cardigan and yoga pants. My phone buzzes beside me.
Loner #2:)- take out sounds great. Cya at my place @ 5 U bring the menus :)

I smile down at my phone and quickly send a reply and do my makeup while my hair dries.
I knew me and Calum had to talk about what happened this morning. I was just confused. I knew what it meant, to say "I love you". I wasn't sure what exactly I was expecting from him either. Saying I love you to someone for the first time is a big deal but he didn't seem to care that much. Maybe I was just being stupid, maybe it wasn't such a big deal after all.
I shake my thoughts away and finish doing my makeup. I blow dry my hair and straighten it and wander out into the living room.
It was only 4:15 so I had about 40 minutes until I had to leave. I plop down on the sofa and turn on the TV.
"Julia, should I wear my hair like this? Just some pulled back." Peyton steps out into the doorway.
"That looks great. Send me a picture of you before you leave, I'm going to Calums around 5."
"Wait what? No. Can I just have Luke pick me up from Cal's? Ppplleeaassee? I'll just swing by around 6:45 and so you can help me with last minute stuff getting ready and then Luke will pick me up and then we'll leave."
"Whatever, I don't care." I laugh.
Peyton gives a light nervous laugh and sighs.
"Right. Okay. I have to get a shower, I'll just see you at 6:45 then."
"Okay." I laugh again as Peyton walks into the bathroom.
I watch an episode of Friends then grab my stuff and a stack of take out menus and cross the street to Calums apartment.
I knock on the door.
"It's open!" I hear Calum shout.
I open the door and grin at him across the room.
He turned down his stereo and walked over to me.
He took the menus from my hand and gives me a quick kiss.
"Hi." He mumbles against my lips.
"Hii." I say back and smile.
"So," he says pulling away and taking my hand in his.
"What should we get to eat." He leads me to the kitchen and we sit at the counter together.
"Tai? Or maybe Italian." I say look through the options.
"I need to get my own menus there's so many..." Calum sighs. I laugh.
"Is there even such thing as Italian take out?" He asks and I pass him the menu as proof. He just shakes his head in disbelief.
"Pizza?" He asks.
I roll my eyes and sigh. "Pizza."
We order our food then sit across from eachother in the living room.
"So we needed to talk about this morning..." Calum says trailing. I nod and bite the insides of my cheeks.
"You just caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting it. And you just said it so casually I just didn't know what to do. I would have thought you would have... I don't know just said it differently."
"How many different ways can you say I love you?"
I just shrug. "I don't know, Calum! You just surprised me."
"Well that was kind of my point." He replied. I sigh.
"Sorry. We can just forget about it then."
"I mean if that's what you really want..."
"Well is that what you want?"
"No!"
"What?" Calum looked confused but I just shook my head.
"Saying I love you... It's a big for me. You just said it so casually you caught me off guard. I'm sorry." I say.
Calum just nods.
"No, I'm sorry. I should have considered how much of a big deal it is to say that for the first time. I'm sorry to have scared you. To me love doesn't just happen over time. One day you like someone. Then you figure out you really like them and then bam! One day you just realize you love them. Simple as that."
He says. I just smile.
"I love you too Cal. I love you and I'm sorry I didn't tell you this morning."
Calum just grins at me. We both stand up and and he walks over to me.
"I love you Albright. I'll make this up to you we'll have an "I love you" redo, okay?"
"Okay but that's very unnecessary." I smile at him and he cups my face in his hands and kisses me.
After that we didn't go around saying I love you a billion times. We stayed the same us. Nothing weird, no lovey dovey stuff we just hung out and ate pizza.
Around 6:50 Peyton came to the door.
"Awh you look adorable Pey! No changes necessary. I hope you guys have a good time." I say. Peyton just blushes and rolls her eyes.
"Yeah yeah, thanks. I already know I look great no need to remind me."
There's a knock at the door and Peyton takes a breath before opening the door.

<>Peyton Albright POV<>
(A/n: well this is new. First time for everything)

I take a deep breath before opening the door. Luke stands there and gives me a sweet smile.
"You look beautiful." He says.
I roll my eyes. Füc|< -boys always show off their sweet side.
"Yeah, yeah thanks. Ready to go?" I say rushing us out the door.
"UH yeah. Let's go." He says. We walk out the door and together we walk down the stairs and meet a taxi.
"So where are we going?" I ask.
"Well, I figured we could grab some pizza and then head off to our super secret location."
I smirk. "Super secret you say?"
"Yes." He smirks back. "It'll be a lot of fun.
We drive to a small pizza shop and take an hour to eat then call another taxi to take us to the next location. Luke was sweet, funny, fun to hang out with. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to be in a relationship with him.
What can I say, maybe füc|< -boys are only good for füc|<ing.
Luke gives the driver an address and we drive into the city outskirts. The taxi pulls into the parking lot of a bowling alley.
"Bowling? Really?" I say giving Luke a weird look.
"Do you not like bowling?" He asks.
"Bowling a fine."
"Good."
We go inside and rent a lane. I lace up my bowling shoes and stand next to Luke.
"Okay let's play." I sigh.
"Wait. We have to wait just a second and then we should play." He smirks at me. I raise an eyebrow and sit up on a stool.
"I'll go get us some drinks, okay?" He says. I just nod and lean back in my chair alittle bit.
Suddenly the lights shut off and music starts playing over the loud speakers.
The pins and lanes glowed along with everyone's shirts and shoes. That's when I noticed almost everyone was wearing white.
"What's going on?" I ask Luke when he comes back.
"Haven't you ever heard of glow bowl?" He laughs and hands me a beer. I give a small laugh in return and relax.
We spend the rest of the night bowling together. After two matches and Luke creaming me, we resort to sitting and talking and drinking and Luke getting up at random points to dance during his "favorite songs".
"So is this how you get all the girls? You take them bowling in the dark?" I laugh.
Luke just shakes his head. "Nah, for some reason not many girls enjoy this."
"What?" I say acting like I was shocked.
"But there's glowing shoes and your dance moves!"
Luke laughs.
"You're a strange one Peyton Albright. Real strange." He comments.
"Strange you say?" I say batting my eye lashes and taking another sip of my drink.
"Strange as in, you like people to think you're some hilarious badass who does reckless things and likes to party when really you're not as different from all of us as you think." Im abit taken aback by his comment but I just shrug.
"You don't know me Hemmings."
"Not yet I don't." He replies and takes our cups up to refill our drinks.

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Late night fillers and foreshadowing aye?

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