The Space Between a Rock and a Hard Place- 5SOS

Chapter Twenty-One

the movies- Nightly

Calum Hood:

"Hey,"

"Hi, Cal,"

Aviana slides into the passenger seat and the tension immediately fills the air. I start driving but I know I can't let the silence between us last if I'm going to change anything tonight. I've got to at least make an attempt to fix my mistakes.

"How's things been?" I ask, trying to force a sense of normality.

"Good, you?"

"Uhm, fine, I guess. Doing a lot of writing lately,"

"Wow, already?" she asks.

"Yeah, guess that energy is just there," I respond, the dry tone of conversation remaining. I think we were both a little nervous and uncomfortable after everything I've done.

"It's been a while since we've done anything, Cal," Av says, changing the topic, "thanks for suggesting this, I guess. I'm sorry I was kinda harsh the other day."

Yeah, you were Av. It hurt. I shut down so easily, and you're usually the one to pull me out, not put me into this mood.

"It's okay, Av..." I am not okay. Everything's wrong. And now we're back to silence.

We sit there next to each other for a while, listening to my radio play quietly to fill the void in my car. I'm focused on the road, but I glance over every once in a while at her. She just stares ahead or turns slightly to study something along the highway as it grows dim outside. Then she leans her head on her hand, propping her elbow up on the ledge of the window, and I decide to attempt some sort of conversation again.

"Are you ready for uni, Av? I heard the California Institute for the Arts is a really good school,"

"I mean, I haven't done too much training this summer, but yeah. I'm looking forward to it, I haven't made many friends in LA since I moved here,"

That was the most normal response so far. I try to keep it going as we arrive at our destination, "I'm really proud of you, I mean, you had to come all the way out here and audition and everything,"

"It's not really that big of a deal, Calum," she says with a small laugh, "I'm not like in a globally-known boyband or anything,"

"It's not a fuckin boyband," I say under my breath as I put the vehicle in park.

She hears me, immediately snapping back, "Well, what if I was talking about One Direction instead?"

"Shut up and get out of the car," I respond sarcastically, but still a little bit more serious than I had hoped. She gives me a look but gets out anyways.

It's still pretty warm out but it gets colder after the sun goes down. I pop the trunk and grab the blankets I packed.

"I brought blankets and snacks, do you want anything?"

"Well, what did you bring? And give me one of those blankets, I'm always cold, even in the summer,"

I hand her the blankets and lay one of them down on the ground so she can at least sit down. Rummaging back in the trunk to find where everything had slid to while I was driving, I give her an answer.

"Looks like I've got water, popcorn, and Reeses. Anything sound good?"

"Uhm, I'll take a water and some popcorn," Av replies, positioning herself on the ground and wrapping herself in a colorful mess of warmth.

I grab the container of popcorn I had made earlier and two water bottles. Since she took all of the blankets, I pull the hood of my green sweatshirt over my head, enclosing the little warmth I can get for myself. I'd rather go cold than let her suffer.

Practically collapsing to the ground next to her with no free hands, I hand her a water and set the popcorn between us, like a barrier. I adjust, and crack open my bottle, hoping that it might ease the lump in my throat.

"Soooooo, what movie is this?" she asks, stretching out her words.

"Uh, well, it just came out. 'The Fault in Our Stars,' I guess it's good? I thought you'd probably like it. I'm not really sure what it's about, but someone said it was sad?" I stumble through my words trying to explain the feature film being shown at the drive-in.

"Oh yeah, it's gonna be sad, Calum."

Just hearing her say my name makes my heart race. Every word that comes out of her mouth is so beautiful, it just adds to everything she already is.

"Oh shit, have you already seen it, Av?"

"Oh, no! I've just heard a lot about it. I'm so sorry if I cry, I don't handle sad movies well."

"Hey, it'll be okay, I just tried to find something I thought you would like,"

The previews start, and the small talk dies down as the last few cars pull into the area. Nothing on the screen is that interesting to me, and I keep finding myself looking over to Aviana in my peripheral vision. She actually looks happy, and I haven't seen that from her in a while. Things were actually going okay, and I wasn't going to talk much during the movie, so I don't have much of a chance to screw it up again, right?

Her delicate hands reach for the popcorn as the movie begins. I'll let her take all of the snacks too, it's fine.

And it was just that for most of the movie. She held her emotions together and I remained expressionless. Eventually, I did want some popcorn, and I got a little closer to her, only to reach the bowl she had been practically guarding in her lap.

I took a few pieces, popping them in my mouth. Av holds her focus on the film, hardly acknowledging my presence. How has she been so still this whole time, sitting on the ground, with only a thin barrier of blanket? It honestly doesn't do much for comfort after like, 20 minutes.

And then it begins. Gosh, this movie is depressing. She's definitely crying, and trying to hide it, the blankets pulled up to her nose.

"Are you okay?" I ask, like an idiot.

"Yeah," she chokes out, using my blankets to soak up her tears now.

I didn't really know what to do, so I gently pull her and the layers around her to me, letting her head rest in my lap. At least she doesn't pull away from me. Just stay like this, please.

Now, my hands find themselves tangled in her hair, sliding through the layers as she remains still. Her fresh blue underlayers peek through and are somehow vibrant in the moonlight.

When the movie ends, she immediately sits up, the tear lines still evident on her cheeks. The moment is over too soon, but I pretend to be unbothered, and start cleaning up.

"I'm going to keep these blankets for a bit longer is that okay?" she asks.

"Yeah, that's fine. Just let me get the snacks and the other blanket in the trunk and we'll head out."

She stands there as I throw the contents into the back of my car, and then I open the passenger door for her to slide in all bundled up. I shut her door and make my way around, getting in the driver's seat and slamming the door.

Starting the car, I tell her it'll be warmer in here soon, and turn the heat up higher. I take it that she's probably gathering her thoughts and emotions from the movie, because she just nods in response and remains quiet.

I take her back to her house, and she pulls herself from the heap of blankets.

"Thanks, Cal," is all she says, and she shuts the door to my car. I watch her walk inside without even a glance back, then I make my way home myself.

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Anyways, I know it's been like half a year or something... but if anyone is reading this, I'm back and determined to keep going.