ʟᴀᴄᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜɪᴍ- ᴄ.ʜ

Vol 33: The moment she always knew

The moment Lacey knew her crush for Calum hood wasn't just a crush - she couldn't do one simple task. And when their eyes were only inches away from each others- she'd never seen his eyes that full of life before. How his eyes almost disappeared when he smiled up at her that night when she fell on top of him from them jumping out the cart. How she'd never see the light in his face that bright before. She noticed he even had slight dimples and freckles on his neck.

So that was the moment that she always knew.

Before that night in the gardens, Lacey obviously swooned over Calum like she was a little year two having a crush on a boy in her class. Obviously she thought he was cute and had butterflies in her stomach when he looked at her with those eyes- but what she didn't know was that she was now falling into something a lot more deeper.

And then, after that night- things were never the same. But I'll tell you why.

After they toppled on top of one another and the laughter died down, their eyes settled on each others lips; lips creeping inch by inch closer- but before any one could go any further- a flashlight appeared again from the bushes causing them to jolt away from each other. The same angry park ranger emerged- his belly bulging out of his two sizes too small belt.

And with that, Calum and Lacey quickly got up to their feet- and bolted straight out of sight towards his car. Calum made sure to not let go of Lacey's hand. Their laughs and snickers didn't do much to hide their trails, but they managed to once again loose the old man.

The car ride back to Lacey's house was little quiet as both of them processed what was about to happen if the park ranger didn't interrupt them at that given moment.

Lacey and Calum barley looked at each other in the eyes and when Calum asked Lacey questions if she was tired or wanted to go home she only responded with short answers. Calum couldn't blame her, the questions he asked seemed forced- because the elephant in the car was too big to ignore.

Calum kept replaying the look in her eyes. He kept cursing himself. He should've gone about it differently. What was he thinking? He should've never done that in the first place- now she can't even look at him.

As they arrived- Calum insisted that he'd walk Lacey to her door but Lacey wanted to go through her window as she couldn't deal with seeing Lucy or even Angie if they were still inside. Calum still took up his request and helped Lacey get through her window while avoiding the shattered glass on the ground.

Barley any words were exchanged and he hated it. His heart screamed. His stomach screeched. His lungs yelped.

"Uh- you're all good?" Calum put up a weak thumbs up as he stood right outside Lacey's window.

"Uh- yeah-yes." She turned around, a little red in the cheeks. "Thank you for- you know. Not letting me go outside by myself." She took a couple steps forward but still couldn't fixate into his eyes.

"And taking me to the gardens."

Calum drew a weak smile. He drew a weak smile because he didn't want to say goodby. Not like this. Because Calum could never say what he wanted to anyone- and in the first time in his life he had so many things to say. But the voices in his head didn't want him to.

"Yeah- no. No worries." He caught himself staring too much or even being caught in his thoughts for too long. He didn't know which one.

He wanted to say it.

"I'll see you around." He nodded- the only thing that came out- or rather the only thing he let himself say, and he slowly walked backwards to head down on top of the lower roof.