mechanic - calum hood a.u.

chapter twenty-two

I don't know what was worse, what had happened with Ashton last night, I mean we didn't even kiss, but we would have and I hate to say it but we both wanted it, not only Ash.
Or the fact that I hadn't been returning Calum's calls since the last day we spoke because I actually... forgot.

Today I woke up alone, just a streak of light in the room and a mix of worry and reassurance of returning to good ol' Florida in a few hours.
Funny thing was that Mrs. Brown said, and I quote, "the situation with the douche is getting to my head, book my vacations for the next two weeks, I'm staying.". I don't get how she can still be this rude after everything that happened but that's just who she is.

Ashton texted me before getting into his flight: "don't bother knocking on my door, when you get this I'm going to be on a plane already so just call me when you get to Florida, I need to see you". It was sweet of him to do that, I'm upset we couldn't catch the flight together but I understand his motives, I bet he couldn't spend another hour here without thinking of Mrs. Brown.

The car ride to the airport was long but it was nothing compared to the plane ride that was expecting me. Luckily, I managed to fall asleep after the first two hours only to be awoken by the man siting next to me because apparently I was sleeping on his shoulder and he needed to go to the bathroom. He left me wondering if I slept on his shoulder the whole trip or just now, either way he was being nice about it.

There's only one hour left before I got back to Florida, excitement is underated compared to what I'm feeling.

One: Calum called me before I left, asking how things have been and, even after I told him he didn't need to, he insisted on picking me up from the airport. It's crazy to think that I can't even speak properly to him. But he called me princess again, I missed it so much.
But this leads me to the second point, Ashton. Why did he want me to call him when I arrive? And mostly, why did he say he needed to see me?

All these doubts in my brain made me spent the time before we landed looking at the window, I didn't even see the hour passing by.

"Princess!" I was greeted with two arms around my body after I had picked up my bag. "I missed you so much." Calum kissed me.

"I've missed you too." And I did. "So how were things around here without me?"

"Well... There's sort of something big I need to tell you". He said and I could sense something was wrong.

"Calum, you're worrying me. What happened?" I asked before getting into his car.

"The night before last, someone broke into the garage, luckily, our clients had all picked up their cars that afternoon, but there was still one car there..."

"No. No no no no no no, not my baby
No!"

"I'm sorry, Lilo." He kept his eyes on the road as he said this, it was somewhat unsettling.

"I've worked all my life on that car and now it's gone." I sobbed.

"Your dad is probably going to kill me for telling you, but you deserved to know."

"You did the right thing, it's great to have a warning before I walk into the garage only to find nothing in the spot where my baby would be."

"But hey princess, you're finally here and all I want is to cheer you up and make you forget about this situation, so what do you say of going a little bit to my house before heading to the garage?" Calum licked his lips.

"I'm sorry babe, but I need to check on my dad beforehand. We can meet later, I promise."

"Fine." He huffed.