hitchhiker // c.h (au)

13. you're pretty cute when you're embarrassed

A/N: photo of Iris and Calum bc HOLY SHIT THEY'RE SO CUTE AND THEY'D MAKE SUCH CUTE BABIES. That's all I'm saying.. also photo credit to whoever made that manip, bc I'm not that talented. 

"Are you serious?"

Sigh. "Yes."

"You've never seen or read any Harry Potter?" Iris' voice was not only incredulous but slightly angry, and Calum bit his lip to hold back the grin that wanted to break free. "Do you know how hard I wanna smack you right now."

"I just never saw it or read it I don't know, but you have no idea how many times I've had to answer that very question, from people that had the exact same tone of voice as you," Calum jokingly sighed once more, "so I suppose you can be the first one to watch Harry Potter with me."

"I'm so honoured to be your first." With that said the room delved into silence and Iris shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the words came out worse than she anticipated. Luckily Calum just laughed and slung his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in slightly.

"You know Retina, you're pretty cute when you're embarrassed."

"Shut up Cal, and go see if Michael has Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, and I'll get us an assortment of snacks. Okay, meet back here in 10 minutes, break." With that Iris flung herself out the room and scurried into the kitchen, shrieking slightly. Calum sat there for a minute, his mind reeling with the happiness she brought him, even after so little time knowing each other. But soon after he laughed quietly at her antics, and got up to search for Harry Potter DVDs.

*****************

After binge watching the first 4 Harry Potter movies back to back, Iris's face split open in a wide yawn and she snuggled further into Calum's side. The sun had set hours ago, and they sat in darkness, the faint glow of the TV the only source of light that chased away the shadows.

Calum's arm tightened around Iris's shoulders as she shifted in her position of lying next to him, her body curved so their legs could both fit on the ottoman in front of them. Her head rested on his chest and she could hear the steady hum of his breathing.

"Do you want to watch more or are you ready for bed?" Calum's voice was raspy after hours of silence and Iris's breath caught in her throat.

"I think I'm possibly ready to sleep in a real bed, or at least a comfortable couch." Iris struggled up from her lying position to sit up, looking down on the sleepy boy, with his eyes half closed and a small tired smile spread over his face. She put out her hands for him to grab so she could pull him up and sighed, smiling, "come on sleepy."

He reached out his hands to clasp tightly onto her smaller ones, and she stood up and pulled him up in one swift move. Which would've been impressive and well executed, only it meant that they stood only inches from each. They were so close that Iris could feel Calum's warmth radiating into the front of her body, and she struggled to swallow at the sudden proximity of him, her mind and nerves blindingly aware of their hands entwined together. He gazed down at her, his hair messily sitting up on her head and as she looked at him she itched to reach up and run her fingers through his hair, flattening it flat to his head. Her breath came out heavier as his tongue darted out to wet his lips, as his eyes scanned her face before landing on her lips.

His face started to inch towards hers and dip down to meet hers, until she snapped out of it and took a step back, "I should probably go shower."

"Um..." Calum's face was splattered with confusion and the beginnings of humiliation, and he reached up to rub his face with his hand, "yeah that's probably a good idea. I'll get Michael's spare room ready while you're doing that."

And with that they both diverted their eyes and hurried out of the rooms into separate ones.

***

It was 10 minutes after their awkward encounter and Iris was still standing under the shower head, water cascading down around her shoulders and down her back in a waterfall that she wanted to wash away her feelings for Calum. And her feelings about the almost kiss. Obviously kissing Calum wasn't a new thing, they had done it before; however this time around they both would've been sober and it would've taken them kissing from an accident that happened one time when they were drunk, to something they did that meant they had feelings and tension and relationships never ended well.

Iris's brain had been working in overdrive and she felt even more tired after her shower then she did before and she was ready to fall into bed and sleep for many hours. She reached out to shut off the water, cutting the water spurt off with a click. She wrapped herself up in a towel and studied her face in the mirror; her cheeks were flushed and her hair stood up in the air due to the way her curls were laying. After a couple of seconds of staring and thinking encouraging thoughts ('you can do this, get out there. He's just a man, a man child, basically a child. Yes he is stunning, but you have self control and you know that it could end badly if anything happens... again, so don't let it happen'), she got dressed in the comfiest clothes, and probably the least flattering, took a deep breath and opened the bathroom door. 

She nearly sighed with relief and let the anxiety and tension dissipate from between her shoulder blades, until she saw Calum sitting on the couch and gazing at her. 

"Hey." Iris said, trying to act casual. She didn't even know what was wrong with her in that moment. They'd kissed before, she wasn't sure why this almost kiss weighed so heavily on her mind and her ability to act like a normal human being. 

"Seriously?" Calum's voice was injected with what sounded like a stab to the heart to Iris, but what was more commonly referred to as hurt, and confusion. He got up and walked over to where she was standing in a few long strides and she scrunched up her face, expecting an onslaught of cruel words that she'd heard before. Mostly from misogynists who couldn't handle a strong woman, or people that meant well but after their many years of life, couldn't control the misogyny that was ingrained in their brains from the society they lived in. She had been called every name that people could think of, tease, slut, bitch, whore; so many violent words that no one really knows the meaning of. She especially hated slut, always said with so much venom from people trying to judge someone for something that has nothing to do with them. She steadied her mind for Calum to string out a paragraph about how she was a tease and shouldn't lead him on; not that she thought he would do that, but throughout her entire life that was what she had become accustomed to.
"Iris, I think I really like you."

"Wait what?" 

"Can I kiss you?" (A/N: YES CONSENT I LOVE IT, WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE.) 

Iris didn't say anything for a moment and Calum groaned, his hands coming to grasp her face gently "Jesus Iris, get out of your own head." She looked up at him for a moment and couldn't help the smile that grew across her face. "Why are you smiling?"

"Yes," Iris said and Calum frowned for a second, not fulling understanding, "you can kiss me."

Now she wasn't the only one smiling.

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Oh what a terrible place to stop a chapter, I'm a stupid bitch blah blah blah, I know !
It's awful, it's a really bad cliffhanger, it's not even a cliffhanger. Like what. I don't know.