Chemistry ~ Calum Hood #book 1

0.6

For Emily Saturday came around too quickly. She wasn't ready for
this 'date' nor did she want this date.
Emily sighed looking in the mirror at her outfit, was it expectable. It was just some high waisted jeans and a shirt tucked in. It was Calum it's not like they'd go to a five star restaurant more like McDonalds or the local diner down the road. Emily didn't tell anyone about this date, not even her best friends or her mum.
It was 7pm and Calum wasn't there.
Maybe he isn't coming.
Maybe it was a joke.
Went through Emily's mind as she waited for a text from him to say that he was outside. Emily prayed that he wouldn't knock at the door or she'd get endless questions from a over excited mother.
Emily's text tone went. She grabbed her phone and saw that Calum was outside.
She grabbed her purse and headed down stairs.
"Bye mum" she said kissing her mum on the cheek as she passed and headed out of the door as quickly as possible.

Calum's car was nice, for a guy their age. It was a black BMW with last years number plate.
As Emily got in to the passenger seat and shut the door she noticed the soft R&B playing the the back ground making her want to shoot herself.
She rolled her eyes as she sat back into the seat, making Calum chuckle as he chewed gum and pulled out of her road.
"What did I do? you've been in the car three seconds" Calum asked looking over at Emily.
"It's your awful taste in music" Emily said bluntly "It makes me wish I was deaf"
Calum let out a low chuckle at her.
"What music do you listen to then?" Calum asked as he kept his eyes on the road.
"Heavy rock" Emily said casually making Calum look over at her in shock. "I'm kidding, I listen to bands and selective chart music"
Calum nodded in fairness "so you're not a Jay-Z fan?"
"No I am not"
The two were put into silence. Emily noticed that Calum was driving out of town.
"You know if you're embarrassed too be seen with me then you could've asked someone else" Emily said looking at her phone at the group message text between her and her friends.
Calum frowned slightly "what makes you think I'm embarrassed to be seen with you?"
"Well we are heading out of town"
"That's because I wanna go to a certain place not because I'm embarrassed to be seen with you" Calum shock his head slightly.
Calum stopped at a red light and looked over at Emily texting on her phone. There was something comforting about her presence. She brought something to his life that he didn't know he needed until now. He knew that he didn't have to try and impress her or even try at all. Not only that but she was the only girl Calum had ever seen as beautiful. Sure he'd called people pretty and hot but never beautiful.
"Do you want a photo?" Emily asked looking at Calum starring at her so intensely.
"Sure" Calum shrugged before putting the car in gear and driving .

It wasn't long before Calum pulled into a small diner. It was vintage and empty.
"You know if you wanted to go to a diner there is one two minuets away from my house and that would have saved us that journey" Emily said starring at the small building.
Calum looked at her "do you ever stop complaining?"
Emily smiled at him "No"

Once in the diner and seated, on a window seat, because Emily insisted that they didn't sit opposite each other like a real date to which Calum didn't argue.

Once they ordered and got the food they started to enjoy and relax in each other's company.
"So this project, are we nearly done with it?" Calum asked looking, and smiling, at Emily as she put two fries into her mouth.
"Yeah pretty much" She shrugged.
"And what grade do you think we will get?"
"And A" Emily said looking over at Calum who looked slightly taken back.
"An A?" He repeated to which Emily nodded.
"Hood, chemistry is my subject of course we'll get an A"
"Don't you get A's in everything?"Calum asked as he took a bite of his burger.
Emily looked over at him "no sometimes I get A*'s"
Calum rolled his eyes at her. Calum defiantly wasn't and A star student. In fact this project will be his first A. Calum hated school and much to his parents disgust he didn't care about school either. He passed, just, getting low C's high D's.
"Yeah well I can get high" Calum nodded proudly.
"Congrats" Emily said with a disapproved look on her face.

Emily looked around the diner. There was soft music playing in the background from an old Player in the corner. Other than herself and Calum there were two other people on the diner. They were old and looked like they were enjoying a peaceful date. Emily liked it in here. It was calm and it gave a welcoming vibe. All the workers were friendly and happy to be there. The classic red seats and sliver tables lined the black and white tiled floor.

"I like it here" Emily said quietly to Calum. Calum look down to her eyes for a second. Even when sitting down there was still a height difference.
"Me too" Calum said looking away from her.

Emily looked at him. The same way he has looked at her early. There was something about Calum's company. There was something about him that gave her a sense of comfort, she knew she'd be safe with him. But Calum was scary, he had a dark side that Emily wasn't familiar with personally but she'd heard things. Calum was the schools bad boy of course he was dark. But somehow all of Emily's opinions of him before she knew him were gone and meaningless. She knew she shouldn't have judged him. They actually got on in a weird way. Emily was starting to see why people find him attractive, although he wasn't just attractive to Emily. He was a price of art.
"Do tattoos hurt?" Emily asked out of the blue. Calum looked at her and then down at his tattoo of a bird on his arm.
"Not really" he shrugged "it depends on where you get it"
"What did your parents say when you got them?" Emily asked she knew her mother would never let her get any. Not that she really wanted any. They weren't really something she found attractive. 
"There was nothing they could do whatever they said" Calum shrugged. Emily sensed that Calum didn't get on with his parents. This sadden her slightly because people don't appreciate their parents enough.
"Do you not get on with your parents?" Emily asked softly.
"Not really" Calum sighed slightly "we have very different opinions on things"
Emily nodded understandingly. Of course her and her mum had arguments but she'd never do anything to upset her.
"Like what?" Emily asked. She was interested in Calums way of life. He was careless and emotionless.
Calum shrugged "most things. Smoking, drinking, being out all the time"
"What do they say?"
"That they never see me"
Normally if someone asked Calum questions like it was question time he'd tell them to 'shut the fuck up' or to 'go fuck themselves' but he didn't think twice before telling Emily.
"Do you not think you should spend a little time with them?" Emily asked. It suddenly hit Calum that Emily didn't have much time with her Mum and she didn't have a biological dad. He looked at her with sympathy.
"I guess" Calum said quietly. Emily looked away from that look in his eyes. She knew that look all to well.
"I told you I don't want your sympathy" she said. Calum coughed and looked out the window.
"What happened to your dad?" He asked slightly bluntly. Emily was takenback by this. No one had ever really asked about her dad. Calum had been blunt about asking her questions. He asked about her mum bluntly and now her dad. She kind of liked it because he wasn't treating her sensitively. She knew she didn't have to answer if she didn't want to. Nor did the information upset her in anyway but people always get weird about asking questions about sensitive subjects. Emily didn't want to have people treat her like she was a glass object and could be broke at anytime. She already had been broken, but she was stronger than ever now. 
"He left my mum when I was four" Emily said. The story didn't upset her at all of anything she was glad that her dad wasn't in her life.
"Why?"
"Because he was an arsehole" Emily sighed making Calum smile a little. "Well really my mum left him. She'd just found out she was pregnant with Tommy, he was useless and a drug addict as well as abusive"
"You don't seem upset by this story" Calum commented resting his arm on the table.
"Nah I'm over it" Emily shrugged looking over at Calum.
"So your mum met you step dad and that was that?" Calum asked "happy family?" Emily chuckled because If only it was that simple. 

 "Not quite. My mum remarried a guy named Steve he gave her two kids but it didn't work out so they split. Then a year later my mum met Dave and it was literally like a god had come from heaven to us" Emily said "oh and got my mum pregnant again"

Calum chuckled before drinking his coke.
"Eventful" he commented
"Basically a TV show" Emily said sarcastically as she sipping on her water. 
Calum chuckled at Emily before suggesting they leave.
They walk out of the restaurant and into Calum's car.
The car ride home was defiantly different from the one there. The pair felt closer and more connected. They talked the whole way back to Emily's. The two had learnt something about each other today and that was the first of many bonds. 

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Xo