Begin Again // Calum Hood

Chapter 26.

this chapter is dedicated to @rxckingirwin! she's in the process of translating this story into spanish and i think that's pretty damn cool. so if you speak spanish, go ahead and check it out :)

"Just stay here and lay with me for a while." Calum lazily stated as he drew little circles on my back as I sat up in Ashton's bed.

"This isn't our bed to lay in." I put my hand on his blanket-covered leg.

"Any bed that we're in together is our bed to lay in." He smiled. I laughed at his logic and started to get up. "Amberrrrr." He whined as I stood up.

"We can't stay here forever. By the looks of it, Ashton might need this soon." I picked up my shirt.

"Don't. Don't you dare." He pointed his finger.

I sighed. "Calum." I dropped the shirt.

"Just a few more minutes." He smiled a cheesy smile, exposing both rows of teeth.

"Fine." I crawled back up to where he was and he spread his arm out for me to lay on. I placed my neck on his arm together like perfect puzzle pieces and he put his other arm around my back. I rested my forehead on his collarbone. He put his chin on my head. I closed my eyes while he ran his fingers up and down my back. Being in Calum's arms makes me feel safe, like nothing else in the world is going on. Just here and now with him. I raised my head to make eye contact with him. He wore a slight, genuine smile that spread to my lips, too. He looked down at my lips and back to my eyes. I raised my head up a little higher so that we were almost the same level. He raised the hand that was on my back and grabbed my hand laying on my side. He started playing with our fingers, staring intently. He dreamily moved my fingers around, like they were fragile glass that would shatter if they were handled to roughly. He looked back at my eyes and laughed a little. "What?" I smiled.

"This. It's really nice." He bit the inside of his cheek. I studied his small features like the small freckles on his cheek and the way his hair gently fell onto his forehead, a mess I created. He slowly brought his head closer to mine until our foreheads were almost touching. He slowly placed his lips on mine as I closed my eyes. He back his head up again and I placed another short kiss on his lips to make sure he knew that I approved. He smiled and then placed a kiss on my forehead before getting out of bed.

"I thought you wanted to stay in bed?" I said as I scooted over to his warm spot in the sheets. I put my head on my hand.

He stood in front of me as he put jumped a few times to get his jeans back on. "We can always do this at our own apartment. It's a little weird in someone else's bed." He slipped his shirt on and put his hand out for me. I grabbed his hand and I started to get out of bed. When I stood up, he pulled me closer and immediately put his lips on mine. I felt his slight smile and I gently pushed him off.

"You're so smiley." I said as I put my shirt on.

"Yeah." He said and nodded his head. He sat on the bed on got on his phone as I got dressed.

"Should we go find Luke?" I said as I reapplied my lipstick for the second time.

"He's a big boy. He's okay." He stood up and helped me zip my skirt back up then I put my shoes back on. He opened the door for me and he followed me back downstairs. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, the music was still blaring. He brought his mouth close to my ear.

"Your ass looks phenomenal in that skirt." He lowly said.

"Is that why you walked behind me?" I bumped his shoulder. He started walking in front of me to the dance floor. He turned his shoulder around and yelled that he was going to find Luke. I nodded okay and went to the kitchen to get a final drink. On my way, a hand grabbed my arm and I turned around to see Derek.

"Where have you been, Amber?" He forcefully kissed me and put his hand on my ass. I pushed him off.

"Woah, what the hell Derek?"

"I'll forgive you for leaving me, but you better not do it again." He smashed his lips on mine again as I tried to push him off. I tried to get a "Stop", "No, or a "Go away" between forceful kisses but he was much stronger than I was. He lifted me up onto the counter as I tried to kick him in the crotch, but he was moving all around my attacks. I pushed him off and a punch came out of nowhere and landed right on his cheek.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Calum spat at him. He stepped towards him and gently picked me up off the counter and dropped me behind him.

"What's wrong with you?" Derek yelled as he held his jaw.

"Do you not know how to take no for an answer? She clearly didn't want that, you ass!" He put his arm around my waist and started walking me out of the party. "Are you okay? He put his hands on my cheeks like a little kid once we got to the front lawn.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't know why he did that. What did I do?" I shook my head.

"You didn't do anything, babe. You didn't deserve for him to come on to you like that. You're fine." He placed a kiss on my forehead. "I'm gonna go get Luke and then we can leave. Do you mind if I leave you by yourself or do you want to come back in with me?" He looked back at me.

"I'm fine, Calum. Nothing happened. You stopped him. Thank you."

"I should have stayed with you. I even knew who he was and what kind of person he is. I shouldn't have left you."

"No, Calum. I'm not letting you beat yourself up. He knew what he was going to do and that's as simple as that." I rubbed his arm. "Go get Luke."

A few minutes later, he came out with Luke and Luke didn't look too happy about it.

"What the hell man?" Luke said as Calum walked behind him. "That girl was totally into me!"

"I'll tell you why we're leaving in a minute." Calum lowly said. Calum got in the driver's seat and Luke got in the passenger's seat. I sat in the back by myself.

"Are you sure you can drive?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm too pissed to be buzzed." He shook his head and started driving the car away.

"Okay, so why did we leave? What happened? Did you guys not end up doing it or something?" He looked back at me.

"No, shut the fuck up, Luke." Luke turned around and Calum looked at me in the rear view mirror. "Derek tried to take advantage of Amber. We weren't going to stay there."

"Well shit. I didn't know that happened. Are you okay, Amber?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't particularly want that to happen. I'm sorry we had to leave Luke. Did you at least get that girl's number?" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's fine. I'm sorry I acted like a kid. I thought we were leaving for no reason. And yeah, I did get her number." He laughed.

random little side note but good thing by sage the gemini ft. nick jonas reminds me of calum and amber lmao