Bad Dreams // c.t.h

1.

The first time I ever saw Calum Hood was when I was on my morning jog through the forest park on the edge of town one autumn day. The weather was warm and sunny and sweat was beaded across my forehead. I couldn't hear anything over the blare of my earphones and it was because of this that I ran straight into him.

Or should I say, his car.

I was just finishing my run, along the edge of the car park. I was listening to My Chemical Romance, as their song 'I'm not okay' came on shuffle. The music was up full volume and I was so engrossed in the lyrics that I didn't even hear his car horn blaring at me. The car came to a sudden halt as the bumper collided with my side.

I gasped as I landed heavily on the uneven stoned ground, luckily not hurting myself. I heard car doors open and shut loudly and quick footsteps before a hand landed on my shoulder and a concerned face became level with mine.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" A curly blonde haired boy said, his voice laced with worry. "Are you hurt?" His hazel eyes looked me over, checking for any obvious injuries.

I sat up straighter and rubbed my head, my blurred vision quickly becoming clearer. "I'm fine."

The boy wrapped his arm around me as I began to stand up, but I pushed him away from me. "I would be fine if you hadn't driven your car into me," I snapped.

He frowned and stepped away from me. "Actually my friend was driving and you kind of ran straight in front of the car."

I glared at him. "I did not," I replied defensively. Looking behind him, I saw a dark haired boy talking into his phone. "Is that the one who crashed into me?" I asked angrily.

The boy looked behind him at the person I was referring to and nodded. "Yeah, but he didn't--"

I ignored him and pushed past him, striding towards the other boy. I could hear him talking into the phone as I got closer and I realised that he was on the phone to an ambulance.

"I don't need an ambulance," I said as I came to a stop in front of him. "I'm not hurt."

The boy held the phone away from his ear and glanced at me. "You just ran into my car. I think you'll need to be checked out, just in case." His voice was low and rushed, as if he was annoyed.

I should have been the one who was annoyed. Heck, he just drove straight into me.

"Look, I'm not hurt. I just fell over, thanks to you," I snapped.

The boy looked me up and down. Then he spoke into the phone again. "No, she's fine. Yeah. Never mind. Okay, bye." He hung up and put his phone back in his pocket, looking expectantly at me.

"Well?" He asked, tapping his black runners impatiently on the ground.

"Well what?" I asked back, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Aren't you going to apologise for running into my car and making me think I had killed someone?"

"You should be the one apologising! You hit me with your car."

The dark haired boy glared at me. "I did not! I beeped and everything but you were too busy listening to your stupid music to notice."

I was about to shout back when the other boy appeared beside his friend. "Is the ambulance on its way?" He asked cautiously, taking in both of our angry expressions.

"I don't need an ambulance. I'm fine," I retorted.

The blonde haired boy rose his eyebrows. "Are you sure--"

"Yes!" I cut him off. "I just want an apology."

"For what?" The dark haired boy questioned. "I didn't do anything. You ran into me. I want an apology from you."

The blond boy cleared his throat. "Look, Calum, just say sorry. She's--"

"No Ashton! She was the one too busy singing her stupid songs to notice the car driving out of the car park." His chocolate coloured eyes narrowed at me. "You're lucky you didn't dent the car."

"Oh, so you had time to check your car after you hit someone?" I said skeptically.

"You just said there's nothing wrong with you!"

Ashton spoke up again. "Look, how about you both apologise and we can all just leave."

Calum and I both shook our heads in protest at the same time. I certainly wasn't going to apologise to the person who nearly ran me over.

"Why are you being so difficult?" Calum spat. "You weren't even looking to see if there were any cars. It's your fault!"

I bit my lip and hesitated. I was a bit too into the song when I was crossing the car park, even though I wouldn't admit it to these two douchebags. Maybe it was possible I hadn't been watching... A scowl crossed my face as I decided to say sorry. I'd much rather prefer apologising to them than staying here arguing with them all day.

"Fine," I growled. "I'll apologise."

A smug look appeared on Calum's face, but it was soon wiped off him when Ashton nudged him in the side with his elbow, gesturing for him to apologise too.

"Fine, I will too," Calum grimaced.

I looked at the ground and twisted my shoe in the dirt as I mumbled an inaudible 'sorry' to Calum as he did the same.

Ashton rocked back and forth on his heels. "See, it wasn't that hard, was it?"

Calum kicked a pebble away from him. "Shut up Ashton," he said as he walked back to his car, his hands shoved into his pockets. I wanted to tell Ashton the same thing but I kept my mouth shut.

Ashton looked back at me and bit the inside of his cheek. "Well, I, um, better get going. Sorry about that..."

"Whatever. Bye." I turned around in the opposite direction, feeling slightly mean for being so rude.

"How can we make it up to you?" I heard the blond boy, Ashton, say as I walked further away from him.

I stopped walking and turned around. "Try not to knock me down again," I replied, beginning to walk away again. Ashton didn't say anything else and I presumed he had gone back to join Calum.

As I made my way to the forest entrance leading to the main road, Calum's car passed me. I glanced in to see both boys watching me, and Calum had a sour look on his face. I looked away, walking faster in the other direction.

People like him really shouldn't have a license.

~~~~~

This is my new Calum fanfic and I hope you like it!

Shoutout to -lilacskycth who the girl is named after because she's cool af and she's a hardcore Calum girl :P

Ily

Hannah