Bad Dreams // c.t.h

2.

"Fuck."

The large dog ran right across the path in front of me and I quickly swerved around it so as not to trip and fall. I stopped running and leant against the small wooden fence that ran along the edge of the park to steady myself.  The dog sat down and tilted it's head to the side, as if it was watching me. A black collar clung to its neck along with a shiny silver name tag.

I moved closer to the dog and carefully patted it's head, lifting the name tag in my hand. The name Jasper was written across it in fancy italics.

Jasper seemed to be quiet enough, so I got down on my hunkers to get a better look at him. He was well groomed and he was clean, which suggested he wasn't a stray. He probably had run away from his owner or something.

"Good boy," I murmured as I stood back up, scratching behind his ears.

"Jasper, there you are!"

I turned around to see a tall, attractive boy jogging towards us. He ruffled the top of the dogs head when he reached us and smiled apologetically at me.

"Sorry if he annoyed you. He tends to run off whenever he's off his lead," the boy said, clipping a long lead onto the clasp of the collar.

"No, he was fine. He's really cute," I answered, not referring to just the dog. The boy was pretty cute too.

"Yeah, he's great," he answered. "I'm Luke by the way." He stuck out his hand for me to shake it.

"Aoife," I answered, shaking hands with him.

Suddenly another figure appeared behind Luke, and I glanced around him to see who it was. I grimaced at the  familiar face of Calum, the person who had tried to run me over a while back.

Calum stopped when he reached us and laughed breezily. "Jasper, buddy, you've gotta stop--" The corners of his mouth turned down and he rolled his eyes when he saw me. "Oh, it's you," he stated unhappily.

"I'm thrilled to see you too," I snapped.

Luke frowned. "You two know each other?"

"Unfortunately," Calum and I both said in unison. I threw him a dirty look and he did the same to me.

Calum ran a hand through his dark curls, turning to his friend to explain how he knew me.  "Luke, this is the girl who ran into my car the other week. The one who said I drove into her." Not a very accurate explanation.

"Because you did," I shot back.

Calum rolled his eyes again and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Did not," I heard him mumble to himself.

I sighed. "Well, it was great meeting you Luke. And your dog," I smiled at him.

"Jasper is actually Calum's dog," Luke replied, nodding his blond head.

I smirked at Calum. "Poor dog."

Calum glared at me. "Haha."

"You're almost as bad at looking after your dog as you are at driving," I added, shooting a smug look in Calum's direction. 

Luke giggled from beside me and looked at Calum. "You are pretty bad at driving, dude," he confessed.

"I am not," Calum said defensively. "At least I have a drivers license."

"Ouch," Luke said, placing his hand over his heart in mock hurt.

I snorted at Calum's expression. He looked like he wanted to strangle both me and Luke at the same time. "Look, I was only joking. No need to get your panties in a twist."

"Yeah, well, you're not funny," he replied, a sour look clouding his features.

Luke shrugged. "Sorry about Calum. He can't really take a joke very well."

Calum grabbed the dog lead off Luke. "Whatever," he mumbled, beginning to walk back in the direction he had come. "I'm going home, and I won't wait for you."

Luke smiled sheepishly at me. "I gotta run. Calum's my ride and he means it when he says he won't wait. He's done it more than once."

"It's fine. See you around Luke," I said. "Bye Jasper," I called after them.

I began to jog again, not bothering to put in my earphones, because I didn't really fancy being hit by another car.

~~~~~

"Hiya, could I please have a--"

"What are you doing here?"

My eyes snapped from the bright screen of the McDonald's menu to the grumpy face of Calum, aka my new stalker.

"I came to order food. How was I supposed to know you work here?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

Calum grumbled to himself. "What do you want?" He growled.

"Well, I was about to order when you bit my head off for coming to McDonald's."

He gave me a death stare. "Just order already so you can get out of my face."

I tilted my head to the side and smirked. "What happened to service with a smile?" I questioned.

"Just fucking order already!" Calum half-shouted, causing a few heads to turn in our direction.

I leaned forward against the counter. "Hmm... Let me see. Is it possible I could order some chicken nuggets and chips without being yelled at?"

Calum smirked. "What age are you? Five?"

"No actually, I'm nineteen."

He rolled his eyes yet again. "Whatever you want. That will be four dollars."

I gave him the fakest smile I could manage, gave him his money and went to sit at a small table in the corner of the restaurant.

A few minutes later Calum arrived at my table and dropped the meal carelessly in front of me. I stared at him, wondering what I had actually done to him to make him dislike me so much. He was about to walk away when I fired a chip at the back of his head.

He whipped around and glared at me. "What the fuck was that for?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "The next one will have ketchup on it if you don't tell me what your problem with me is."

He hesitated and then sighed. "I don't know. You just get on my nerves."

"Oh, I bet you get all the girls with your charm."

"You think you're so great, don't you?"

"Listen Calum, you get on my nerves and I'm still not half as rude to you as you are to me. Plus, in here, it's part of your job to be nice to me."

"Look, I need to get back to work," he said quietly, his voice suddenly vulnerable to my ears.

I sat forward. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked.

"Sure," he mumbled, before he went back to the counter to feign kindness at the next group of kids who came in to order.

I couldn't stop myself from watching him as he trudged around the restaurant, taking people's orders and giving them their food. He seemed so sad that I almost forgot about how rude he had been to me since I met him.

I shoved the last chicken nugget into my mouth before putting my phone back into my handbag. I shot a last glance over at Calum. He was stood behind the counter, his chocolate eyes focused on me. His head quickly dipped and he subtly looked away when I looked over.

I gave him a small wave as I stood up, but he didn't see me. I was glad he didn't. I didn't want him to think I liked him, anyway.