Stumbling Through It {C.H}

Chapter 2

There in the stuffed animal isle of Toys R Us was the guy I had been in love with for almost six years.

"You're Calum Hood!" I uttered in amazement.

"Yes." He chucked.

"Wow, I used to be a huge fan of yours!" I told him. He was still as hot as I remembered.

"Thanks, and thank you for helping my son too." He smiled.

"No problem! Wow," I said again, "I didn't even realize he was your son. I see the resemblance now though." They both had the same hair and nose. The only thing that really didn't look like Calum were his eyes, which I assume he inherited those from Amy, his mother.

"Look daddy! Thomas!" Daniel showed his father the box with the toy train as Calum placed him back down on the floor.

"Nice!" Calum ruffled his son's hair, "Is that the toy you want?" Daniel nodded. "Okay then, let's go buy it." He took his hand.

"Thanks again!" Calum thanked me as he passed by.

Daniel waved to me, "Bye Ellie!"

I took me a while to process what had happened. I had just met Calum Hood, the Calum Hood, at work. I spent years trying to get him to notice me on twitter or at concerts, with no luck, but now I just come across him and his son at my local Toys R Us. Life was crazy.

=

The next few weeks at work we're boring and basic compared to that day. I kept hoping I would come across Calum, Daniel or even Amy in the isles again, but of course I didn't.

When I got home from work one day, I took out my laptop and went on my old tumblr. I was surprised I still remembered my URL. I scrolled through heaps of old pictures of Calum that I reblogged years ago. I still couldn't believe it. I always dreamed of meeting Calum but I never thought it would happen the way it did. I kinda wished I had gotten a picture with him.

I switched over to Facebook where I pulled up messenger to message my old internet friend. We had met on tumblr back in 2015 and we stayed friends all through college. We eventually drifted our own ways and I hadn't messaged her in a year. I prayed that she still checked her Facebook messages as I wrote 'Hey Cami, I know we haven't talked in like forever, but you will never guess who I ran into at work the other week.'

To my surprise she replied an hour later, 'Oh hi Ellie! How have you been? And who?!'

I typed back, 'I've been fine, just struggling to get the hang of this 'adulthood' thing. But I met CALUM HOOD AND HIS SON! At Toys R Us!'

'No way!' She wrote, 'That is so crazy. I'm totally jealous :P'

I smiled, she hadn't changed a bit. We exchanged a few more messages talking about my experience, then we started talking about our lives. It turns out she only lived two towns over, after moving in with her boyfriend. We arranged a day to meet over lunch and catch up. I was happy to have her as a friend again. She had always been my best friend even though we had never met before. I was never very popular and I had lost touch with most of my friends from high school and college. I hoped that we were as close as we were as teenagers.

=

The Saturday before I was meeting up with Cami, I had the weekend off work so I decided to take a stroll in the park. It wasn't something I did often, but it beat being alone in my stuffy apartment.

It was a warm and sunny April afternoon and the park was busy with families, couples, and elderly people enjoying the beautiful day. I walked along the path taking in the fresh air. An ice cream cart was parked by the playground and I stopped and bought an ice cream bar.

I sat on a bench eating the chocolate ice cream watching the kids playing on the playground, not in a creepy way, but nostalgically. I missed my childhood, when I would come to this playground with my parents and eat ice cream, just like I was doing now.

When I finished my ice cream, I gazed up at the clouds when I heard a cry for help. My instincts kicked in and I ran over to save the little boy who was stuck hanging midway through the monkey bars, crying because he couldn't make it all the way. I quick led helped him down to the ground, when I realized who is was.

"Ellie!" Daniel cried out in excitement when he saw me.

"Well, well, well, look who comes to the rescue again." I heard a familiar deep voice from behind me.

I turned to see Calum, this time I was less star struck and I replied, "Maybe I wouldn't always need to rescue him, if you just watched him better." I said in a more teasing way than a mean way.

"Oh yes I'm totally going to take parenting advice from a girl with chocolate ice cream on her face." He smirked.

My cheeks reddened as I quickly wiped my lips with the back of my hand.  Calum laughed then looked down to Daniel who was tugging on the hem of his shirt.

"Can we play ninja turtles?" The little boy pleaded.

"Sure, bud." Calum nodded 

"Yay!" Daniel jumped up and down. I was surprised the four year old knew about the ninja turtles, seeing how that wasn't very popular these days, but I didn't doubt that Calum taught him, "I wanna be Mikey, daddy you are Donatello and Ellie can be April."

Calum looked surprised, "You want Ellie to play?" Daniel nodded. Calum glanced at me and I shrugged.

We spent a little while playing as the turtles when finally Calum panted to his son who was currently trying to karate chop his foot, "Okay Dan, daddy is getting tired, can you play on your own now?"

"Okay." The four year old ran to the slide.

Wiped out, I collapsed on a bench. I didn't realize how much energy playing with a little boy took. Calum bought two waters from the ice cream cart, then walked over to the bench, handed me a bottle and sat down.

"Thanks." I chugged the nice cold water. When I came up for breath I said, "Man, kids are a handful."

Calum laughed, "You're telling me."

"Hey at least you have your wife to help take care of him."

Calum frowned and kicked a pebbled at his feet, "No, Amy and I got a divorce after the band died down." He spoke quietly.

"Oh, oh gosh I'm so sorry." I felt bad for bringing it up, "I-I didn't know."

"Nah it's fine. She was bitchy anyways." Calum took a swig of water.

I changed the subject, "So do you live around here?" I asked.

He nodded, "We moved here recently. Good school system ya know."

"Ah." I spoke quietly. We sat silently for a moment, sipping our waters.

"So what about you?" Calum finally said, "Do you have a husband? Or kids? You are good with Daniel so I wouldn't be surprised."

I shook my head, "No, I'm only 23 I'm too young."

"We had Daniel when I was 21..." He trailed off.

"Oh right." I kept saying all the wrong things, "But I mean you at least had a career. I work at Toys R Us." Calum shrugged, finishing off his water.

Daniel ran over and pulled on his dad's arm, "I'm hungry can we go home and have chicken nuggets?" He asked.

Calum stood up, "Alright, let's go." He turned back to me, "Guess I will see you around." He gave me a head nod.

"Yeah sure." He took his son's hand and started to walk off before I stopped him and said, "Hey, if you even need a babysitter for Daniel, feel free to call me."

"I will keep that in mind"