twitter hunt | calum hood

seven

Here I am at the Marriott waiting for one of the boys to answer the call from the front desk. I tap my foot, anxiously. I didn't know what to wear so I threw on an All Time Low t-shirt with light wash skinny jeans and black converses.

"Room 307," Carl, as his name tag states, tells me.

I smile and thank him. Okay, deep breaths. 307. 307. 307.

The fifteen second elevator ride felt like it was never ending. No matter how many times I see these boys, I will always feel extremely nervous. There's just so much at stake. Their careers, their reputations, my reputation. It's like every move I make has to be carefully thought out. If I go out in public with one of them, drama is all over the media. If I post a picture with them, I'm a groupie. If I tweet about them, I'm dating one of them. Now that people know who I am, there's 200 pounds of weight on my shoulders.

I shake it off and exit the elevator on the third floor. I walk to the left, spotting room 307. I hear the boys yelling so I'm assuming this is the room. I knock and literally a half a second after I take my hand away from the door, Luke opens it and hugs me. I obviously hug back, chuckling a little.

"I'm so happy you made it," Luke smiles at me, his arms still around me.

We pull away from each other and I notice his tinted cheeks. I poke his cheek and laugh, making him even more embarrassed.

"Ariana!" I hear.

"Calum!" I respond, stepping in the room and out of the doorway.

He runs over to me, pulling me into a tight embrace. I hug back, feeling the butterflies erupt in my stomach. He's bent down with his hands snaked around my waist, while I'm on my tippy toes, hugging him around the neck.

Then, Ashton wanted hug so he got one. Michael felt left out so he hugged me, too. Forty five minutes have passed and I'm still here, sitting on Luke and Michael's bed, laughing like crazy.

"Okay, okay. Guys, we should play truth or dare," says Ashton.

Luke groans and Calum looks at me, shaking his head and smiling. I laugh at him a little.

"No, Ashton. Such a fan fic move," Michael says.

"Michael, how much fan fiction do you read?" I ask while the other boys laugh.

"I get bored on our bus sometimes. Leave me alone," he defends himself, trying to hide his smile.

"What's fan fiction?" Calum asks.

"You don't know what fan fiction is?!" Michael and I shout at the same time.

"No?"

"Wow," I say.

"Unbelievable," Michael adds on.

"Am I supposed to know?"

"Even I know what is," Ashton says.

"Yeah, and he thought tadpoles were baby turtles," I continue.

"If that's not saying something, I don't know what will," Michael.

"I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now," Calum.

And that's how the night went. We wrapped it up by watching Luke's favorite and Michael's least favorite, Mean Girls.

Luke and I laid on his and Michael's bed. Luke's arms was around my shoulder and our legs were under the blankets, backs resting on the headboard. Calum and Michael took the other bed and Ashton sat in the spinning chair. I felt Calum's gaze on me the entire movie.

I felt bad. He's the one who wanted to hang out with me in the first place but I'm over here with Luke. Well, I guess Luke invited me. Maybe Calum would've invited me if I gave him my fucking number.

I turn to my right only to see a sleeping Luke. I smile at the view and glance at the clock. 12:38 am is the time. I decide to talk to the only other person awake.

"Hey, Calum," I whisper. "I'm gonna head home. It's getting late."

He gets out of his bed and helps me up. I smile at him. I notice that he hasn't let go of my hand.

"I'll walk you to the elevator," he smiles.

He opens the door with his hand still in mine.

"Did you have fun?" he asks, still holding my hand.

Did I mention Calum Hood is holding my hand?

"Yeah, I had a lot of fun. Thank you."

"We should hang out again, tomorrow," he winks.

"Where? I mean, you can't go out in public with me," I say, disappointed.

"We could hang out at your place, if that's okay with you," Calum suggests.

What if Alexis or a part of Alexis comes back? How do I explain that to him? Oh, yeah. That's my sister but right now, she's not my sister. I mean, physically, she is but mentally, she's not. Screw it.

"Sounds good to me."

"Alright. Could you text me your address?" he asks me.

I nod and hand him my unlocked phone. Thank God I changed my wallpaper last night from Calum to a black screen with All Time Low written on it. He types into my phone, locks it, and hands it back to me.

"Just search up 'Babe' in your contacts," he says, making me laugh. "Thank you for coming out tonight. It means a lot."

"Wow, not a problem. Thank you all for inviting me. I'm still kind of thinking that this isn't real," I admit.

"And why is that?" he asks, tilting his head to the side like a little puppy.

"Because you all are 5 Seconds of Summer."

He frowns but I continue.

"It's just different from how I imagined it being. While talking to you right now, it doesn't feel like I'm talking to Calum Hood from 5SOS. It feels like I'm talking to Calum Hood from Sydney. It just feels normal if that makes sense," I trail off.

He face lights up and he looks away from me.

"It makes perfect sense. I've wanted someone to say that to me for a long time. Don't get me wrong. Being in this band is the best thing that has ever happened to me, but the so called fame and stuff has made people forget that we're normal people. They seem to forget that we have feelings. They either use us for fame, money, or both. I'm happy to see that some people don't think that way," referring to me. "I'll stop rambling and let you go home, but the conversation doesn't end here. Text me when you get home."

Calum presses the elevator button then presses his lips against my cheek, closer to my lips than last time. I know it was probably an accident but I still blush uncontrollably and smile. He pulls back, smiling, too.

I stood in the elevator smiling. Drove home, smiling. Sat on the couch, smiling. Texted him until 2, smiling. And fell asleep, smiling.

I swear I'm the Joker.