terrified. ✿ calum hood au

[16] running

calum-

i rubbed the sleep from my eyes as i slowly walked down stairs. my mum was rummaging through her purse, and when she saw me asked, "have you seen my keys?"

i pointed to the counter, where her keys sat in plain sight. she sighed in relief, "thank you." she took another glance at me, "what's wrong calum?"

"kaeleigh and i got into a fight," i grumbled.

"what?" she asked in shock. "you guys were doing fine! what happened?"

"she said she loves me," i answered, realizing how silly it must have sounded to my mum.

"ah," mum nodded knowingly. "and you're scared."

"of course i'm scared, mum," i said exasperatedly. "she probably doesn't mean it. and if she does, she won't. i'm gonna mess up, and she'll hate me. i'm not ready for this."

she hummed in response. "interesting. so, you can love her all you want, and say it all the time, but she says it once, and suddenly everything is bad? calum, maybe you should notice that you're not scared of her loving you. you're scared of yourself. you don't trust yourself to be good for her. but, calum, you guys are so good for each other." with that, she kissed my head, before bidding goodbye and leaving for work.

oh shït.

kaeleigh-

i nearly jumped as i heard a step on the stairs creek. my mom walked around the corner, and furrowed her eyebrows at me sitting in the dark. she flipped a light switch, and i saw her in her work clothes.

"kaeleigh, what are you doing?" she questioned, walking around the couch to the armchair i was sitting in.

"eating." i stated, placing my bowl on the coffee stable. "pouting. sulking. thinking."

"that's pretty dangerous," she teased, then frowned at my blank expression. "why aren't you at calum's? you two have been inseparable for a few weeks."

"mom, is it too soon to be in love?"

my mom's gaze softened, "no. it's never too early to be in love. although, sometimes you might realize too late."

"well i think i might've realized too soon." i said, "calum doesn't want me to love him."

"of course he wants you to, honey," she replied, sitting across from me, on the couch. "he just doesn't want anything to go wrong. once you both say you love each other, everything is real. and that can be terrifying. when i told your father i loved him, he ran away. and when he proposed to me, i threw up on his shoes."

"oh, so it's your fault i'm like this."

"it's not a bad thing to be in love, kaeleigh," she disagreed. "it can be wonderful. i know that you're scared of getting hurt, but it doesn't mean that you will get hurt."

"but calum's scared too," i added. "how can this work if we're both terrified of everything?"

"kaeleigh." my mother sighed, "you just need to trust each other. if you don't, that will be the only reason it doesn't work."

she smiled softly at me, before grabbing her purse and walking out the door.

well fûck.

it took me a moment to decided what to do, and then i was running.

calum-

i rushed to open my door, running through and slamming it behind me. i zipped my coat up, and when i looked across the street, saw her standing on her front step staring right back at me.

i took off across the street as kaeleigh did the same. when we met in the middle of the street, she jumped into my arms, and pressed her lips to mine.

i held her tightly, moving my mouth against hers. her legs were wrapped around my waist, arms connected behind my neck. she pulled away, resting her forehead against mine.

"i'm sorry," we both said at the same time. i chuckled, and let her speak first.

"in the movies, the couple always gets into this big fight and they break up and nothing is happy." she began. "and i don't want that with us. that can't happen. because i love you, and i trust you. and i'm still scared, you're still scared, but we can be happy. we can be like the couple in the movies where they do end up happy."

"wait." i paused. "you based this whole thing off movies?"

kaeleigh's lips formed a pout. "can you blame me?"

i laughed, "no baby. i can't." i kissed her once before i spoke. "all the other girl i've dated ran away into the arms of someone else. and again, that can't happen with us. i've loved you for so long, and now i have you, and i don't want to let you go. ever."

"cal," kae breathed, "i won't ever want to leave. i promise. i'm here, i'm not letting you go either."

"good." i said simply. "and now we should probably get out of the road."

kaeleigh laughed, and made a move to get out of my grasp, but i just held her tighter as i made my way back to my house. she squealed, clutching onto me, until i entered the house and sat on the couch.

she stayed in my lap, and rested her head on my shoulder. "i like this."

"like what?"

"we've only had a little argument other than this, and this was solved really quick and easy. i like that it's not really complicated. i like this."

"i like you." i grinned cheekily, and she rolled her eyes. but a smile still tugged at her lips. "no, just kidding. i love you."

"i love you, too."

i sucked in a breath, because even though she had said it before, it seemed more official. i leaned forward to kiss her, not taking it further.

she pressed a hand against my cheek, and i pulled away. i took both her hands in mine, and rubbed them gently. "you're cold."

"a little," she shrugged.

i brought her hands to my mouth and kissed then three times, before i let them go. she stared at me, and i furrowed my eyebrows. "what?"

"nothing," she sighed, shaking her head. "i just love you."

----

merry christmas and happy holidays!

i hope you had a great day today, whether or not you celebrated a holiday. i hope you have great everydays.

sO

idk i have no news.

i love you all :)

-k