Repression ▶ M•C ▶ 2/3

Chapter 29

EIGHT DAYS LATER

Calum's POV

"Hey, have you guys wrapped Georgie's presents yet?" Cat entered the living room in a rush, an apron was tied around her waist and flour was smeared on her black jeans. She looked down at me, then to Luke, crossing her arms impatiently. "Oh yeah, here's mine" I raised my head and picked up the blue wrapped box, holding it out to her and waited for her to snatch it off me. She took it from my hands and turned to Luke, avoiding eye contact with her. "Thank you Calum. And yours?" She raised her eyebrows. "I think Tink has it, go ask her" he rolled his eyes and stared back at the tv screen. She huffed and stormed back out, the room became so much quieter afterwards. I shut my eyes and let out a sigh. I've surprisingly become much better over the past week; I'm beginning to heal slowly. Of course I missed Gwyn, I love her more than anything in this entire world, but she hasn't even tried to make contact with me since she left. I felt it was unfair for her to end all of this this way, what if she as lying, and just wanted an excuse to leave me. I felt sick at that thought, but I haven't had much else to think about.

But I'm surviving, that's what I do. I had a life before I met her; I just needed to find that again. I was happy with all my friends and being alone before, I was loved in a way which could never hurt me. I know it'll be hard, Gwyneth is still Georgie's best friend, there's no way that they'll stop being friends with each other because of me. I hope that she's alright back home, and her family is being supportive and helping her carry on with her life, she'll recover like she always does. She'll mope around the house for a few days, then pull herself together, buy a pretty dress and put make up on her face, then she'll go out and party, that's who she is.

There was a phone ringing in another room somewhere, it was loud enough to get my attention and open my eyes. I sat up and slowly got off the sofa, shuffling into the hallway. I looked down at the iPhone on the dresser by the front door, it was mine. I had spent days trying to find it, but it was right in front of me. I saw the number, the person waiting on the other end of the line, Gwyn. Her contact picture was staring at me; my beautiful girl was trying to reach out and speak to me. What if all this time she actually wasn't ignoring me, she was trying to tell me something important and I was the one that lost my fucking phone. I picked it up, pressing the answer icon on the screen and placing the phone up to my ear. There was silence for a few seconds, but I could hear her breathing quietly in the background.

"Hello Calum" She spoke, and her voice sounded unfamiliar, she wasn't herself. "Gwyn" I worried. "I thought I should try and explain everything" She sighed, and I started to walk up the stairs, somewhere private. "Please do" I encouraged. She paused and tried to gather herself. "I feel so bad for what happened; I never meant to leave you in such a harsh way. I just didn't want you to hate me because I couldn't give you what you wanted. I thought it would be better to just leave than tell you something that would hurt you. I love you Calum, I always will, I swear that the next time we see each other, I'm going to give you the biggest hug, and hopefully we can sort things out"

"I love you too" I simply answered. Her words took me a while to sink in; she wanted us to get back together. I can't fucking wait to see her again. "I have to go, but I'll see you soon, okay?" She suddenly hurried as there was noise arising from in the background on the other end of the line. I didn't even get to say goodbye to her, she had already hung up the phone and left me standing alone outside my bedroom door. I felt the emptiness crept in again, without her here I felt hollow. But I didn't have to wait long. We would all be leaving in a few days, which gave me plenty of time to think about all the right things to say to her. I put my phone into my jeans pocket and turned back towards the stairs. The house was getting quieter with each day that passed, almost building tension. I trudged down the stairs and back into the living room, where Luke was still watching some shitty tv show.

"Who was on the phone? It's been ringing on and off all day" He looked over as I sat back down. I had forgotten he had also heard the phone ring earlier, and I instantly thought that he knew Gwyn had called me. But that was ridiculous, he had no idea, her and Luke aren't that close. "Oh, it was no one" I shrugged, picking up the tv remote and turning up the volume so we didn't have to talk about it anymore. He brushed it off and turned back to the screen in front of us. I hoped no one else knew how she was, and that I would be the only person she cared enough about to call and tell me, because she thought that I was the only one that mattered.