Sex Lessons | L.H

20. Panic

A.N// heyyo i hope this is a fast enough update for you bc i try really hard guys
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Calum's POV

I nodded and waved her along. She walked beside me in silence for a few minutes before I spoke up.

"What's up?" I asked as we approached the elevator. The gift shop was on the second floor. I pressed the up button and waited patiently for one of them to open.

"Like I said, I really need to talk to you, and it's really important," she replied. I didn't really no for sure what she wanted to talk to me about, but I did have a clue.

"Alright, go on," I encouraged her. Then elevator dinged, and the doors to the one on the left opened. We stepped in quickly after letting the people who were already on off. Kate pressed the button with the two on it, and soon after, the doors slowly shut.

"You can't be mad at me Cal," she said softly. I met her eyes, and she looked away. "Promise?"

"I promise. Now, tell me what's going on," I instructed. She held out her pinky finger and I took it in mine, locking them together. She took a deep breath before she began to speak, but the elevator doors interrupted us.

They opened, and on the other side waited a crowd of people with shopping bags in their hands. They must've come from the same place we were headed to. We hurriedly stepped out so the other people could take our places, and we made our way to the gift shop that was located at the end of the hall.

"Calum," she started. I held my breath, waiting for her to say the words I'd gotten through a text from my best mate a few weeks ago. "I think I'm in love with Luke," she rushed out. "But, I'm almost positive that I've ruined any chances I may have had with him with my mistake last night. I don't know what I'm going to do."

She started breathing heavily, and I knew what was happening. She used to have them all of the time when we were younger, but she hadn't had them for about a year or so. I noticed that they had been happening a lot within the month, and I saw the pattern. It was a panic attack.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her off to a secluded area. It had chairs and small couches, so I instructed her to sit. I kneeled in front of her on the floor, and took both of her hands in mine.

Her mom showed us how to handle these a few years back when she had one while we were all hanging out. No one could make it better but Luke, and his way was much different than the one Kate's mom showed us, but I guess it worked for them.

"Kate, look at me." She looked up and met my eyes. "Now, match my breathing," I directed. I started taking deep breaths, and she did the same. "Listen to me. Everything is going to be fine. Just breathe."

"Calum, I really messed up, and I don't want a repeat of when we were fifteen. I don't think I can go through that again," she explained. Everything started to come together. I knew Kate had a crush on Luke when we we younger, but something more had to happen to make her have a panic attack that day.

"What happened?" I asked.

"That day we went for laser tag and Luke and I went into the photo booth was the first time we kissed. I realized that I had a major crush on him, but I found out that he didn't like me back the hard way. Calum, this was my chance, and this whole time I've been too dumb to figure out my feelings. I ruined it. This is all my fault."

A tear escaped from her eye, and she started breathing heavily again. I knew the only person who could top this was Luke, but I also knew that he wasn't mentally or emotionally capable of doing it at the moment. I sat down next to her, and I pulled her into me.

I had to give her advice without giving away that Luke felt the same way. I actually hadn't talked to him about it since the incident last night, so I wasn't completely sure if his feelings were still there, but I knew that a person couldn't lose their feelings for another person after one mishap, especially if they were strong like I knew Luke's were.