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5. who kissed your neck, hayley?
The whole evening, I worry about seeing Calum again. I've been running lines in my mind, trying to find something to say. It's so pointless; I'll either chicken out or get too flustered to be able to say anything at all.
I'm speaking to Bryana when I spot him across the room. His mere presence makes me anxious. My stomach turns in a way that has me feeling sick.
He takes his phone out. A second later, there's a vibration in my back pocket.
calum: hayley
hayley: i've told you. wrong number.
calum: are you sure about that?
hayley: who's this?
calum: we are in the same room, i can see you responding to my texts...
calum: why are you acting like a five year old?
I know it's childish. I should have just blocked the number.
Calum is giving me dirty looks, sipping a dark golden liquid from a tumbler. He leans over to say something to Luke, but doesn't break eye-contact with me. His eyebrows are shaped into a deep frown.
Luke glances at me, as if to make sure I'm still alive and breathing.
"I have to go," I say to Bryana, but she doesn't seem to hear me.
She is busy eyeing Ashton across the room. She's been worrying about Michael trying to get him drunk. Apparently Ashton is being responsible now and Michael doesn't like that.
"Bryana?"
"Huh?"
"I'm gonna go," I repeat, squirming under Calum's glare. It's making me uncomfortable.
"Already? Why?"
"Calum is here. I can't talk to him right now."
"Too late, he's coming over," she says, sipping her wine. And then she leaves me.
I try to escape, but the arm coming around my waist pulls me back.
"Where are you going?"
He's wearing a white shirt and a dark denim jacket over it, sleeves rolled up. His muscular arms and the tattoos I've been been tracing with my finger whilst drunk are teasing me from underneath the bunched up fabric. They're partly hidden but I know they're there.
