"So you're Calum's girlfriend, right?"
You turn to face the voice, her question almost drowned out by the blaring music. She is wearing a low cut dress that shows off her curves and high heels. You glance down quickly at your own appearance. You're dress is pretty, however your stomach protrudes a tiny but through the soft material. You sit up and suck in slightly.
"Yeah, I'm Taylor."
"Arzalyea. I'm Luke's girlfriend. Nice to meet you."
She lets out a small laugh and you nod, returning her smile. A spike of jealously hits you once you see her stand and make her way to Bryana, Ashton's girlfriend. Are all of the girls at this party models? You spot Michael and with girlfriend, Allie, under his arm across the room.
You sigh heavily and trudge to the bathroom in attempt to fix yourself up, even though you spent hours getting ready. The bathroom mirror depicts a figure you are not at all confident in. You ruffle your hair and apply more lip gloss.
"Why do I keep coming to these thing?"
You grumble under your breath, adjusting your dress to cover your thighs better. The only reason you attend these kinds of events is for Calum. He always has so much fun and wants to share it with you, which you appreciate.
But damn, do you hate dressing up and being surrounded by beautiful girls when you already don't consider yourself worthy of Calum's affection. You finally give up, thinking there's nothing else you can do to fix your image, and leave the bathroom.
You don't Calum to have to settle for the way you look. You wish there was something, anything, you could do to make yourself different. He deserves the best and you can only give him your best, which really isn't good enough.
The second you step out off of the tile, you burst into tears.
You panic. The last thing you need right now is a bunch of attention, so you rush back into the bathroom and lock a stall door shut. Your hands rub away the water below your eyes as much as you can, causing your face to feel raw in no time.
After a few minutes, you touch up your makeup the best you can to look kind of okay in dark lighting. You curse yourself for washing all of your makeup off from your sudden outburst. As soon as your breathing returns to normal, you rejoin the party outside.
"Hey gorgeous. You wanna get out of here? It's getting late and I'm exhausted."
You feel strong arms grip you from behind and they immediately relax you. A sigh of relief rushes through your nose and you nod, trailing after him to the parking lot.
Once in the car, Calum faces you with a crinkly grin and you effortlessly return it because his smile has always been so contagious. But he notices the traces of makeup staining your eyes and the wetness of your cheeks before you can hide them.
"What's wrong, sweetheart? You look like you've been crying."
You simply shake your head, clamping your lower lip between your teeth to keep it from quivering. He instantly grips your fingers with his own.
"What happened? Did someone hurt you?"
You shake 'no' again, refusing to answer in fear of a voice break. He huffs sadly and faces the road again, on the way back to your shared apartment.
You leave the car quickly and hurry inside, hoping to escape further questioning.
Slipping out of your fancy clothing, you grab one of Calum's sweatshirts and a pair of leggings. You throw your hair in a ponytail as you desperately scrub the remainder of your makeup away. Warm tears spill over your eyelids again and you furiously wipe them away. A soft knock on the bedroom door interrupts you.
"Baby? Can I come in?"
You sniff softly, splashing water on your flushed cheeks and staring at the mirror to determine if you look like you're upset.
"Yes."
You reply weakly, giving up and plopping down on your mattress. Calum enters the room right away and rushes to you, holding you tight in a hug. After a gentle 'shh' is whispered into your hair, he pulls away to meet your bloodshot eyes.
"Can you please tell me what's wrong? I hate seeing you this way, Taylor."
His sweet voice sounds thick and distraught, breaking your heart.
"It's honestly so stupid, please don't worry about it. I promise I'm just over reacting."
You say into his shoulder. He rocks the two of you back and forth on the cool sheets.
"I don't care if you think you're over reacting. I still want to know what made you cry like this."
He insists. You sit back on your heels, taking his hands in yours. He patiently waits for you to find the right words.
"I'm not....Bryana, Arzalyea, Allie. I'm not like them."
His eyebrows furrow.
"I know. You're better than them."
"No..."
You gnaw on the inside of your cheek nervously, letting go of his hands and folding your own in your lap.
"I don't fit in. They have money and love to dress up. And they are all unbelievably gorgeous. You shouldn't waste your time with me, Calum."
He jerks away from you, shock and sadness filling his deep brown eyes. His large hands find your face, cupping it and brushing away fresh tears with the pads of his thumbs.
"Taylor, are you kidding me? You were the most gorgeous one there tonight."
He encloses you in his chest again, squeezing you as close as humanly possible. You chuckle a little bit, not sure if it's at his overly tight hug or seemingly ridiculous compliment, but either way it feels good to laugh.
"I love you. So much. You're the only one I could see tonight anyways. Screw those other girls, you're my girl."
You're heart does a little flip and you can't contain your smile. He rolls his eyes and kisses you lightly, but you fall back into his arms because his warmth makes you so happy.
"Thank you, Cal."
You're sniff is muffled by his shirt. He gently strokes your hair and speaks in a loving, euphoric voice.
"Anytime, babe."
-x-x-x-
a/n: this is for this cool frand of mine named taylor if you couldn't already tell soooo yah i love you
~ab
