Hold On

Chapter 9: Drives Home and Anxious Shifts

Calum just barely made it into my car, his knees scraping the glove box in front of him. 
"You can move the seat back a bit probably, my mom was in that seat last and she's short" I quickly suggest, watching Calum slide back from the corner of my eye. He places his hands on his knees and looks at me, smiling ever so slightly. 
"Thank you for this- but I can just walk home too. It's not that far away-"
"Calum stop. Its like 3am, I'm not letting you walk home in the cold, dark streets when there is a perfectly good car with a perfectly good driver willing to take you home. With heated seats. Warm tush or cold tush?"
Calum looks at me for a few seconds, before cracking up. I couldn't help but giggle at his gaspy laugh. "Okay okay, warm tush it is."

After finding his house in the dark, I shut off my lights to be courteous to his family. 
"Thanks for driving me home Jules" Calum says, adopting the nickname Brianna gave me. 
"No problem, thanks for the dance party" I respond, smiling at him through my tired eyes.
"Text me when you get home please, just so I know you're home safe" Calum adds, looking up at me with his deep brown eyes, filled with concern.
"Okay mom, I will!" I joke, but then see his eyes staring at me seriously. "Okay, serious. I will text you when I get home."
"Thank you." Calum rests his hand on the car door handle, hesitating. I flicker my eyes from his hand to his face, wondering why the serious face and why the hesitation. 
"Calum?" 
"Just uh-" He looks at me and stops talking, his mouth agape. His tongue swiped at his bottom lip, as he stared at me intently. I held my breath in my throat, waiting for something to happen. Calum moves his eyes from my eyes down and back to my eyes before huffing a nervous chuckle. "-Just call me when you get home." He moves his face away from mine, which I realized was extremely close.
"Oh okay- yeah, yeah totally." I mumble looking back at my steering wheel, before hearing the door slam shut. I lick my lips and rake my hand through my hair, watching Calum walk to his door. Before opening it, he turns around and waves, a sign that he is successfully in his house and I could leave. I slowly back out, and turn on my lights, and take a deep breath.

I quietly enter my house, aware of all the squeaks and sounds the floorboards could make if I tread wrong. I carefully walked up the stairs, cautious of the third last step that made an awful groan if stepped on. I sneaked past Matt's room, hearing him snoring slightly, before I entered my room. I placed my bag on my desk chair, and reached inside my pocket for my phone. I needed to call Calum, just to let him know that I was home safe.
Who knows, he could be up worried about me if I got home safe- not true. Just call. 
I dialed his number, waiting for a response, and he immediately picked up. "Hello?" His voice was groggy and distant, like he was just sleeping.
"Hey, I just got home" I whispered. "Did I wake you up? I'm sorry."
"No no... Well- yeah you did wake me up." He answers quietly. "But its okay, I want to know you're at home safe."
"Well I am. You can now go to sleep peacefully." I assure, hearing his slow breathing.
"You were in my dream- just now." Talking a little more quickly now, he says, "I mean like... Probably just because we spent so much time together."
I smile, and can feel a warm blush rise up to my cheeks. "That's funny. Don't dream about me too much. You know what they say, if you're in someone's dream, you lie awake. I would like to sleep tonight."
Calum chuckles quietly. "Okay I'll try not to. Goodnight Julia"
"Goodnight Calum" I respond, waiting to hear the eerie silence of the ended phone call. Once I heard the subtle breathing from Calum, I lower the phone down to my bed. I couldn't help the smile that was plastered on my face. He was dreaming about me. 

I wake up the next morning, way too early, all because of my phone ringing. I groan and put my pillow over my face, willing the sound to stop. Then, I realize its not just any ringtone, it's Brianna's ringtone. The date. With Ashton. I quickly reach to my beside table and slam my finger into the screen. 
"Tell. Me. Everything."
Brianna giggles on the other end, and obliges. "Okay, if you really want to know!"
"Bri. You went on a date with one of my co workers. Obviously I want to know. Even if you did just call me at 10am after my 3am shift- but I guess I can forgive you."
"Okay." There was a seriousness in her tone. "I waited until 10 am to call you. I was up at 7 ready to call but I waited. I'm considerate." I laugh, and she keeps talking. "Alright so we went to the movies and watched the new movie with- oh my god what's his name, I think he's Canadian- anyways like it was kind of a boring movie but we shared popcorn, like legit shared it. AND he put his arm around me for like more than 5/8ths of the movie." 
"Oh my god, on the first date?!" I tease, but she just ignores me and keeps on talking.
"Yeah, and like at the end of the movie it was getting late so I drove him home, and before he got out of the car, he did like that awkward car hug, and then we like laughed it off- not awkwardly!- and I was like 'We should do this again' and he said 'Yeah, it was fun!'"
"Wow Brianna, you sound like you had a lot of fun." She was rambling, and she only ever does that when she's really excited or passionate about something.
"It was so much fun! And he texted me last night saying 'I really did have a lot of fun, you free this Tuesday?' I HAVE A SECOND DATE JULES DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!" She shrieks, frightening me.
"What does that mean?" I ask timidly.
"SECOND DATE MEANS A KISS GOODNIGHT!" 
Okay wow, that one really hurt my ear. "Oh my god that's so exciting!"
"Yeah! So yeah- just a great night." She sighs, letting everything sink in a little. "I really like him Jules, he's sweet, he's funny- I don't know I just really like him."
I smile at her, and I feel happy that my best friend is really happy right now. "That's really awesome Brianna, want me to talk you up at the diner tomorrow?"
"No, no that's stupid...- wait, can you actually?" I laugh at her, not even angry that she woke me up. I also don't tell her about what happened to Calum and I yesterday, letting her have her moment.