The Immortal Cure - Series Two

Chapter Twenty Five - Drifting

It was hard to keep track of just how many days we had spent in the mountains.
It was lonley, cold, but with Callum around, it seemed to lighten the load. He'd been a true gentleman, giving me constant updates on what was going on with Duke while we were in hiding. He would always ensure I was comfortable, kept busy and kept healthy and recovered from my gunshot wound. He was chivalrous and kind, selfless and always courteous of my personal space when I had needed it.

Most of our days consisted of sleeping, watching old western movies and having contests of who could make a taller tower out of playing cards. It wasn't what I had imagined my trip to Paris to have been like, but it wasn't all that bad.

It had been almost a week since the incident in Paris, we had lazily slept in until about midday, feeling the exertion of staying up all night eating tins of baked beans and watching western showdowns.
I'd fallen asleep on the lounge, like I did most nights, Callum always ended up curled on the small armchair, and how he managed to fit comfortably, I had no idea.

I had woken first, listening to the dull voices from the television we had left on overnight. Some strange cartoon series was playing, the characters bright and colourfully patterned.

My eyes wandered around the room, taking comfort in seeing Callum still sound asleep, the rise and fall of his chest calming.
I had to admit, at some points in time, I had found myself to be staring at Callum, in ways I knew I shouldn't have been. He was quite handsome, rugged and well proportioned. I could even hear the small snoring that escaped his plump enticing lips. I smiled, resting my head back, letting the sound soothe me.

The prospect of going back to sleep was near impossible. I was wide awake, wild reckless thoughts running through my mind.
Enough was enough, so I decided to get up, find something to distract my loud thoughts.

I shuffled into the small unorganized kitchen, sliding on my socks. I pulled open a set of pantry cupboards in search of contents, and unfortunately, but expectedly there wasn't much there. Baked beans, chilli sauce, oatmeal, coffee, sugar, flour, and, finally, a packet of unopened pancake mix.

I pulled open a few more drawers and cupboards, finding a saucepan and the necessary utencils. I flicked the stove on and began to mix together the ingredients.
As I did so, I looked outside a small narrow window just above the stove and sink side by side. Outside looked cold, wet, fog settling cozily around the mountain tops.
It was beautiful, yet sinister.

"What are you doing?" A voice spoke from behind me, spinning me around in fright

It was Callum, unsteady and half asleep as he leaned on the bench behind me, rubbing his eyes as he looked from me to the stove

"What does it look like?" I proudly answered as I waved a hand over the stove

"Turn it down, the stove is strong" He advised narrowing his eyes on the sizzling thick liquid in the saucepan

I did what he suggested, rolling my eyes.
Standing beside me, I noticed that his feet were unbalanced, still half asleep. Slowly, he moved towards the island counters and dumped himself down on the diner-like booth behind it.

"I think we have just about run out of western movies to watch" I told him as I flipped a pancake over, taking note of the near burnt side

"Probably, I could always pop down the road to the video store and rent some more?" He joked, watching me

I raised my eyebrows at him, unamused

"Have you heard from Duke this morning?" I asked, continuously worried for his welfare

His smile quickly evaporated, pulling his phone from his jacket pocket draped over the booth he sat on.
His eyes wavered over the screen, his fingers clicking away before he looked up at me again