mistake || c.h au

|| chapter twenty ; race night ||

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|| december 24, 2014 ||

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"There's cookies in the kitchen if you want them. Your mom baked them," Stella's American accent took Calum by surprise as he zipped up his black hoodie.

He turned to face her. She stood leant against the doorway, holding a mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

"Are you going out?" Stella asked, taking in Calum's appearance, and his eyes went wide.

It was late and the house was quiet. Calum's parents were asleep in a room just down the hall, and his sister right next door to him. They all just assumed that Calum and Stella would be settling down to do the same before all of them spent Christmas together the next day, and Calum couldn't let any of them find out about the fact that wasn't the case and that he was going out.

"Yes," Calum's voice was hushed as he motioned for Stella to step out of the doorframe and into his room, and pushed the door closed.

"Why?"

Calum didn't know how to answer. He didn't know whether to tell the truth or not, and he didn't know whether to take her with him or not. Calum ran his hands over his face, rubbing his temples as he desperately tried to make a spontaneous decision.

"Do you want to do something crazy?" He asked, breaking the silence that had formed as Stella waited on an answer from him.

"Like what?" She raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"Come down to the race track with me," Calum's breathing increased slightly because now the prospect of him racing had just become a definite reality. He had half expected himself to back out.

"Why?" Stella questioned for the second time that night.

"Because I'm going to race."

"You are being crazy," Stella chuckled incredulously. "It's Christmas Eve, Calum!"

"I know," Calum shot back defensively. "But it's something I have to do. So are you coming with me or not?"

"You don't have to do anything."

"Yes, I do, Stella! You don't understand, so don't try and fūcking argue with me about it," Calum snapped, bitterness laced in his tone as he glanced upon a photo of he and Tegan that was still pinned onto his wall from years ago. "Are you coming with me or not?"

"No," she said simply, shrugging her shoulders lightly.

"What?"

"I'm not coming."

"Fine. Suit yourself," Calum huffed, picking up his wallet and phone from his nightstand.

He turned his back to her as he pulled out a condom from the top drawer and tucked the foil packet into his pocket along with his wallet. Calum was angry; if the opportunity to sleep with someone else to get his mind off of Stella presented itself, he might just take it.

Stella glanced at the time on the digital alarm clock. It was already one in the morning.

"If you're not back by the time your family's awake, I won't cover for you," Stella snapped.

"I didn't fûcking ask you to!" Calum exclaimed, although his tone was still hushed. "Chríst, I didn't even want you here."