difficult | calum hood

25

The warm pool water swirls around my waist as I wade through the water towards Calum, we're the only ones still in the water, but everyone else is just inside. It's been almost a week, and now that we're official, it's been even harder to hide what we have. 

I'm sure Michael's caught on as well, if Luke hasn't already told him. People hide relationships all the time in fictional stories, but in real life, it's really difficult. The little smiles I do when my eye catches his, the urgency to always be touching him in some way, the need to be around him. 

Life has a funny way of working itself out, and maybe me and Calum aren't done with drama just yet, but right now, right here, everything is perfect. 

Under the stars, in the warm water, life couldn't be more peaceful. Calum is floating on his back, staring up at the dark night sky. He doesn't react as I join him, instead, his eyes continue to scan the stars, every single one being reflected in both the pool water and his eyes. 

As I float beside him, I watch the stars just like he does -  but I'd much rather be watching him. I find everything he does so attractive, and I could stare at him for days. 

"I think I may like you a little too much, Zoe." He chuckles, glancing at me quickly before staring at the sky again. 

"Me too Calum." I smile, kicking his shin gently so he floats away from me. 

***

It must be midnight, or well past it by the time Calum sneaks into my room. 

Laying in bed, with no makeup, in just my bra and a pair of pajama shorts, let's just say I don't look the best. So when Calum waltzes in, looking like a god, it makes my self esteem deflate very slightly. 

"Hey princess, I'm here to take you on a date. You with me?"  He reaches out and I grab his hand. 

That's where our adventure begins. 

We drive out into the night, away from our town and away from Sydney, up towards Newcastle. We've been driving for around an hour and 3/4 when Calum parks the car and takes my hand. I stare out the windscreen in front of us, at the beautiful blue-green waters. 

"Lake Macquarie." He announces, squeezing my hand and bringing it up to his mouth to kiss it. "Fancy a swim?" He looks at me and I look at him in fear. 

"You know there's sharks in there?" I ask, but it doesn't sound like a question. 

"Bullshít." He smirks, kissing my hand once again. 

"It's true." I sigh, looking out at the open water with trembling fingers. 

"There's sharks everywhere in Australia. You just gotta know what to do. How many times have you been attacked by one?" 

He has a point. 

"Zoe, I won't force you, I do have more planned, this was just a stop along the way. If you don't want to, we don't have to." 

Rolling my eyes, I jump from the car and race him to the water's edge. We're standing on a small pier, staring at the blue-black water. I'm sure the water isn't normally this dark, but the reflection of the night's sky is making it so. "Cal..." I whimper, leaning over the water and staring at our faces being reflected back up to us. 

"I've got you." He whispers, placing a kiss on my cheek. He grabs my hand and squeezes it, before we both jump into the water. It's a lot warmer than we had thought, so I relax a little bit. I keep a tight hold of Calum's hand, him pulling me further out into the water. I can no longer touch the bottom, but Calum can. 

It's dead silent, the only noises are of me and Calum making our way through the water. Neither of us utter a word, not even to reassure one another. 

"Cal, I don't like this." I whisper into his ear, jumping so my legs are around his waist and I'm sitting on his side. "It's too quiet. I feel like we're being watched." 

He wraps one arm around my waist and stares out into the water. "Hello?! If there's anyone there, just tell us!" He screams, chuckling. Terrified, I slap his arm and use my shaking fingers to turn his head so our eyes can meet. 

I need the security of his deep eyes right now. 

"Zoe, we're okay- fúck. What was that?" 

Something brushes against my legs and I look at Calum to see he's just as scared as I am. "I felt it too." I whimper, which leads him to tighten his grip around me. 

"Stay still..." He mumbles, very slowly backing away from whatever just touched us. I quiver as I balance on him, clutching his shoulders in fright. "Zoe, I'm scared. Fućking terrified." 

"Me too. We should hurry up." I tug on his elbow and try to pull him back towards the pier. 

He appears to be frozen in his feet, and I don't know what to do. I can feel things moving around beneath us and I'm starting to get even more scared. "Zoe, I'm a shít swimmer. If we get attacked, how am I supposed to escape?" 

He's shaking now, his backwards steps speeding up. The look of terror on his face makes me feel worse, so I jump down from his waist and grab his hand, running as fast as I can through the water. 

"Oh my god!" I scream, watching the water move where we were just standing. 

"Fúck!" He screams back, speeding up and chewing on his lip. "Shít, fućk, fúck!" 

We reach the pier, and he's insanely quick to grab my waist and hoist me onto the wooden platform. Immediately, I grab his forearms to help him climb up, and once he's lying beside me, I look out across the black water, shouting in fear when I see the signature shark fin circling the water where we were just standing. 

"Sh, I've got you."  He slides his arm around my waist and holds me close. "I'm so sorry Zo, I promise that's not what I planned." 

"It's okay Cal. Yeah, it was a stupid idea, but it's okay. We're alive." I whisper, wiping the water from his forehead. 

We stay in silence for a few moments so our heart rates can return to normal, before he places a gentle kiss to my cheek. I watch his chest rise and fall and that's when it hits me - we could of died or been majorly injured. I'm so happy to be here with him now. "Come on, I've got something a lot safer planned now." 

Author: I'm gonna go back to slightly shorter chapters so I can update more often sorry it that bothers yall but I'm gonna do it anyway lmao