A Letter Before I Go ; malum

13

She was holding a phone. That seemed to make matters worse. With a phone, she could destroy their reputation as straight males. With a phone, they could be revealed to the whole world.

"N-No." Calum stuttered out. "Did you record us?"

She debated between telling the truth and lying before telling them that yeah, she'd taken a few photos. Michael was the one most coherent to speak, so he stepped forward.

"Delete them." Michael watched her as she deleted them in her deleted folder, and sighed in relief. "Don't tell anyone, okay? We . . . That was our first kiss. We aren't ready."

Calum went back in the hotel room, a little pissed at the fact that Michael had reassured him that they weren't going to get caught, only for them to be caught. He crossed his arms as he stormed into the room that he shared with Ashton.

Ashton looked up from his phone, a small smile on his lips, because expected nothing but the best. "How'd it go?"

"Someone fucking caught us kissing."

"W-What?"

"Yeah, and Michael's all like 'nobody's in the hallway' and shit, and then he kissed me. Then this girl comes out of nowhere and asks if we're fucking dating." He said, pacing angrily because he wanted to be able to kiss somebody without being questioned.

"We were being real cute before she interrupted us, too." Michael smirked, leaning on the doorframe.

"We shouldn't have kissed out in the open, Michael; that was stupid."

Michael went over to him, putting his hand in Calum's back pocket as they stood close. "Did you regret it?"

Calum rolled his eyes. Of course he didn't. "I liked it, but I didn't want anyone else to know about it." He pulled Michael's hand out of his pocket, letting it drop by his side. Michael frowned.

"Even if she says that malum is real, nobody will believe her without the pictures."

"Anybody can get their pictures back, Ash."

"Chill, Cal; nothing's going to happen."

This is all your fault. Calum refrained from saying. You told me no one was in the hallway.

"I'm going for a walk." He said, grabbing his cigarettes. He really did smoke a lot, didn't he? Thinking about it, he put them in the bin before leaving.

He walked around, sighing as he slipped his sunglasses. Once he found a café, he sat inside and rested his head in his hands. Fuck, was he tired. He took his sunglasses off, still hearing his mother scolding him in his head.

He took out his phone, going to M in his contacts.

Mali.

Once she picked up, she was yawning. "Calum?"

"Sorry if I woke you up, but I need your help."

"Girl troubles?"

Calum scoffed. "I wish. Boy troubles."

There was some shuffling. "Okay, you've got my attention. Are you fucking a boy?" It was meant as a joke, but her little brother answered seriously.

"I kissed one called Michael Clifford." He mumbled, looking around cautiously in case anyone else heard.

A gasp coming from the phone led him to roll his eyes. "Michael? Oh, this is too cute."

"Mali, a fan saw us!" He whined.

"Did she have a phone?"

"Yes. She took photos."

"Fuck. This is too much."

"She deleted them, but she can always get them back."

Mali sighed, swallowing quite loudly before continuing to talk. "Just wait and see, Cal. If something happens, don't do anything. You'll only fuel the fire."

After a few more words, they hung up and Calum returned to the hotel. He went in and sat down, not bothering to announce that he was back, because they would all know he was back soon enough.

"Do you think I did something wrong?" he heard Michael ask. "I mean, like, he rejected me."

"He's stressed. Someone he doesn't know just took pictures of him kissing you. Your hand in his pocket is not what he wants." He heard Ashton say.

"Yeah, maybe comfort him rather than touch his ass." Luke giggled.

Calum closed his eyes, rolling onto his stomach as he pretended to be asleep, just in case they came in. He couldn't help but listen in on conversations. He liked hearing what they talked about when he wasn't there.

"I keep fucking up." Michael said, his tone serious and sad. "I'm tired." Calum frowned. "It's my fault that the fan caught us. I told Calum that I looked both ways and made sure nobody was there before kissing him."

"That doesn't matter now. It happened, and that's it. We'll worry about the photos if she posts them."

Calum listened to them walk into the living room area where he was, and tried hard not to move in the awkward silence.

"Do you think he heard anything?" Michael asked, and Calum imagined him pull a hand through the hair that still remained on his head in nervousness.

"No, he's fast asleep." Luke reassured him. "He probably got back ages ago when we were playing Grand Theft Auto."

Michael nodded, liking the answer enough as he lifted Calum's head so he could sit down. He put the boy's head on his lap, his hand through the guy's hair.

"At least he didn't smoke."

Calum brought his hand up to Michael's, sighing as he grabbed a hold of it and slipped his fingers through the pale fingers. The pale hand was sweaty and warm, contrasting to Calum's, but it was nice enough. Michael blushed, thankful Calum was half-asleep and couldn't see.

"That's a bit cute." Luke teased, laughing.

"Let's give the lovebirds some space, Lucas." Ashton said, smiling as he offered to play GTA again.

Michael, figuring Calum was still asleep, manoeuvred himself so Calum's body was in between his legs, and the Maori's head was on his chest, all while holding his hand.

"Thank you." Calum mumbled against his chest.

"No problem, bumblebee."

"You know what?" The Maori said, raising his head a little to look at Michael. "I don't care if she posts them or not."

"You don't?"

Calum smiled. "They'd be cute ."

your thoughts on the fan? what do you think she's going to do?

mali?

michael blaming himself? (it's his fault tho so)