"It's Not Love If It Hurts" //5sos

/81/

"We're eating like kings," Annie grumbled, stirring her container of ramen half heartedly.

"It's one of my favorite comfort foods. Ramen with small pieces of broccoli and a cheese sauce." Johanna said, chomping it up. "I figured you might need some comfort."

Annie scooped some of the noodles onto her fork, but just put the back in the container. She wasn't thinking rationally enough to want something as mandatory as food. All she really wanted right now was Calum.

It was a stupid thought, of course. Earlier today, he was being a complete ass, and she'd been noticing a change in his behavior before then too. Like, at the airport. She had been grumpy at him, but he insisted on holding her hand and kissing her anyways.

Johanna sighed, seeing the comfort food wasn't working. She set hers aside, and grabbed a notepad from her desk. "Okay Annie. Have you been noticing changes in Calum's behavior lately?"

Annie set her ramen aside too, pulling her knees to her chest. "I mean, he's been a lot more controlling lately."

"Give me some examples."

She pondered it, trying to think back to the past few days. "He's been telling me to do things, like, commanding me. The other day at the airport, I was still angry at him and he kept on trying to hold my hand and kiss me, even when I was telling him I didn't want to."

Johanna was scribbling down notes, and without looking up, she asked "How did he get you to wear the blindfold?"

Annie tried to remember the events of that morning. "Well, he suggested it, and I ran out of the car, but he caught up to me. Then when I said I don't want to and I didn't think it was a good idea, he backed me into the wall and told me I never make things easy."

"Do you think it's your job to make things easy?"

She considered it. "Maybe. But I think relationships aren't really supposed to be easy, are they? Both people are supposed to do an equal amount of work, right?" Johanna thought about it. "Did you and John ever have problems with that?"

  She stiffened. "John and I weren't in a relationship."

  "Yeah, but you used to. Trust me, I've heard the gossip."

  Johanna stretched her arms. "Our relationship was strange. Very up and down, neither of us had any idea what we were doing. But- we balanced each other out. I am very outwards with my emotions, I don't keep my opinion to myself. But he wouldn't do that. He was always very, very calm. He never let anyone see if he was seriously hurting. I learned from him. And he learned from me." She paused. "And I think that you and Calum are similar in that way, where you can balance each other out. But you're both on two opposite sides of the spectrum. Your mind is changing constantly, and it can be hard keeping up with you. For instance, when we were all rough housing,  Ashton hit you on the bottom, and it was perfectly fine. But when Mikey did it- well, it was definitely not fine. And that's not your fault. But Calum's mind works differently. He sees people in a simpler way. He thinks more.... Rationally. This morning, when he insisted on blindfolding you, he was just trying to help in the way he knew how. I doubt he was thinking you were serious when you objected, he was trying to make the tough choices. He just didn't know what you needed."

  Annie thought about it. She was about to respond, when Johanna's laptop lit up, the Skype ringtone playing.

  "It's him."

  Annie shakily got up, and sat in the office chair, scooting away from the laptop. "Can you answer it?" She added meekly. She needed another minute to collect her thoughts.