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

/102/

  "I don't think I'm getting much better," Annie sighed, trying to hide the smile from her face.

  "No, not really."

  Annie leaned against Calum's back, resting her head on his shoulder. "It really doesn't look this hard. Maybe you're just a bad teacher."

  Calum laughed, and reached around to adjust Annie's hands again. She couldn't get the chords right, and her hands kept moving on their own off of the neck of the bass. Calum was patient though, so they just kept going.

  Truth be told, Annie could care less about learning to play the bass. She was much more focused on Calum, and how he rested his head on her shoulder in complete comfort. The way his torso pressed against her back casually, as if it were nothing, while in reality it made her heart leap in her chest. And, overall, she was paying much more attention to the way his hands adjusted the bass in her hands, helping her fix her posture and position without thinking about it. Annie was completely obsessed with his hands, especially now that she was practically a newborn baby deer in comparison to him, when it came to the bass at least. While her fingers fumbled, trying to get a good grip, he was able to just grab the instrument and start playing.

  Calum gently took the bass from her, reaching out so his arms were around her as he played one of the strings, tuning it. Annie huffed. "We should do something I'm good at next."

  Calum laughed breathily. "Yeah? Like what?"

  "Puppet theater." She said, saying the first thing that came to mind.

  "Puppet theater?" He asked teasingly, setting the bass down gently. "You're good at puppet theater?"

  Her face flushed red. "Well, no. But I actually can't remember what I'm good at." Annie had been pretty busy for the last year or so, what with the boys and her recovery. She didn't really... remember what she liked to do. Before she met the boys, most of her days were spent at work. When she had free time, she paid bills or went to negotiate with her landlord about said bills. When she got home from work, she slept. She only had one guilty pleasure- her minor obsession with a band called 5 Seconds of Summer- so now, she didn't really know what she liked to do.

  Calum tapped his chin thoughtfully, and now that he was no longer holding the bass, he wrapped his arms around Annie's waist almost subconsciously. "Well, what did you do in high school?"

  It was a good question, but Annie had to think about it a bit. "I... did theater. And took some art classes. But I didn't really do a ton before I dropped out after a Junior year."

  It wasn't much, but it was a start. "Do you want to take up art again?"

  "Well, I have been sketching more lately."

  "What about theater?"

  Annie froze in place. "Yeah... that actually sounds like fun. Community theater."

  Calum grinned. "Or you could just be in a movie."

  She rolled her eyes, leaning further back against him. "Yeah, right. I could spend my days at audition after audition, become a full time struggling actress."

  "Well, you don't really have to be a struggling actress." Calum added, seriously. "I might be able to pull a few strings."

  His voice was hopeful, but Annie just snorted. "I can just imagine what the fans would think. Try find out that we're dating, then all of a sudden I start acting. I swear, if you think the names I get called already are bad..." she let her sentence trail off, the words disintegrating midair. It would like like she was using Calum for his fame. That was basically the worst sin any girlfriend of 5sos could commit- well, besides calling them out, or cheating on them. Annie would be right up there. Pages would be devoted to his much if a good-digging ass she was, blogs and videos and posts ranting about Calum's stupid girlfriend, and how it made everyone do sad how she was just using him for his fame.

  Calum sighed. "I know. But if you wanted to, you could."

  Annie smiled gently, but in a way that said that it wasn't a real possibility for them. "As a person who likes acting, I think it'd be cool to do something like that. But as your handler- I think it'd be just about the worst thing I could do to our relationship."

  "Community theater then?" Calum suggested, kissing Annie on the forehead.

  "Yeah. It might be fun for me to try."

  Calum snorted. "Let's just hope none of the directors hate the band, otherwise it might be hard. What with you being my girlfriend, and everything."

  Annie chuckled too, but she didn't smile. "You have a point. Maybe... maybe I shouldn't tell them?"

  "Shouldn't tell them?" Calum asked, raising his eyebrows. "Are you... ashamed of me?"

  This time Annie snorted.  "Yes Calum. I'm ashamed of my hot af boyfriend who just happens to be world famous and a millionaire. Did I mention hot af?"

  "I see my personality is very important to you," he teased.

  "Oh yes," Annie joked along. "I really like how you... you know... are so... you know."

  Calum rolled his eyes. "That's my favorite quality about you too! Wow, small world, am I right?"

  Then they laughed and they kissed and Annie accidentally kicked Calum's bass, which ended up with his eyes going wide and Annie apologizing and Calum laughing it off even though he was actually terrified Annie would hurt his bass but really it's okay.