One Less Lonely Girl

Chapter 20.

Annie's POV
"Hey princess" Calum greets me, with a huge smile on his face.

"Hey Cal" I nervously answer back. I was so stunned by his presence. I couldn't believe that this is happening.

He proceeds to give me a tight and warm hug, right in front of Caleb and the rest of the family.

I could hear Hayley and Caleb giggling as he does that.

"Well look at these two lovebirds we have here. I'm gonna give you guys some space" mommy says, as she drags daddy along with her to their room.

"Calum, erm, what are you doing here?" I nervously ask him, as he sat down on the chair beside me.

"I couldn't wait to see you so I figure it would be sweet to surprise you" he casually answers.

"It's sweet, but I'm still not ready. I thought you'd be here in a few hours"

"It's okay. Take your time. I just wanted to come early cause I haven't seen you for a while. I miss you so much" he adorably says.

"Aww" Caleb and Hayley teases us. "You guys are too sweet" Caleb says. "Goals" Hayley adds.

"Shut up guys" I jokingly said to them.

"Wokay" Caleb sarcastically answer back.

I was acting calm on the outside but inside, I feel like I'm gonna die. How am I gonna get out of this? Brennan is coming over in a few minutes! There's nothing I could do. I'm trapped.

"Erm babe. These two idiots are being quite annoying don't you think? Let's go up in my room so I could get ready. You can chill there too if you want" I propose an idea.

"Sure" he answers with a smile.

"Great. Let's go!" I took his hand and guided him upstairs.

My plan is to sort of hide Calum from Brennan and vice-versa. I need to keep them separated and hopefully it'll all be fine.

We got into my room and I asked Calum to get comfy and make himself at home. He laid down on my bed and took his phone out.

I peeked out the window to see if Brennan and Katie are here yet.

"What are you looking at?" Calum asks.

"Oh nothing. Just checking if anyone's coming" I answer.

"Are you expecting someone?" he curiously asks.

At that moment, I started to freak out a bit. "Erm, no.." I nervously answer.

He then continued on checking his phone. I sighed in relief as he does that.

"Shoot. I forgot something downstairs. I'm gonna go grab it real quick kay? You stay here" I lied to him, as he hummed a yes.

I got out the room and started to head downstairs.

Phew, I mumble to myself.

I just wanted to ask Caleb to stall Katie and Brennan when they get here.

"Caleb!" I try to get his attention while he's watching tv with Hayley.

"What?" he replies.

"I need your help" I say as I took a seat right next to him.

"Okay so obviously I wasn't expecting Calum to arrive this early. I need you to stall Brennan and Katie for me. Try to make them stay down here and not go up" I pleaded.

He looks at me with a creepy grin on his face.

"Please"

"Yeah okay" he chuckles.

"Omg thank you thank you. You're the best brother ever" I said to him.

But before he could say anything, the doorbell rings.

This time, it has to be them. "They're here!" I gasped.

"Quick! Go upstairs!" Caleb urges me and I ran back upstairs as fast as I possibly could.

I could hear the doorbell ringing faster and faster. "Coming!" Caleb shouts.

I got upstairs, immediately went into my room and slammed the door shut.

"Are you okay Annie?" Calum asks, just as I got into the room.

"Yeah. Fine. Why'd you asked?" I tried to play it cool.

"I don't know. Maybe it's cause you ran upstairs and slammed the door?" he said.

I was running out of things to say. But then I came up with the most brilliant response, "I wanted to pee" I laughed and went straight into the toilet.

I didn't really needed to go in there. So I used this opportunity to reevaluate my plan.

Okay okay, stay calm Annie, I said to myself.

I decided to text Caleb to know what was going on downstairs.

"How's everything going?" I texted him, and anxiously waited for him to reply.

"It's going great!"

"Damn, Katie looks so good today" he adds.

"Caleb focus! How's Brennan?" I asked.

"He's cool. I asked him to stay down here while you get ready upstairs. I said you're gonna be here in a few minutes so yeah. Come down here later!" he answers.

"I'll try. Just keep them stalled please. I owe you big time" I text him and put my phone back in my pocket.

I took a deep breath and went out the toilet.

"You're acting a bit strange Annie" Calum said to me, just as I got out.

"What do you mean?" I continue playing dumb, just so he wouldn't suspect a thing.

"I don't know. You tell me" he said.

"I don't know what you're talking about babe. I'm acting perfectly fine as far as I'm concerned" I reply.

He looked at me for a while, and sighs. "Fine. Whatever you say" he says, as he comes closer to me.

"I just want you to know that I care about you okay princess? I'm here if you need me" he slowly says to me, looking straight into my eyes.

I couldn't help but just smile at him.

"I love you Cal" I say to him. It was the only thing that I could say that would be appropriate.

"Now if you'll excuse me. I'm gonna get ready okay?" I jokingly asked for his permission.

"It's about time" he chuckles, as I went on and get ready.

--------------------------------------------------------

A/N
Would you guys mind if a fist fight happened? Hahaha jk.
Gosh, this has been an emotional ride. I genuinely feel bad for the person that doesn't end up with Annie. Whoever that may be..