Babysitter | Calum Hood

26

"Your highlight is blinding," Ashton commented, adjusting his tie in the mirror attached to my vanity. He brushed away the curls flopping everywhere on his forehead as I applied setting spray. "Like I seriously think I'm going to go blind if I stare at it any longer."

"Then stop staring at me." Raising from the chair I walked off to the bathroom to exchange my robe for the dress I bought with Matt. As I pulled my dress over my body, Ashton continued to speak and groom himself from my bedroom.

"I can't help it that you look hot for once. I mean, like really ho-" His words fell short when I exited the bathroom with a sheepish smile and bright eyes. For once in my life I could feel the confidence bubbling in my stomach because I felt good about how I looked, which isn't common for a high school teenager. "What the fuck? I feel like trash now compared to you!"

Giggling and trying not to blush as much as my body  wanted to, I sat down on my bed to pull my heels on over my feet.

"I always knew I was the ugly friend," Ashton murmured, glaring at me as he popped a piece of gum in his mouth. He pulled my bedroom door open. "Let's go, Ken. The sooner we get to the dance, the sooner I can get outta this tux. I feel like this bowtie is trying to kill me."

**

The theme was Hollywood. The backdrop for the pictures was right when you walked in. The DJ was surrounded by black and gold balloons as he played the the Top 40 Hits and I think I could feel the bass of each beat drop pierce through my weak heart.

"I see Lindsay! What the fuck? She looks so pretty. Why am I such trash?!" Ashton grumbled, stomping away from me to go greet his date with a swift kiss to the cheek. Her foundation could not hide the blush that peeked out under her cosmetics.

Not long after, an arm wrapped itself around my shoulders and I thought the cologne smelt oddly familiar. Instead of seeing the shaggy, black hair that belonged on top of Matt's head, I came face to face with Michael's bloodshot eyes. "Kendall," he whispered into my ear, leaning most of his body weight against me.

"Yeah?" I said back, snaking my arm around his waist to keep his structure up.

He let out a drunken giggle. "Somebody spiked the punch and I got some drinks for Luke and I. He's wasted." Michael starts to laugh uncontrollably, now heaving his whole body onto mine and I was nervous about getting some of my makeup on his white tuxedo. "Last time I saw him, he was dancing like a white dad at a barbecue to Firework by Katy Perry." His green eyes bore into mine. "It was soo bad."

Ashton came back with Lindsay, and I immediately drop Michael's weight so he leant against Ashton's. "I gotta get his drunk date. Please make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," I beg, before dashing away in heels to stop Luke from making a total fool of himself.

Before I left, I could hear a soft, "Fuck, I gotta pee," and the unzipping of pants, followed by Lindsay screaming no. I didn't dare to turn around.

Walking through the queue of sweaty high schoolers, I saw Luke bopping his head up and down furiously to some song I didn't even recognize. He flailed his limbs to and fro, becoming a human version of some sort of jello. Luke's blue eyes lit up in ebullience when his blurry vision landed on me.

"Kenny, my dude!" he screamed, roughly shoving a kid out of his path to envelop me in a bear hug. His nose nuzzled into curled hair. "It's so good to see you. How've you been? How's the fam? How's the boy?"

"Boy?" I questioned, tilting my head in confusion. "What boy?"

Luke laughed loudly. I swiftly placed my cupped hand over his mouth so the staring from other students would stop.

"The boy who's really tall and has dark hair and makes all the funnies," Luke rambled, tugging at his tie. He felt like he was dying of lack of oxygen apparently. I certainly agreed. Some kid from my freshman Physics class was rubbing his butt against my hip while Jessica Banes grinded all up on his knees. Not anything relatively close to you know where. No, she was dropping it so low, I'm sure her legs were going to snap. I didn't like being in the middle of the dance floor.

"Wait, Matt's here?" Luke nodded his head excitedly.

"Yes. That kid. I thought his name was Colin though—maybe Column."

"Wait, Calum?"

My words fell short as I heard the familiar giggle of Delia and the awkward chuckle that I knew by heart follow after it. Oh no, I thought to myself. Fuck no. My heart fell out of my asshole and I felt the sense of fear bury itself into my nervous system. I was ready to run as fast as I could with Luke on my arm and heels adorning my feet. Why me? I ask God. Why do bad things happen to good people?

"Kendall! There he is! I see him," Luke shouted, pointing to the brown eyed boy I knew so well. "We should go say hell-"

I gripped onto Luke's tie, bringing him to my eye level. "Look at me," I hissed, but his blue eyes traveled towards the direction of Calum fucking Hood. "I said look at me, dammit." His eyes snapped its focus back onto me. "We are going to walk off this dance floor quietly." Luke nods his head. "You will not speak to he-who-shall-not-be-named—"

"Voldemort?"

"No, you blubbering twat! Just stay quiet and follow me."

Without another word, Luke grasps onto my cold hands as I lead him away from the dance floor and towards the tables to the back. I apologized after I bumped into anyone, yet Luke just laughed and cackled whenever one of his purposeful shoves knocked somebody over. He wasn't being quiet at all, but I was determined to get both of us out of the war zone as efficiently as possible.

Everything went well until my body collided with another's, stopping both Luke and myself. My eyes that were trained on the ground didn't look up, yet I said, "Sorry."

When that familiar sound of his voice said, "Kendall?" my heart stopped and Luke only laughed louder against the music.

***

IM NOT DEAD IVE JUST BEEN DROWNING IN SCHOOL WORK SO MAYBE I AM ON THE VERGE OF DEATH PRETTY MUCH

this is short but i reallyyyyy needed to update because i wanna continue the story but im sO HAPPY W ALL THE COMMENTS AND READS AND VOTES LIKE MY HEART IS DANCING TO SOME SALSA MUSIC

i promise it wont take me another month to update but stay tuned bc this book is almost done bUT I HAVE SOME OTHER STORY IDEAS UP MY BUTT

don't forget to vote and comment :) xx