mistake || c.h au

|| chapter twenty-nine ; tainted affair ||

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|| june 6, 2015 ||

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Tegan peered over the side of the bed in an attempt to relocate her underwear, slipping them back on underneath the covers quickly. Her plan was to find the rest of her clothes get dressed while Calum was in the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Calum asked, running a hand through his hair and reaching for his jeans, a pair of boxers being the only thing he was wearing.

"What does it look like?"

"It looks like you're leaving to me," Calum couldn't help but comment.

"Damn right I am," Tegan agreed, sighing as she stood to face him, focusing on his face rather than his tattooed, toned chest. "Calum, this shouldn't have happened, so I'm going to go now and pretend it didn't."

Calum half shrugged by way of reply, he knew there was no point in arguing with her. Plus, if he didn't protest, he knew the chances of her coming back and seeking the same kind of attention were pretty high. So he watched her walk out of his bedroom and show herself out.

Turning around to grab a sweater from his dresser, Calum noticed the silver band complete with pear shaped diamond sitting on top. With a long sigh, Calum picked it up between his thumb and forefinger and pulled the grey sweater on over his head quickly, and followed Tegan's route to the front door of his house.

He caught a glimpse of her while she was fixing her appearance in the mirror at the bottom of the stairs, but when he called her name, she shook her head forcefully and opened the door to allow herself out.

Of course, Calum followed and pulled the door closed behind him, finally speaking out in frustration.

"For fùcks sake, Tegan," he snapped. "Can you just stop for a fúcking second?"

She did.

"If you don't want caught," Calum said, stepping closer and holding out the engagement ring in the palm of his hand.
"Then don't make it so fúcking easy for him to guess."

Tegan stayed silent, but Calum could have sworn his heart broke at the expression on her face. She ran a hand through her hair and tried to swallow down the prickly lump in her throat but it didn't seem to budge. Calum knew what was about to happen - just from the way she chewed on her lip and refused to make eye contact - he had experienced it many times before, even if it had been years ago.

"Come here," he said, his tone soft and unthreatening this time, as he held his arms open and clutched the ring so tightly in his hand that he was positive the point of the diamond would draw blood.

Tegan allowed herself to be held by Calum once again, while she sobbed into his chest. Calum didn't attempt to say anything, and instead simply rubbed her back comfortingly until she had managed to calm herself.

"What was all that about, huh?" he asked, as Tegan pulled away from his body and left him feeling cold.

"You," she replied, her voice scratchy from crying.

"Why?"

"You're an absolute head fùck, Calum Hood. Everything was going just fine until you showed up again," Tegan sighed, pulling her sleeves down over her hands. "We were done in high school, and that was meant to stay in the past. I don't know why I'm even here."

"I didn't want us to break-up back then," Calum admitted. "I want us to be a family."

"You want us to be a family? Calum, how can we be a family?" Tegan laughed humourlessly, eyes wide. "You called it quits when I got pregnant."