More Than a Fan || cth

Chapter 6

"Thank you guys for giving me the best birthday, ever. Like, no joke." Jamie says, smiling.

"Anytime." Ashton replies.

"You guys are leaving tomorrow? I wish you could stay longer." Jamie asks. Luke nods, frowning. Jamie starts to bid goodbye to everyone, and as she's doing the same to Lacie. I tell the boys goodbye.

"We'll miss you in the studio." Ashton says, looking down at the floor.

"Yeah, have fun though." Michael adds. I promise them I'll be back soon, then bid goodbye to Jamie.

"My parents are home. You can meet them!" Lacie says excitedly. A sense of nervousness washes over me, but I smile confidently. Jamie's house isn't too far away from Lai's, so we walk back. I don't know if they'll like me. I really hope so.

"My dad really likes your music. I play it all  the time and I talk about it all the time. He really likes Luke's voice." She says as we walk onto her road. I chuckle.

"My voice is best." I say, winking at her.

"That can be debatable." She says teasingly. I open my mouth, gasping dramatically.

"Who has a better voice then me then? Huh?" I shoot at her, and she doesn't hesitate to answer.

"Michael." She replies, smirking. I stop in my tracks, gasping again, faking offense. She turns her head around to look at me and laughs, then keeps on walking. I follow slowly, still behind her as we approach her house. I take a deep breath, and shoot Lacie a nervous smile.

"Don't worry, Cal. If I've been obsessed with you for freaking ever, and as long as you aren't some 50 year old pedophile." She says, and I laugh nervously.

"This isn't the internet." I reply, and she shrugs but opens the front door.

"The queen is home, you all shall bow to me immediately." She yells as she swings open the door, skipping in and doing a twirl.

"Never!" A male voice replies. Lacie  smiles, the one that reaches her eyes and feel a sense of jealousy. Why didn't she tell me there was someone else in her life?

It's because she's not yours, she wasn't in the first place. Plus I don't think she would want me to leave her. Or anything like that.

I follow after her slowly, as she heads toward the kitchen. A older male appears, sitting at a laptop. I mean he's not like, elder old, but he's maybe in his late 30s I would say. He smiles and greets her, and I place the voice as the same one that I heard earlier as we entered the house. Me, being the ignorant person I am, I was jealous of her dad.

You're in deep shit Calum.

Lacie's father sees me, and looks at me confusedly.

"I feel like I've seen you before..." he trails off. I look at Lacie  with a smile, and she just laughs.

"Dad..this is Calum Hood. You know, the guy I talk about at least once a day?" She asks, a pretty smile on her face.

"Ohh! Yes, you! Hi." He nods, looking at his laptop again. We stand there awkwardly before he looks back up, realizing something. "Wait you were just in Sydney yes? Because my daughter told me that you were finishing the tour so that why we got the concert tickets, and you should still be in Sydney."

"I came back here to Colorado with your daughter, sir." I reply, nodding.

"How? Like how do you know my daughter? And why did you even come with her?"  He asks, examining me. I shift uncomfortably under his gaze, surprised he isn't yelling at me for randomly coming with his daughter to her hometown. From Australia. She might have guys over a lot.
Lacie sighs and recites the whole story about how we met up in Denver, then how we decided to stay in touch, then when I asked to come because I wanted to see her hometown.

"Oh. Well, welcome.  I knew the only time a boy would come to the house was when it would be someone she obsesses over. You're the first male friend of Lai's to ever enter this house!" Her dad states, proudly gazing at his daughter. Lacie's cheeks tinge pink slightly, and she looks at the floor.

"Thank you sir."

"Well, we are going to go up to my room now." Lacie chimes in, smiling at her father and grabbing my hand, dragging me through the hallway to the stairs. I've already found my way around here. Just thinking about that makes me smile to myself. 

"Wanna watch a movie?" Lacie asks as we enter her room.

"Sure."

"Okay. Go pick one out and I'm just gonna change super quickly." She nods toward the bookshelf corner, then makes her way to the bathroom.
I finally choose Batman Forever because who doesn't love Batman? Like, Batman VS Superman, cmon. Batman will obviously win. Lai appears, agreeing with my movie choice. She's wearing sweats now and a short sleeve graphic t shirt.

"I didn't know you wore contacts." I mention. She's now got blue/black glasses balanced on her nose, and a messy bun. And still pretty.
She just nods, looking down ashamedly.

"What? You don't like that I know that or.." I trail off.

"No! I mean, sort of. I look stupid right now." She smiles slightly, still staring at the floor.

"Hmm well, I think you look pretty. You still look pretty after changing." I reply, shrugging. I climb up a few of the ladder steps and throw the movie into the loft, coming back down and rummaging through my bag. Lai climbs up the ladder as I change. When I get up into the loft and join her, she's sitting on her bed with her phone. She looks up, pushing her glasses up her nose a little and nodding toward the tv.

"I already put it in." She says and I nod, sitting down beside her.

"Why do you have two tvs in here?" I ask, just noticing there's one on the wall beside her bed and one in front.

"I had originally had the one in front of my bed, but if I wanted to lay sideways it would get weird. So we randomly found this one," she says gesturing to the one on the wall beside her bed. "And they were just like, you have it. So I use both." She finishes and I nod.

"Which one do you wanna use?" I ask. She points toward the one in front of her bed. I'm guessing she already put the movie in that one. I nod, getting under the covers.

"You're staying in my bed?" She asks with wide eyes. I nod.

"I need a friend." I whine, pouting.

She laughs and joins me under the covers.

"Press play press play!" I say. She rolls her eyes and mashes the play button. I watch the whole thing, occasionally glancing over at Lai. She's asleep within 15 minutes of it starting. By the time the movie ends, I look at Lacie. She's all snuggled up, looking so peaceful but so cute.

I hear a small knock on the door from below, and a male voice.

"Lacie, sweetie? I'm going to bed." I hear her dad call. I immediately stand up and climb down the ladder.

"Lai fell asleep as we were watching a movie." I fill in.

"Oh. Thank you son." He replies and I nod, getting ready to climb back up to go to bed.

"I can tell you like her. I'm not gonna be the super over protective dad that threatens to shoot the boy if he hurts my girl, but she means a lot to me. Don't let the fame get to you and screw you guys up." He says and I stop, turning around. I've just taken a huge amount of respect for this guy.

"Thank you. That means a lot, sir." I nod respectfully. "Your daughter deserves a lot, I can tell. She is grateful for everything she has," I gesture to her room. "And I really want to make her happy." I finish.

"I'm glad to hear that. Goodnight." He says, heading toward the door and closing it behind him. A sigh of relief leaves me as I climb back up the ladder. I smile at Lacie's sleeping form before getting into bed and drifting off into a, finally, peaceful sleep.