Afraid // Calum Hood

Chapter 10 // Never Have I Ever

Adelaide's Point of View

The only color that was visible was pink.

Pink flowers. Pink ribbon. Pink baskets. Everything in the entire store was pink. Naturally, I had the urge to puke. Too much of one color always made me feel uneasy, which is why all of my outfits had to involve two different shades.

"Did Valentine's Day come early this year?" I joked as I headed to the back of the shop.

Lucy giggled, pulling all of her firey red hair onto one side of her face, making her freckles even more visible than before. "Mrs. Clifford read somewhere that people are more likely to buy pink flowers in the summer, so she's going a little overboard for sales."

"I guess that makes sense," I replied half-heartedly, although I'm almost positive that confusion was still etched onto my features. My fingers grasped the hunter green apron hanging on the back of the door, the one that seemed to be sticking out like a sore thumb in contrast to the lively pink color swarming me, and I placed it around my neck. The heavy polyseter material dug into my skin as I readjusted it so it was flowing freely.

Michael appeared from the storage room, a crunchy taco resting in his palms, and the overflow of beef residing above his lips in the midst of his scruffy face. I chuckled at his messy appearance and lifted my hand up to wipe the crumbs off of him, creating a grin on his lips. "Well hello, Miss Addy. Are you a neat freak or something?"

I shook my head. "No but I am a bit jealous of your taco," I admitted, extending my hand out to take it out of his grasp. He didnt put up a fight and I lifted the Mexican meal to my mouth, devouring the spicy taste.

"You tilt your head funny," Michael declared, poking my side repeatedly.

"You're funny looking," I shot back, passing him back his taco.

Michael stuck his tongue out at me as he took a seat in the stool next to Lucy and swung his arm around her. I found their relationship together to be adorable, but neither of them seemed interested in dating each other. There seemed to be some kind of chemistry between the two, but maybe they needed someone else to stir up their romance. And I loved being a matchmaker.

It has been an entire week since I had went over to Calum's house for dinner. He was still staying at my house, but after the third day he went back and made up with his mother, and now Calum is just coming and going as he pleases. It was comfortable. I liked having a sleepover every night, I liked coming home from work and knowing that I was going to have someone to hang out with, or someone to help me cook dinner. We've shared a few kisses here and there, and I can't deny my crush on him, but we still were just friends and nothing more.

I have yet to build up enough courage to speak with Michael about his previous friendship with Calum. Anytime we get on the subject of Calum it doesn't end too well. But I was still quite curious to see what had happened from his point of view.

As I proceeded in silently making the bouquets from the new order form, I decided that I needed to bring it up. "Hey Mikey," I called from my table. He picked his head up from whatever nonsense conversation he was having with Lucy and glanced at me. "So, um I heard that you and Calum used to be best friends."

A heavy groan escaped his mouth and the sound traveled thoroughout the storage room. Michael stood up completely and waddled across the small gap between the front desk and the bouquet station, where he dragged a chair out from underneath the table, initiating a squeak from the touch of the two metals, and plopped his butt down. "Where did you hear this?"