Begin Again // Calum Hood

Chapter 8.

I slowly opened my eyes to face Michael's back. He was quietly groaning in his sleep which made me smile. I got up and crouched down in front of his face. I gingerly pressed my lips to his, and his eyes opened.

"Good morning babe." He yawned and sat up. I patted his legs and he moved them so I could sit in front of him.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Uh, yeah." He formed his pink lips to a smile. "I slept really well. Did you?"

I sat and looked into his eyes for a moment.

"Yeah I slept great." I whispered, barely audible. "So, Michael I was wondering something." I trailed off.

"What about?"

I rubbed my eyes for a second then bit the inside corner of my mouth.

"You're nervous about something." He giggled.

"How would you know?"

"You always bite the inside of your cheek when you're nervous or upset. It's cute." He rubbed my leg. "What do you want to ask me?"

"What are we having for breakfast?" I quickly spat out.

"That wasn't your question." He shook his head with a goofy smile.

I laughed at him. "Yes it was."

"You don't have to feel nervous around me, it's fine. Just ask what you want to ask."

I bit the usual inside spot and hesitated with my question. "I was wondering," I looked down at the ground. "If I could maybe stay here more often." I whispered. He didn't simply answer my question, but he leaned forward and hugged me really tight. I found myself hugging him back without even realizing. "So I take this as a yes?" I said, still holding him tight.

"You can take that as an absolutely." I pushed back from the hug and quickly gave him a peck on the lips and stood up.

"I'm gonna go okay?" I started to walk out without really waiting for his opinion. I grabbed my keys and I was getting ready to open the door but Michael grabbed me from behind, again.

"You don't have to go." He whined into my ear.

"Yes I do. I have a mess I need to clean up at home."

"It's not much of a home if you don't feel welcome in it."

"It's as close as I can get, Michael."

"This could be your home." He slowly said. I think he immediately regretted saying it, but I wasn't going to take him up on the offer anyway. We've only been talking to each other for a little over a week, and we're already moving fast enough.

"You'll just end up hating me if I did that." I softly pushed his arms off of me and gave him a quick kiss. "Bye Michael. I'll call you later."

I walked through the door and straight into my room.

"Where were you?" I heard a familiar voice behind me. I turned around to see Calum.

"Out."

"You don't have to get all defensive, I was just worried if you were okay. I'm not heartless."

"I went to Michael's." I kept my walls up. "I thought you hated me or something."

"I don't hate you."

"I don't hate you either." I admitted.

"So then why are we still arguing?" He let out an exasperated sigh.

"I don't know. It's just hard to forget the words you said."

"You know I'm sorry about them. I just said them in the heat of the moment. I don't mean them."

"But they were in your head."

"That doesn't mean anything. I have a lot of pointless things in my mind."

"Like what?"

"You shouldn't concern yourself there's a lot of messed up shit in there." He pointed to his head.

"Is any of it about me?"

"Yeah, some." He shrugged.

"Tell me Calum. I'm intrigued." I smiled with one corner of my mouth and crossed my arms.

"Nah, it's nothing important it's just little details and pointless things."

"They're obviously not pointless if they stick out to you." I walked closer to him.

"If I told you, you wouldn't be very happy with me." He took a small step closer to me. We were about a step away from each other now.

"So are we good?" I said mocking the first time he said it to me.

"Yeah we are." He pulled me in for a hug. He shook us side to side while hugging, making me burst into laughter. "I like your laugh, you should do it more often." He said with a huge smile.

"I do what I can." I separated the really long hug.

"But can I just ask you something? Do I really mean nothing to you?"

"Calum, of course I didn't mean that. You mean a lot to me."

He stuck out his bottom lip in a little pout.

"Are you sure?" He maintained his pout. I pushed his bottom lip with my index finger.

"Don't pout. You mean a lot to me." I did a huge, cheesy smile with my eyes closed. He laughed a little to himself.

"You nerd." He whispered.

"Why do you always call me that?" I dropped the smile.

"I don't know. I just like it, it's cute."

I thought of how he shouldn't call me cute things, it's Michael's job, but I'm not going to pick a fight.

"Oh, okay." We stood quiet for a moment and I started rocking on my heels. "Sooo..." I moved my eyes up to the ceiling.

"I'll leave you alone now." He started to walk out. "Hey, are those Michael's clothes?"

I looked down to check my clothes out of habit. "Uh, yeah they are. Why?"

"No reason." He shook his head.

"You're weird."

"Yeah, I am." He slowly nodded.