Afraid // Calum Hood

Chapter 11 // Party

Adelaide's Point of View

"You really should come," Lucy persuaded, her dainty hands tieing a tight knot of the glossy ribbon around another bouquet.

"I don't know," I replied wearily, working on my own bouqet as well. My mind hasn't stopped racing with thoughts ever since I had received the news of Calum spending time in prison two days ago. He has yet to contact me since then, which was much harder to deal with than I expected, and I have been having a tremendously hard time concentrating on anything else.

Lucy shook her head at me. "Addy! You've been living here for almost a month now and you have what, three friends?"

"Four," I corrected, considering Mali-Koa a friend as well. Maybe she didn't think the same of me, but I needed her for my current argument.

Michael chuckled, swinging his arm around my shoulder. "Come on, Addy. You should come to the party. Lucy throws excellent bangers."

"It is not a banger, Mikey," Lucy protested, giggling slightly. She turned to face me. "Addy, at least come and stop by. You can meet some of our lovely friends and you can have an excuse to get dressed up. It's a win win situation."

I grinned. I had to admit that I was the stereotypical girl who adored the feeling of putting on a dress and heels every once and a while, but I was just not feeling like going to a party. I quite enjoyed sitting in my own home and sipping my bland coffee and attempting to keep in some sort of touch with my friends or family back home. "I'll think about it."

"Fine," Michael said in defeat. "If you don't come then the three of us will just have to go get pizza after work another time to make up for it."

"Hanging out after work? Wow, you two are just so obsessed with me, aren't you?" I teased, filling the room with my laughter as I transferred from my stool in the corner to fishing my way through the next basket of bouquets. I only had a few more to make before my shift ended.

--

If I could marry an article of clothing, it would definitely be this red dress that was currently hugging my body. Despite my typical lanky shape, this slinky material accentuated the curves I always wished for. My chocolate colored hair was sleek and straight, a rare occurance for the usual curly mess. I had a smoky grey eye shadow piled onto the top of my generally bare lids. Glimpsing in the mirror through my mascara covered lashes, I genuinely looked like a different person.

My ankles had straps around them, holding up my heels in case my clumsy behavior causes me to trip. I strolled across the sand to weave towards Calum's house before he left. I wanted to talk to him. I missed him in this brief time apart which was almost uncanny.

I wiped the beads of sweat that had formed just below my hairline onto the back of my palm as I inhaled a deep breath. My hand clenched into a fist as I carefully knocked against his front door. There was an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway and a lot of chatter that traveled through the house and to the front porch that I was currently standing on.

Calum opened the door and his eyebrows immediately raised towards the starry sky that was settling upon us. "Adelaide," He stated breathlessly as he chewed down on his bottom lip, his brown eyes scanning over my entire outfit. I suddenly felt overexposed.