But He's Your Stepdad [cake au]

Six

Chapter 6

Luke

"If he's okay, why hasn't he woken up yet?"

Whose voice was that? Calum? Why was he talking about waking up...? I suddenly felt all anxious and wanted to open my eyes but they felt so heavy.

"He looks very sleep-deprived. He's most likely catching up on all the sleep he's missed out on the past few weeks. Is he stressed at all?" a woman asked.

"I don't think so... I mean, his mum's away but I don't think that has a massive impact on him."

"You never know. Parents being away can actually be very hard on children."

I furrowed my eyebrows and yawned, finally mustering the strength to sit up. The first thing I saw was the cheekbone of Calum's sculpted face and the ridges on his nose. It felt like a dream to see him that close – but then I remembered what had happened between us earlier. He pulled me in for a hug. I looked around to see that I was in fact in my room, and our family doctor, Dr McCauley, was hovering over Calum, her dark blonde wisps of hair falling from behind her ear.

"Oh Luke, I was so worried... thank god you're awake now. I really wasn't looking forward to telling your mum."

Strangely, I felt really relaxed by his scent. It wasn't exactly like he'd just showered but rather his natural smell – a very mild hint of cologne plus a small bit of sweat. Not smelly sweat. Nice sweat. Oh what was I going on about?

"How do you feel?" Dr McCauley questioned, smiling at me whilst simultaneously checking her notes. I shrugged.

"I'm okay. Tired. What happened?"

"Dan was bleeding and you fainted after seeing his blood."

I gasped. "Is he okay now?!"

He placed a hand on mine and squeezed it gently.

"Don't you worry. He went to the hospital and they stitched it up for him."

"Thank God... say, how long have I been asleep for? I feel well-rested."

Calum chuckled, a massive grin stretching across his face. "About twenty-one hours. You really know how to sleep, huh."

"Twenty-one? Wow."

Dr McCauley cleared her throat and picked up a notepad. "It's normal for teenagers these days to lose out on sleep because of school, stress and all sorts of other things – but you must try to catch up on it from time to time. I'll take my leave now, but do call me if anything else happens."

We thanked her and Calum pursed his lips. Something had changed inside him, I could sense it from a mile away.

"Luke..."

I gulped, predicting the subject of this topic. "Y-yes?" I said meekly.

"What happened between us... can't happen again, okay? I don't know what clouded my judgment that day, and I don't wish for it to happen in the future." He perched on the side of my bed, playing around with my duvet cover. "I guess it seemed fun at the time, but looking back I really shouldn't have made a move on you; you're only sixteen."

My heart sank in its cage, a growing feeling of remorse filling the cavity. I hadn't exactly made it easy for him – in fact, I could've said no, or pushed him away, but I enjoyed it. That was the bad part. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be. It was my fault. Now, I'd like it if we could put it behind us... I don't want things to get awkward, okay?"

Suddenly, Jack burst into my room, running over to me like a madman. "Luke! You're awake!" He shoved Calum out of the way to he could get to me, sitting on top of me and flicking my forehead. "Jesus fucking Christ don't you know how worried we all were?"