Push Her Again, I Dare You

Chapter 12

Anna POV

I woke up with Calum snoring softly beside me, my head pounding. I groaned and slid out of bed, hoping not to wake y sleeping angel. I tip-toed into our shared bathroom and sifted through the bottles of prescribed medication my doctors had given me for my headaches. I found the bottle I needed and popped a few of the pills into my mouth. I swallowed them with some difficulty as I found that my throat was abnormally dry. I shrugged and crept back into the bedroom. I looked over at my sleeping boyfriend, a smile, creeping onto my face. He had rolled over and nuzzled his face into my pillow, inhaling and exhaling deeply through his nose. He snorted and I giggled loudly, he grunted and rolled onto his back with his eyes fluttering open.

"Sorry, Cal," I said with my hand over my mouth in an attempt to stifle my laughter.

"Mmm," he groaned, making grabby hands at me. This was Calum's favorite form of sleepy communication. I smiled because grabby hands meant cuddles. I waltzed over to the bed and plopped down next to him, bouncing slightly as I landed. He looked a little annoyed with me, but I ignored it and smiled at him before kissing him on the nose. "Where'd you go?" He mumbled into my hair.

"My head hurt, so I just popped some pills," I said, still laughing.

"Oh," he began," did you take the ones that make you giggly?" I nodded innocently. "Noooo," he groaned. "Now you're never gonna let me sleep." My giggling kept bubbling up in a way that I couldn't stop. "What were you laughing at anyway when you woke me up?"

I pointed at him and guffawed rather unattractively, remembering his earlier snoring. I felt about five years old. "What did I do?" He asked.

"You snorted so loud, babe," I managed to get out between my hiccuping laughter. I cackled when he blushed before shushing him and informing him that I found his snoring rather adorable. He tried to keep a smile from forming on his face, but he failed miserably and the smile made its way onto his beautifully tanned cheeks.

"I love you," he said, suddenly serious.

"I love you, too, Callllummmm Hooodd," I said, drawing out the syllables in his name. He chuckled at me and pulled me in for a kiss.

"Will you let me sleep now?" He asked, rubbing at his eyes. I nodded and asked him if I could watch TV. He nodded and pushed me back gently so that he could rest his head on my chest. My hands fell into his hair almost automatically and he sighed contentedly as I rubbed his head and ran my fingers throughout his hair. I found an old episode of Family Guy and, as the episode began, I found myself less giggly. I was staring directly at Calum's sleeping figure and smiling happily, but my mind was plagued with flashbacks of him slapping me, or the shower incident. I couldn't help but feel angry and defeated. I knew I could never let him go because my heart would break I was sure. Also, I wanted to shake him and scream and shout asking him how he could have ever imagined hurting me, much less actually causing harm to come to me. I tried to let these thoughts slip away and focus on the television, but I couldn't shake them. I plucked my phone from the bedside table and texted Stefy. I contemplated telling her everything that had happened. Then, I decided I would. I needed to tell someone. I couldn't do this all alone.

"U up?"

"Yeah...you aren't gonna ask for nudes or something are you ;)"

I chuckled at her antics and replied back that I had something to tell her. She waited patiently as I typed out what would forever change our friendship. I knew that she would most likely tell Michael but in my long paragraph I repeatedly begged her to be discreet. I told her all about the first time he hit me, what really happened to my head, and all about his increasing issues with anger management. I told her about how he had earlier gotten jealous about the texts between Harry and I, and how sad he had seemed so vulnerable to me. After typing what I assumed was well over a thousand words, I waited. After a few painfully long minutes she began to type a response.

"Get out of there."

I felt myself breaking. A single tear slipped down my cheek and I slipped out from under Calum. He didn't wake up, luckily for me. I walked down the stairs and out to the front porch. I asked Stefy if I could call her. She said 'of course' and I dialed her number. "H-hey," I said shakily when she answered.

"Anna...you have to get out of there. Please. I love you so much, you have to get out...I can't have this happening to you. Please,"she said, her voice breaking mid-sentence.

"I can't," I whispered into the phone.

"You have to. Please, Anna!"

"I know. But, Stefy, I can't. I love him. You know I do," I replied, feeling a thickness in my throat and a heavy weight in my chest. "You know I do."

She sighed. "I know, girlie. I know." All was silent for a couple minutes, tears streaming out of my eyes. I heard the doorknob rattle behind me.

I gasped. "Stefy, I gotta go, okay? I'll talk to you tomorrow?" I didn't wait for a response before hanging up. I quickly wiped the tears from my cheeks and stuffed my phone into the pocket of my sweats. I turned to see a sleepy Calum.

"Why do you keep leaving?" He asked.

"Sorry, babe," I started,"Stefy called and I didn't want to wake you up." He nodded and took me by my hand, leading me back up the stairs and back into bed.