Heartbreak Girl (Calum Hood) [FINISHED]

Chapter Thirty-Six: Food/Stories (Calum)

Calum's POV

I walk Anne back into the waiting room and I notice that Luke and Michael are now awake. 

"Hey guys."  I say, sluggishly, sitting down next to Michael.

"Hey Cal" Luke says, yawning and stretching.

"I am starving." Michael says.

"There's a cafeteria on the first floor. Wanna go there?" I ask.

"You sure you wanna leave?" Luke asks.

"Yeah. I'm fine. It's only for a little while." I say, standing up and helping Michael up.

"Okay..." Luke trails off, standing up.

I ignore what Luke is implying because all I've gotten was people thinking negatively and that's not what I need to focus on. We wake up Ashton, knowing his eating cycle, and he joins us. I feel bad leaving Anne there alone, but Kelsey's dad was just in the restroom, so I know that she has someone there with her. Ashton was so tired and plain exhausted that he was stumbling and walking like a drunk, so I grabbed his arm and put it around my shoulder, helping prop him up. We get to the elevator and I lean Ash against the wall. 

"Hey, you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah... just tired." he says, rubbing his face.

"Ok. Well, just let me know if there's anything we can do."

"Well some coffee would be nice."

"Well we're going to get food if you forgot... there's going to be a barista there and everything!"

"Woah" he says, almost mesmerized.

I've only seen Ashton like this when he's high and it's a lot more funny when he is, but this has definitely lightened the mood. We walk into the cafeteria and there's almost no one there. We walk over to the breakfast foods table and grab almost everything. We all walk to the cashier and I offer to pay for everyone. They try to deny it, but I know they don't mind. We all sit down and devour everything in a matter of minutes. I didn't realize how long it'd been since we'd last eaten. Since we were still hungry, we went back for seconds. Once we were full, we walked back up to the third floor. Well, not walked... we took the elevator. Once we were back at the waiting room, we notice that neither of Kelsey and Ashton's parents are there. Ashton and I bolt for the doors and click the button over and over again. It doesn't open. I get my phone out to call them but it's dead. So is Ashton's. We bang on the door over and over but nothing happens. 

"What are you doing?" A familiar voice screams.

We turn around and see Ashton's dad. As well as Anne. 

"What are you doing?" Ashton asks.

"Your mother and I went to get coffee. Now what did you two think you were doing?"

"I...I..." we both stutter.

"We thought..." Ashton starts.

"That maybe..." I try and finish his sentence, but they understand.

"Now boys, why don't we sit down and take a breath?" Anne suggests. 

We nod and all sit down in seats that form a little circle.

"Can we share some good memories of Kelsey?" Ashton asks.

I take a deep breath and go along with it. What's the harm?

"Well, can I start?" Michael asks.

"Sure." Anne says.

"Well I remember the first time I met her. It was the first time we were at your guys' house. Calum was super late so we were sitting in the kitchen waiting for him. Kelsey was baking cookies and she was getting mad that we were eating the ingredients as she was cooking. She grabbed some flour and threw it at Ashton, which spurred this insane food fight throughout the kitchen. Once we had settled down, she realized that she didn't want to clean it up, so she went into the shower, telling us that you guys were coming home soon and that the band would never get to use the house as a practice space if we left it like that. She was so sly about it but it was so smart and that's when I realized that she was one of the greatest people I've ever met."

"IS."

"What?"

"She IS one of the greatest... not was."

"Yeah... that's what I meant."

I take another deep breath.

An empty silence falls over us, leading Anne to suggest Luke to share.

"Well, I didn't have a close relationship with her before she came on tour, but I remember one time she snuck into the rehearsal space during one of our breaks that same first rehearsal, and she started playing guitar. She was playing Absolutely by Nine Days. That was my favorite song at the moment. It was insanely good but she didn't believe me when I told her after she caught me listening in." he laughs slightly.

"I remember the day she was born. It was beautiful. My second child. My first girl. Now don't get me wrong Ashton, you're great, but there's something between a mother and a daughter... this bond, that I felt the second I held her in my arms. It was beautiful." She sniffs in and takes a breath.

"I remember when you guys first told me that I was going to have a little sister." Ashton cuts in. "I was so excited that I cleaned out half of my room, thinking it would be for her, but got in trouble after because I had thrown out half of the things in my room. I didn't realize that we were going to move into a bigger house. When we moved, I specifically called the biggest room because at the age of two, I thought I was the biggest I could be. Turns out, I completely missed the other room and I accidentally called the smallest room in the house, but I didn't say anything because I didn't want to admit failure. But when Kelsey was born, I was so happy. Just thinking about there being another human for me to interact with. I never wanted to go to school because there was this fascinating child for me to play with. And even though we have that same bond when we got older, I'm glad that I got to have this bond with her when she came with us on tour."

I take another deep breath.

"Calum... is something wrong?" Anne asks.

"No... nothing..."

"Are you sure? Would you like to share?"

"Sure. I remember that time that Kelsey was in the hospital and were waiting and waiting for her to come out and everyone thought she wouldn't make it but I knew that she would pull through. I knew that she would be okay. Everyone sat around telling these stories about her while I sat there, patiently waiting for her to come out, all okay, all smiles, waiting for me to walk over there and hug and kiss her and just stay with her...." I trail off, looking at the door that was blocking her from me.

"Cal..." Ashton starts, but his mom stops him. 

"Anne Marie Irwin?" A doctor cuts off my imagination of Kelsey running through the doors into my arms.

"Yes." she says, standing up. 

"Anyone directly related to Kelsey Irwin can come into my office with me now."