Begin Again // Calum Hood

Chapter 11.

"Easy, easy." I whispered. Calum had his arm lazily thrown around my shoulder as I helped him up the stairs. Step by step, we made it to the door and I barely had it unlocked before he stomped in and plopped down on the couch. I walked to the kitchen and took a couple Advil for a headache I knew would soon come. "What do you wanna do, drunkie?" I gently smiled as I sat down next to him.

"Well I dunno." He dramatically shrugged his shoulders and pouted a bit. "You're the one who brought us home." He sat his head on my shoulder. I stiffened up. He's definitely a touchy drunk, he's had some kind of hold on me the whole time.

"Uh," I tried to think of a reason to get up. "You want some coffee? It might sober you up quicker." I stood up before he even had a chance to answer.

"But I don't wanna be sober!" He whined and put his head on the top of the couch to look at me.

"Okay, well." I trailed off and looked around the apartment like a distraction would come out of no where. "I'll go change." I fast walked into my room and shut the door. I took my time to change into a pair of soft mid-thigh shorts and an old tee shirt from my high school senior year homecoming. I walked out to see Calum, drifting to sleep on the floor. I squatted down and poked his shoulder. His eyes flew open.

"I'm awake." His classic grin plastered on his lips.

"Oh, you are?" I teased as I laid down next to him. I wanted to take advantage of truth-spilling drunk Calum. We didn't say anything for awhile, but I decided to go straight to the point. "What was your old life like?" I turned my head towards him. I studied his profile as his jaw stiffened.

"Hard." He mumbled.

"Define hard."

"Typical high school homework stress, piled on with a girlfriend, and pretending to not have a dysfunctional relationship with your parents." He sighed. The words he used weren't drunk words, they were said sober. I wasn't going to point it out for fear of him stopping.

"I had a hard family life too." I repeated his sigh.

"Oh really?" He turned to me and raised his eyebrows, almost in disbelief.

"Yeah, I actually kinda ran away from home you could say."

"You didn't run away." He smirked.

"Well, I got in a huge fight with my parents about my future and I drove as far south as I could. If that's not running away, what is?" I stared into his deep brown eyes as I waited for his response.

"I actually ran away when I was younger. I thought I was a real badass when I was a kid. I picked fights with anyone who looked at me weird, had a 'posse'" He brought his hands up in air quotes, "listened to awful music, it was bad." He breathily laughed.

"You said something about balancing good grades? I thought badasses didn't care about grades." I giggled making me slightly bounce from the floor. He turned to face the ceiling.

"I eventually saw how much of an asshole I was being, and got my shit together and started caring. I got my grades up and started playing soccer. My parents still treated me like a kid, so I didn't really like them that much. Until one day," His chest heaved up and down. "I just had enough. They were yelling about something stupid and I just kinda exploded. I screamed at them and I-I just never want to be like that again. It was a side of me I didn't even know I had. It was like a light switch that just flicked on and made me furious." We laid silent for a moment.

"Do you have anger issues Calum?" I sincerely questioned.

"Every since then, I'm not sure. But, I might." I was still studying his face as his Adam's apple moved up and down. "That's basically why I'm here. A new start." He returned my gaze. "That about it." He straightened his mouth. Silence fell upon us again as we laid there.

"Calum, are you even drunk? I thought you didn't talk about yourself without being drunk."

"I sure as hell hope I'm drunk." He laughed. I chuckled as I sat up.

"I'm gonna head to bed, okay?" He sat up to me.

"Alright. I probably should too." I wrapped my arms around his neck and he returned the hug. I quickly pecked his cheek and stood up.

"Goodnight, Calum." I whispered.

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"How was your date night with Calum?" Alexa teased on the way to Michael's apartment. She said she was taking us on a perfect date, whatever that meant. She said she would tell us where to go and she would stay in his apartment until we came back. I had to beg her to stay because I didn't want to come back to the apartment and be tempted to move too fast with Michael tonight.

"Shut up. He's not even my type. I have a type, and it's Michael." I grumbled.

"If you had a chance, you'd take Calum." She averted her eyes from the road for a moment then brought them back.

"No. I have Michael, Calum is a really good friend." I persisted.

"You can't say he's not hot." She turned the wheel.

"I never said that." I smirked.

"You would take Calum!" She squealed.

"Take Calum where?" I asked between laughs.

"Oh you know where." She said, sensually. I slapped her arm.

"Oh my god! No! I would take Michael!" I yelled.

"Oh gross." She groaned. I scoffed at her. "Are you two even official yet?"

"Hm, not yet but I have a feeling we will be soon. Maybe today who knows." I innocently shrugged.

We pulled into his apartment complex and walked to the door. I knocked and was immediately responded to by a black and purple haired Michael.

"Surprise!" He yelled as he pointed to his hair. My hands were instantly magnetized to it.

"I love it." I spoke with my jaw hanging open. Michael smashed his lips onto mine, picked me up to bring me into the apartment, and spun me around.

"You're so cute." He whispered and carefully sat me down.

"Hey Michael." Alexa yelled as she shuffled through the door and carefully shut it.

"Oh, hey Alexa. I didn't even see you there." He brought his hand up to the back of his neck and awkwardly scratched it.

"Nice to see you too." She teased and walked over to give him a hug. "Oh, I don't get a princess's welcome like her?" She pointed her thumb back to me.

"Sorry, only for special people." A half smile lingered on his lips and he looked back at me.

"Oh hug her again I can see the way you're looking at her, ya sickos." She stepped out of the way and ushered him to me. He gave me another huge hug.

"I've missed you." He whispered into my shoulder. I adjusted my head and attached my lips to his. His hands traveled to my waist and my hands migrated towards his biceps. We managed to kiss a few more times before Alexa obnoxiously cleared her throat. I turned my upper body towards her.

"Should I leave and let you guys just kiss the day away?" She clasped her hands together and kicked her foot in the air, dreamily. I turned and pecked Michael's lips one more time then took a short hop away.

"Where are we to go?" I asked cheerily.

"I'm such a good friend, I made you a whole day plan in the notes in your phone. Just follow the steps and you'll be dating in no time." She rushed towards us and pushed our backs to the door. "Have fun and be coupley!" She yelled as she slammed the door.

"So here we go, I guess." I pulled out my phone.