Afraid // Calum Hood

Chapter 19 // Date

Adelaide's Point of View

Our legs were tangled together in a knot. I could feel his heart beating underneath my ear that was pressed against his chest. I was positive that there was most likely a permanent blush on my cheeks from the embarrassing reminder that Calum had seen me partake in an over-dramatic meltdown.

His fingers were still running through my hair, sometimes getting stuck in the kinks. It was a peaceful way to wake up in the morning.

"Addy," Calum finally said, his voice sounding raspy and much like a toad's croak. He cleared his throat, despite my hoping for him to continue to talk in that alluring morning voice. "How are you doing, baby?"

"I'm fine," I assured him, leaning my head up to get a view of his face. My fingers traced his prominent jawline. "Honestly. I'm just embarassed that you saw me crying like that."

"Hey, we all get stressed out. I completely understand. I used to have really bad anxiety attacks when the incident occurred and they were ten times worse than what happened last night, I swear," Calum insisted, tucking a piece of my messy hair behind my ear.

I scooched forward onto my forearms and kissed his lips, erupting a fit of butterflies into my stomach. When I pulled away, the smell of sweat lingered on his neck. "You kind of stink."

I gigged as he raised one arm up, twisting his head to get a wiff of us his own armpit. "Climbing that tree last night was hard."

"You could have used the front door," I reminded him.

Calum lifted me up and threw me over his bony shoulder. I squealed as he carried me out of my bedroom against my will and led me into the bathroom. I pounded my fists lightly into his back as we both laughed, until I was finally placed onto the tile floor. "We're taking a bath together. Nothing more relaxing and romantic than a bath together."

"You're right. I mean, what is more sexy than sitting in your own filth?" I teased.

"Come on," He encouraged, leaning over to turn the knob and let water pour into the tub. He squeezed the bottle of body wash into the water, initiating the formation of thousands of little bubbles. "I'll be right back."

As Calum slipped out of the bathroom, I tied my hair up into a bun to keep it from getting wet and making me look like Baby Tarzan. My clothing fell to the floor and I swept it up into a little pile, pushing it off to the side. I tested the temperature by dunking my feet in and since it wasn't burning or freezing, I gracefully sunk in. The bubbles filled my lungs with the scent of coconut and I closed my eyes as the warm water soothed me.

The door opened, revealing Calum who was holding a bag of grapes and a single candle which had previously been lit and he carefully set it on the counter. "Grapes?"

He popped the green fruit into his mouth, smiling brightly at me. "Yup! I was going to make chocolate-covered strawberries but I couldn't find any chocolate, or strawberries."

"Maybe I need to make another trip to the store then," I declared, feeling bad that the amount of good food in my fridge was lacking.