Eighteen // 5SOS

Chapter 4

"It's not even a good story though!" Lemon argued, kicking a stone with her shoes as they walked.

"But I want to know anyway, it's such an odd nickname to have!" Calum giggled, nudging her with his shoulder as they walked side by side with their hands in their pockets.

"Okay, oh god, I'll tell you." Lemon said, looking down and smiling. Calum watched her, a smile growing bigger on his face. "It started when I was younger, in school, and our class was doing circle time, where we would tell each other about ourselves, going round in a circle." She looked at Calum, to see if he was following, and to her surprise he was facing her, nodding, fully listening to the story. "So for this one lesson we had to tell the group our names, but with a word in front of it that started with the same first letter as our first name. So you could have... Cool Calum. That kind of idea."

Calum laughed, "Cool Calum. Thank you, I'll treasure that one forever."

"Don't flatter yourself," she said, playfully nudging him as he had done to her. "So I had figured that I wanted to use Lovely Lauren, because it fit, I had practiced it, and everything was fine until a girl used the world lovely, and I panicked. I didn't know what to do, so when it came to my turn I said "Lemon Lauren", and I guess it stuck. And that is the story of why they call me Lemon,"

Calum chuckled at her, "I think it's pretty cute actually," he said.

Lemon smiled as she watched their feet pace forward at similar speeds. "You do?" she said, more to the ground than to him.

"I do."

Then followed a pleasant silence, it could have been awkward but wasn't. They were so at ease with each other that it was fine. There were a few moments that could have been perceived on either part as being awkward, such as Lemon waking up on the couch with her hand lightly brushing Calum's on the floor, and them deciding on going a walk in the fresh air, around an unfamiliar city on a summer day. They felt natural, nothing was stunted.

"So do you remember much of last night?" Lemon asked, finally, as they reached a road and stopped for traffic.

"I really don't," Calum replied, pondering. "I mean, I remember some parts, it's like jigsaw that I've only got a quarter of the pieces of, you know? There are parts I remember, like Michael running out with Kakkii and Megs without his shirt on, and I remember throwing up on the side of the bus before we got back in this morning." He scratched his head before they crossed the road. "I just have no idea where they all went after that, there were a lot of people missing this morning."

Lemon nodded, thinking it through. "Well, maybe when we go back they might've woken up and wandered back too. You have to go back up to Edinburgh tonight, right?"

Calum nodded. "Right, our security are going to be so pissed at us when we get back," he said, leaning his head back and groaning.

Lemon grimaced, "I don't think our parents will be too happy with all of us either,"

"Look at us," Calum smiled, stopping on the path for a moment and looking in Lemon's eyes. "Absolute rebels."

Lemon giggled at him, earning a grin from Calum. He felt a sense of pride in making her laugh like this. Her laugh sounded so sweet and refreshing on this strange morning.

"Absolute rebels," she said in agreement, then looked up at him again, "I like walking around with you like this."

Calum smirked, looking at his feet, before diverting his gaze back to Lemon. "Lets go somewhere," he said, before grabbing her hand and beginning to sprint down the street.

Calum ran slightly ahead, pulling Lemon behind him. He turned random corners every so often, and she had no idea how he knew where he was going as they ran. Laughing as she tried to keep up, the gradient of their run got steeper, until they were running headlong up a hill. Maybe Calum did know where he was going, she thought, he looked just too determined to not know where their destination was. Just as Lemon was about to ask if they could slow down, or where on earth they were running to, Calum turned to her wearing a crazed expression and, breathlessly, told her, "I think we're almost there,".

And they were. For a minute later, the buildings beside them had stopped, and in front of them was a grassy clearing, overlooking a whole city. Lemon could see an array of differing sized buildings separated by a river that wove through them. Breathless, they dropped hands and took in the view. They could see all of it.

"I don't think we're in Scotland anymore," Lemon breathed. She'd never seen a city like it. It looked like central London, but smaller, without the landmarks.

"No, I don't think so," Calum said. "But I feel like I've been here before, I don't know how I knew to come here, I just sortof... Did. Most hills lead to somewhere cool."

"I don't know either. You're weird sometimes, Cal," Lemon giggled.

"Am I?" Calum said, his smile widening as he turned to face her, walking towards her slowly.

Lemon giggled, backing away as Calum approached her, before she turned and ran from him, laughing wildly as they covered ground with the backdrop of the skyline. This scenario ended abruptly as Lemon tripped and slipped, falling awkwardly on the ground where their laughter became more manic. She lay where she landed in the ground, covering her face as her frame shook with giggles.

However to her surprise, Calum dropped to the ground next to her, lying flat on his back, staring at the clouds. She shifted her position so she lay flat too, her hands by her side. Both their bodies rocked with laughter before their breathing stabilized.

"You know what?" he said slowly, as if carefully placing his words, staring up above him, "I really like being around you. Right now I don't care much about anything else."

Their eyes met for a moment, as they turned to face each other, both of them lying flat on the grass. They mirrored each other's smiles as his hand found hers, and underneath the blue morning, they made people out of clouds in the sky.