10:53 [calum hood]

27

➸ r i l e y

It's been four days since Calum left, and every day feels longer than the last.

Now that Luke and I were getting back to the whole friendship thing, the empty void in my chest has been filled, and I finally have company once again. I still hung out with the boys as well as Dani, all while trying to remain composed when Mickey was over at the same time I was.

"Earth to Riley." Dani waved a hand in front of my face as I blinked, rubbing my eyes. It was Friday night, and we were having our legendary sleepover nights. We were casually flipping through piles of magazines when I had apparently zoned out.

"Sorry, what?" I asked, chewing on my bottom lip.

Dani sighed, sensing that I was losing focus. "What's wrong with you? Is it Calum? Oh God, what did that dick do? I knew he would do some--"

"He didn't do anything." I closed my issue of Seventeen while laying down on my stomach. "I just miss him, that's all."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and the soft tunes of One Direction played in the background. "You need to get out there. Live a little, you know? I hate seeing you so sad and you don't deserve to be moping around over him. He still calls you right?"

"Every day." I nodded, flipping over so that I was now on my back. "It's just different without him around all the time."

She thought for a moment. "Well you didn't seem to find it that difficult, like, three months ago," she pointed out. "You don't even know when he's coming back. You can't keep yourself locked up from the world until he's home again."

I shrugged. "I guess so. But what do you mean by living again?"

"I mean, go to parties. Get drunk. Have fun. Do the things you would normally do if he weren't here. Carry on with life," Dani suggested, collapsing against the headboard and letting out a huge sigh of content.

"I never even did that before--"

I was interrupted by the sharp ringing of my phone, which had been charging on Dani's desk. I reached over to grab it and my heart fluttered when I saw the caller ID.

"It's Calum," I informed her, sliding off the bed and padding into the hallway. I shut the door behind me and leaned against the wall, picking up his call. "Hey Kiwi."

I could hear the faint sounds of crying and sobbing in the background, causing me to immediately switch to panic mode. "Calum, babe, are you there? What's wrong?"

The breathing on the line became heavy, like someone was begging for air. "Ry, sh-she passed just now."

My heart, which was doing flips just minutes ago, was now sinking slowly into the pit of my chest. I know how badly Calum was grieving right now and all I wanted to do was hop on the next plane to California to hug him.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, listening to him choke back sobs.

"I swear th-there's something cursed about 10:53," he muttered so quietly that I almost didn't hear him.

"Why?"

There was another long pause and I wondered if he was still on the line. "Because she passed at 10:53 New Jersey time, on the dot. When I heard about that I couldn't help but think that time is seriously the best and worst time there is."

I nodded vaguely before remembering that he couldn't see me. "That's scary. I'm really sorry about your grandma. Tell your mom I said that, too. Do you have any idea when you're coming home?"