The elevator ride up to right floor was a quiet one. I spent the entire time suspiciously eyeing Luke and Melinda, but they both made a point of avoiding eye contact with me and instead made silly faces at each other. When we made it to the 7th floor, the elevator dinged loudly and the doors whirred open.
Luke immediately grabbed Melinda's hand and dragged her from the confined space.
"Quick! She's going to interrogate us!" Luke exclaimed, his long legs propelling him down the hall in a matter of seconds. Melinda glanced back at me and crossed her eyes before pulling out the card to unlock her door and slipping inside the room. Calum met my gaze with a confused expression before leading us down the same hall Luke had sprinted down seconds ago. He stopped at a room a few doors up from Melinda's, and as he opened the door, my phone vibrated with a text from her.
Luke is so weird, i apologize for his behavior -_-
I snorted to myself, agreeing completely. The door eventually clicked open and Calum stood with his back against it and an arm outstretched.
"Welcome to our room!" I playfully slapped his chest before wandering inside. The walls were wood paneled with light fixtures that hung on either sides of the bed that was covered with a fluffy, pure white comforter. Across the room and near the flat screen television, there was a brown, leather armchair adorned with a pile of patterned pillows. From my position, I could see that the bathroom was completely white and everything was made of glass or tile.
"Whoa, Hood. I thought the lobby was nice, but this is...this is impressive." He chuckled before placing my bags on the floor by the bed.
"I do what I can." He winked at me before slipping off his shoes and belly flopping on the bed, landing face first with a muffled groan. I cocked my head to the side, waiting for him to resurface from underneath the massive pile of pillows he had disturbed. When he finally did, a few of them toppled to the floor.
I shook my head, holding back a giggle.
"But seriously! How did you afford this? And what the hell is happening right now?"
Calum propped himself up on his elbow and patted the space next to him.
"Come lie down with me. I'll tell you everything."
Following in the footsteps of Calum, I slid off my shoes and sprinted towards the bed, catapulting myself off the floor and sinking into the mattress with a soft thud. Calum surrendered to a fit of laughter and lightly hit me with a pillow. I retaliated the hit then slid over and rested my head on his chest.
"Alright, alright. Fun's over. Now tell me everything! I need to know what's happening."
He wrapped his arm around me and shimmied deeper into the bed before sighing in defeat.
"Okay, where to start though?" He was quiet for a moment as he contemplated what to say. Just as my anxiety started to set in again, he cleared his throat.
"Let's just start from the beginning. I got out early for good behavior. I did everything I could to make sure I was out of there as soon as possible. So when I actually was released, I ran into Ben on the way out. He stopped me to congratulate me and something he told me caught me off guard. He said something like 'At least you get to see your girl again. She went through a hell of a lot to see you the last time she was here'."
I wasn't sure what Ben had been referring to until I remembered Luke's master plan to sneak me into the precinct so long ago.
"I was confused by what he meant, so I asked what he was talking about. He told me what Luke and all of you had planned, and I couldn't believe it. But it also made me realize that I could use his help with another plan. After Ben told me the story, I asked for Luke's number because I wanted to thank him, and I, of course had an idea of my own."
I sat up a little as he progressed with the tale, getting more and more intrigued by the second.
"So after I left, I called Luke, thanked him and asked if there was one more thing he could do for me. He's a cool guy, by the way. I don't know why you complained about him so much before."
I scoffed and lay back down.
"When you have chipped paint on your car from backing over that boy's trash cans every week, you would understand."
Calum chuckled before quickly returning to the important part of the conversation.
