Hi everyone! Here's another one! Sorry it's been a while, life's been hectic lately!
"It's too hot outside," Calum thought, sipping a beer and watching his friends splash around in his pool.
The unbearable heat had led to the boys taking up Calum's open invitation to swim in his pool whenever they wanted. Usually Calum enjoyed splashing around a bit but today he was just relaxing on a lounge chair in the sunshine.
"This part of the rockstar life isn't so bad," Cal thought to himself as he laid back on the pool chair. It still blew his mind that little Calum Hood from Sydney was lounging in LA rather than kicking a ball around on a football pitch somewhere for a living. He figured he might as well enjoy his time off before they started recording back at the studio again. His days of sitting and snoozing were numbered.
"Hey Cal, come swim!" Ashton called out from the other side of his pool, waving his arms excitedly.
"Nah, I'm perfectly comfortable here. Besides, I don't feel like smelling like chlorine all day," Cal quipped back, closing his eyes. The sights and sounds of the pool and his friends faded away as he drifted off.
A gentle nudge on his shoulder woke him up. Cal opened his eyes and saw the dripping figure of Luke Hemmings standing over him.
"Hey man, we're taking a break for lunch, want to join?"
Cal rubbed his eyes and sat up. Luke waited patiently for a response, running his hair through his soaked locks.
"Yeah, I'd love some lunch? There's stuff for sandwiches inside if you don't mind that," Cal said to his friend. Luke nodded and moved to help Calum stand up. "Thanks, this weather's got me beat, feel like I can't stay awake in the heat."
"True that, I can't believe you feel asleep in the sun, I've been sweating just looking at you," Luke retorted. The boys all reached the door inside Calum's house and moved to the kitchen, where they pulled out cold cuts and white bread.
After they had eaten their fill of sandwiches, chips and fruit, they all headed back out to the pool. Luke, Michael and Ashton moved to the chairs in the shade, trying to avoid the stifling heat that had intensified during lunch. Calum volunteered to take the chair in full view of the sunshine. Stretching his legs and arms out, he yawned again, closing his eyes.
Another nudge woke him up again.
"Cal buddy, Mikey's gone home and Luke and I are leaving soon. Didn't want you to wake up to no one around," Ash said gently, waving goodbye to his friend. Calum acknowledged him with a nod and fell back asleep.
Waking up for the third time that day, Calum was overwhelmed by a sense of heat. It was so hot. Too hot. When did it become so hot?
Groaning, he flung his legs over the side of the chair and moved to stand up and walk inside, now that the afternoon sun had settled into the distant horizon. As his feet hit the cement, he wobbled and the world spun.
"Shit," he thought, "I didn't have that much to drink did I?"
His head spun and stomach churned as he wobbled his way back to his couch inside. As he moved to lay down to try and slow the spinning in his head, he felt his stomach flip. Calum groaned, not wanting to stand up and find his way to the bathroom. There was no way he was steady enough on his feet to get there without falling.
Another flip of his stomach caused him to sit up hesitantly, moving to stand. Calum's vision spun again and he gagged at the feeling, his sandwich from lunch rushing up from his stomach. He tried to move towards the little bathroom but couldn't get up.
"Ughhhh," Calum let out a strangled groan, gagging hard again. This time, his lunch made a reappearance all over his nice wooden floors. He coughed and gagged again, more vomit making its way into the outside world.
Deciding he didn't want to puke all over his house any more than he already had, Calum moved slowly towards the bathroom, nearly blind with how much his vision was spinning. As he made it to the toilet, he flipped the lid up with the last strength he had, and let out another stream of puke.
"Please, please, please, make it stop," Calum was crying now, terrified because he knew he couldn't get up on his own. His crying was amplified as he gagged again and he leaned back over the toilet.
After what felt like hours, Calum stopped puking and lay trembling on the floor. His lips were dry and cracked and he still felt so, so hot.
"What's wrong with me?" he thought. This didn't feel like a stomach bug or the flu. He was just so hot. A knock on the front door pushed him out of his thoughts about the heat. Calum knew there was no way he could get up to answer.
"Cal, you decent? I'm letting myself in..." he heard Ashton's voice drift towards the bathroom. He could've cried at the sound of it, knowing it meant someone could help him.
"Hey Cal, where are you man?" Ashton called out through the house. Calum could hear him close the front door and move closer to where Calum was sat, pale and trembling, in the little bathroom.
"In here Ash," Cal called back weakly. Ashton's head peaked around the corner and he gave a startled 'oh' before rushing to Calum's side.
"What happened, Cal? Are you sick? How long have you been here?" Ashton asked. Calum leaned into his friend and felt tears continue to drip down his face. He was just relieved someone was here to take him out of his misery.
"It's so hot, Ash. I'm too hot," Calum cried. Ashton reached out to touch Cal's forehead. He frowned.
"You don't have a fever Cal, but you're so sweaty, how long did you sit by the pool?" Ashton glanced at his friend worriedly, rubbing his back.
"All day, please Ash, make it stop. I d-d-don't feel good, it's too hot," Calum was sobbing now, his body trembling and shaking. He was just so hot.
"Bud, you're probably overheated. Bet you didn't drink enough water and spent too long in the sun today," Ashton said, moving out of the bathroom into the kitchen. He returned several minutes later with damp towels and two bottles of water.
"You need to drink this slowly, it should make you feel better," Ashton handed one of the water bottles over to his shaking friend. Calum grabbed the bottle and took a slow sip, his stomach churning.
"I'm going to run some of these towels under cool water and give them to you, just take it easy and you should feel better soon Cal. Just keep drinking," Ashton stood up and walked over the sink, re-wetting the towels with cool water. Calum flinched as he felt the cool cloth make contact with his burning skin.
The two boys spent an hour on the bathroom floor, Calum slowly sipping the two bottles of water and Ashton replacing the cool towels intermittently. Eventually, Calum felt strong enough to stand and wobble his way with Ashton's help back to the couch. Ashton handed him more water to sip at and turned out the lights, letting Calum sink back into his couch, exhausted from the day. Just as he was drifting off, he had a thought.
"Why did you come back Ash? I thought I was a goner until you knocked," Calum muttered towards his friend who had settled on an armchair in the corner of the room.
"Luke left his wallet here and I told him if he cooked dinner, I'd come grab it," Ashton laughed, glancing back over to his friend. "Guess I missed a homemade Hemmings meal but it's a good thing I came, Luke would've panicked and had you dunk in the pool or something to cool down."
"Yeah, he'd make an awful nurse," Calum chuckled.
"The worst! Can you imagine him in a nurse's outfit?" Ashton laughed in response.
"That's an image I didn't want in my head," Calum responded, sipping at his water again. He leaned his head back against the couch with a sigh.
"Go to sleep Cal, I'll stick around for the night to make sure you feel ok during the night," Ashton gently told his friend. Calum glanced over gratefully at his friend, his heart swelling with gratitude.
"Thanks, Ash. You're the best," Calum muttered, closing his eyes. He opened his eyes for one second to see Ashton's grin before fading into sleep.
