Love Like The Weather || CTH || NOVELLA

SIX

Ugh he looks like such a boyfriend.

(My fave Calum hair era)

"All right so you're not drinking then?"

Calum stops mid step on the porch steps leading up to Harry's house. "What?"

"How else are you going to get me home?"

"How about you don't drink and I'll guide you through the drive."

"No way."

"Then you're staying the night I guess." He walks up the last bit of the stairs and pushes his way through the bodies of the people on the porch to get into the house. I follow with a huff.

I've barely set foot inside before Calum hands me a cup. "We are not staying the night."

"I am."

"Calum." I stomp my foot against the marble floor. "You know I can't do that."

"Just sneak in tomorrow morning. I'll take you then."

"That won't work in a million years."

"Anything is possible when you're with me, Chandler." He tips his head back and chugs down the contents of his cup before taking my cup from my hand for himself. "Live a little."

Calum backs away to be swallowed up by the crowd and I stand looking as he disappears. I turn when I feel the weight of two hands on my shoulders and I'm met with Harry's smile. "How's the babysitting going?"

"Babysitting?"

"Yeah," he shrugs. "Calum's all broken-hearted or whatever, so he'll probably go pretty hard tonight. Its great he has you to watch him."

"He really doesn't seem so upset that he'd go too far. He's good at keeping his emotions in check."

"Yeah yeah whatever," he grins. "Let me get you a drink."

I remember that Calum stole my cup from me, and I muster a smile even though our conversation has made me feel uneasy for some reason. "Yeah, I'd like that."

I follow Harry into the kitchen where he grabs onto a bottle of vodka as he passes it to then saunter over to the kitchen island. He pours a generous amount of the alcohol into a cup and I can make out the line of the meniscus through the plastic. He follows with whatever is left in the Simply Lemonade bottle placed on the countertop and then hands me the drink. "You seem like a vodka kind of girl."

"You're not wrong," I chirp and I bring the cup to my lips. It's about just as strong as I expect it to be when it hits my tongue and trickles down my throat with a familiar burn. "How drunk are you planning on getting me?"

"However much it takes for you to be convinced dancing with me is a great idea," he says, but his eyes travel over my shoulder. "As soon as I've made sure those guys don't ruin my mother's decor."

"Take your time," I smile politely. I'm gonna have to be way more drunk than this if I'm dancing with Harry—I mean, it's Harry for crying out loud. I've dreamed of this moment since I was a gap toothed freshman.

I chug the rest of my drink down, not stopping even though I'm bordering on gagging from the unpleasant sensation of alcohol covering every bit of space in my mouth.

I lean over the island and grab hold of the vodka bottle to pour it halfway up my cup and I already know I'm going to regret this when I will have to act like a ray of sunshine in front of my parents tomorrow morning.

I end up waiting around in the kitchen for almost fifteen minutes and still no Harry. Since I'm the lightweight of the year I know that any minute now I'll be finding the most mundane things funny and I'll have the confidence of a straight white male at a republican convention. So I make my way outside to catch some fresh air out on the back patio and with how I stumble over the threshold I know the alcohol is getting to me.

My clumsiness catches the attention of Calum who is standing over by the railing with a cigarette between his fingers and smoke leaving his lips. "Hey."

"Hey," he says back. He sounds drunk just from that one word. "Where's Harry?"

"I don't know," I shrug. "He kind of disappeared."

"How Harry of him."

I shake off the remark and walk to stand closer to him as he takes another drag. We both swim in smoke when he exhales. "You're not fine."

"What?" I motion for him to hand me the cigarette, which he does, and I take a quick drag off it before speaking.

"The whole Michelle thing. Why don't you talk about it?"

"Because it's embarrassing." Calum turns on his heel and stalks over the deck to take a seat on the hanging chair by the wall of the house.

"It's not embarrassing, Calum," I insist and I walk over to take a seat next to him. "She broke your heart and you should be able to talk about it without getting shitfaced."

"Says the girl who is slurring her words right now," he laughs.

"Am not," I object, and as my hand moves I for a second forget that I am holding a cup which still holds about an inch worth of vodka. The liquid stains the hem of Calum's shirt and the top of his jeans, and I go to use the sleeve of my shirt to pat it dry as a reflex. "I'm so sorry, Calum."

"You should probably stop the rubbing before I get involuntarily excited and this gets more uncomfortable than it has to be."

"Oh, shit, sorry." I shake my head and quickly lift it back up but I draw in a breath at the proximity of our faces. Calum's tongue swipes over his lower lip and I can't stop looking at him.

"Uh, Chandler?"

"Yeah?"

"Your hand is still kind of on my dick."

"Of my God," I breathe out and I retract my hand. I shake my head. "I really am drunk."

"We're both pretty drunk."

"Chandler." Both Calum and I turn to the sliding doors to see Harry's head popping out of the opening. "You ready for that dance?"

"Um." I look back over to Calum, trying to judge his expression to figure out if he's going to be OK on his own right now. He can tell what I'm doing and he rolls his eyes.

"Go."
...

Isn't it so fun getting away with turning in assignments late bc ur such a good liar??

I should be an actress.