Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I wake up in a bed on the second floor of Mali and Stefan's town house. It's still relatively dark out because of the cloudy sky overhead and the fact that the alarm clock on the beside table reads seven AM.
Sighing at how early I have woken I sink back into the mattress and roll over to face Calum, the thick duvet rustling with my movement.
His hair is getting longer—he missed his appointment about a month ago and hasn't bothered to reschedule. Now it lies flat on his head with some of it matted down over his forehead.
I snuggle closer to him under the covers and I hear him suck in a breath as he wakes. He rubs at his squinted eyes that are puffy with sleep and he looks around as if he doesn't quite remember that we're halfway across the globe right now.
"Hey," he croaks out.
"Hey."
"God, it's only seven?" he complains when his eyes land on the red numbers. "Why are we up?"
"We can go back to sleep," I tell him softly. "It's still dark out."
"I definitely am."
"How about we doze off for a couple of hours and then we go for one of those breakfast dates?"
"Sounds perfect."
"Hey, Calum?"
"Yeah?"
"Happy birthday."
...
"So how does twenty five feel?" I ask. Calum walks beside me along the river. My arm is looped around his and the wind grips at the pieces of my fringe that peek out from under my hat.
"Much like twenty four."
"Nice." I stuff my free gloved hand into the pocket of my coat. "You know, I could stay here with you forever."
"If only," he sighs. "It's weird. I've never been in this deep with anyone before. It's never been this serious."
"You mean you don't take all of your girlfriends on trips to England?" I joke and he bumps his body into mine. "I get what you mean—I mean we both know I've never been deeper than a first date with someone before you came along."
"I like it," he announces. "You know what, no; I love it. I love you."
"And I love you too," I smile. "And I really love this city."
"Would you move here with me if I got some once in a lifetime opportunity to be hired at some amazing restaurant and I asked you to come with?"
"London, you, and delicious food? Yeah, I think I would move here with you." He pulls his arm away and instead moves to throw it over my shoulders as we walk, pulling me closer to his side. "Calum?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever think about what would happen if we for some reason ended things for real? Like, do you ever imagine it?"
"What?"
"I have and it scares me—I mean the thought of it scares me. I think that...I think I would die if I couldn't be with you."
"Hey." He stops us and moves to stand directly in front of me. I peer up at him from under the screen of my baker boy hat. "Don't think about that. It's not going to happen."
"You actually think we'll be together forever?"
He looks over my shoulder and off into the distance with a contemplative look painting his face. He purses his lips when he looks back down at me awaiting his response. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I want to be with you forever."
"You're not gonna propose, right?"
"No," he laughs. "Come on, Scotty, let's just forget about any breakup thoughts and go get some birthday breakfast date food into our system."
"All right. You're right, I'm being crazy and paranoid."
"Don't worry about it, babe." He lets his thumb stroke over my chin. "For what it's worth, I think I would die too."
I give him a smile and we keep on walking to the small hole in the wall coffee shop Calum swears by when in London. We get our croissants and coffee to go and it isn't long till we are seated in a park bench back down by the river. Before us there is a walkway and behind us spans a strip of grass to separate us from one of the busy city roads.
"Are you excited for you birthday dinner tonight?"
"Uhu," he muffles through the large bite of croissant which is taking up his mouth. I laugh.
"I know you said me coming here was enough of a present." I can tell by the look on his face that he knows where this is going. "But I did bring something with that you're getting tonight."
"Scotty," he whines after swallowing. "You didn't have to do that."
"But I wanted to," I reason with him. "We never got to utilize the gift I got you for Christmas since the reservation was for when we were still in that weird limbo period."
"I went," he admits and I gape at him. "I brought Ashton."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah," he shrugs. "We're both food obsessed and you and I weren't going out. I was depressed and needed a night."
"I can't believe you went without me."
"Would you feel better if I told you I couldn't even enjoy the pecan profiteroles because I was thinking of you the entire time?" I send him a dull glare. "I mean I love Ashton but God did I wish that would have been you in that booth with me."
"You got a booth?" I pout.
"Will you forgive me if I give you the last bit of my croissant?"
"No," I huff. "But I will forgive you if I get whatever you got left of your coffee because I'm out."
