lost and found // calum hood

25 | Elizabeth

I woke up from the soft knocks on the door and slowly opened my eyes, blinking from the sudden light in the room.

It took me several seconds to recall that I was in a hotel room in Paris.

The knocks on the door continued as I let out a grumpy sigh.

"What?" I yelled, rolling over to grab my phone from the nightstand and checking the time. 8 AM. "It's me, open the door," Calum said from the other side. "Dude, it's early. Let me sleep."

After the show, Calum introduced me to the other boys and Sierra and Crystal. We hung out with them for a while before we all went back to our hotel. After the boys had a quick shower, me, Ashton and Calum went to a bar down the street.

Ashton was a nice lad with the same sense of humor as Calum. We hung around till 1:30 AM before I finally touched my bed. So why the hell was Calum at my door?

I got up and dragged myself to the door, opening it, not caring that I looked like a total mess with my bed hair and my SpongeBob PJs.

Calum got a quick look at me and grinned. "Cute," he said, winking at me. I gave him the middle finger as I turned around and walking over to my suitcase. "What do you want?" I asked him, grabbing my clothes and hairbrush. "We're going to the Louvre," he said and I raised my eyebrows. "At 8 AM?" and he nodded excitedly.

"We only have three days together, we're not going to waste any minute on sleep, idiot!" he said as he walked over and grabbed a pillow from my bed, hitting me with it. "You are a child!" I said, grabbing the other pillow and hitting him back.

Our laughs filled the room as we flung pillows at each other until I threw my hands up in the air. "I surrender!"

Calum lowered his pillow. "Okay, okay. Now get ready for today," he said before he sat down on the bed. "Do we have other plans besides going to the Louvre?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Wander around the city. The boys want to go to the Eiffel tower when it's dark out, and I overheard Luke talking about going out after. And maybe go to dinner, just the two of us? Mike and Luke are doing double dates with the girls, and Ashton will probably just order in." he said as I continued to grab my stuff and bringing it to the bathroom.

"Why don't we ask Ashton to join us? It'll be fun!" I said as I started to close the bathroom door. "Go wake him up and ask if he wants to join us for dinner, I'll be ready when you get back," I said, now completely shutting the bathroom door and locking it.

"Oh, yeah, I'll - I'll go ask him," Calum said and I heard him walking away as I turned the shower on.

----

The Louvre was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. I finally saw the Mona Lisa, so that was something I could cross off my bucket list. Calum and I took a billion pictures of each other and sat down at the Venus de Milo and chatted for about 20 minutes before people started to recognize him and wanted to take pictures with him.

It didn't really bother me that people came up and asked for pictures, and it also didn't bother me to take the pictures. I would've done the same half a year ago. Calum didn't seem bothered either, he loved these little interactions he had with fans.

After a few hours, we were walking through Paris, with no real destination. Just walking and talking. We stopped for slushies and bought croissants at this really cute bakery.

"So you've never been outside of America?" Calum asked and I shook my head. "No, and I've only left Massachusetts once or twice to visit my brother in California, and a few visits to Connecticut and Rhode Island. I don't know, I like Boston." I said, shrugging and taking a sip from my slushie.

"But don't you feel like you're trapped there?" he asked and I shrugged again. "I don't know. I've always wanted to travel the world but I don't have the money or the friends to do it with. Going alone just gives me anxiety." I explained. "Boston is just... simple, you know? Because I've been there all my life. That's why I choose for Boston University as well, I was scared to move." I told him.

He nudged me with his elbow. "We could travel the world together," he said and smiled at me. I looked up at him, he was wearing his sunglasses, so I couldn't see his eyes, he was probably hoping not to stand out.

"You already travel the world, it's your job. I wish I had a job like that." I said, throwing my empty slushie cup in a bin. He laughed. "Yeah, it's all sunshine and rainbows on the road," he said. I shook my head. "You know what I mean."

"I know, I know. I have a cool job. Pretty mental sometimes." he said.

We reached a bridge and Calum nodded. "Oh look! I've read about this bridge," he said. We walked up the bridge, on the railing and the grate there were a few hundred locks.

"Wait, is this that bridge, what is it called, Pont des arts or something like that?" I asked Calum and he nodded. "I thought people weren't allowed to hang up more locks after they removed them last year," I said.

Calum removed his sunglasses and looked at me with a poker face. "And you think people listen to that?"

I laughed. "Yeah, okay, you got a point there."

I had seen this bridge on the internet a few times, tourists have been attaching padlocks with their first names written or engraved on them to the railing or the grate on the side of the bridge, then throwing the key into the Seine river below, as a romantic gesture. One of the many hipster things to do when you're visiting France.

As I was walking over to look at the details on the locks, I saw Calum walking over to this man, who had created a little, probably illegal, stall, selling the padlocks. After a few minutes, he returned with a marker and a blue padlock.

I raised my eyebrow, questioning him with no words. He laughed at me. "You should see your face right now," he said. "Got some secret lover you should tell me about, Hood?" I asked him.

"Besides Duke, no." he smiled at me once more, started writing something on the padlock. After a few seconds, he turned it around.

C + E
BFF

"This is so disgustingly cute, I might puke," I told him. Calum had the purest smile on his face, it made him look so soft and adorable. "If Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid can seal their friendship here, so can we," he said, handing me the padlock over.

I turned to the railing of the bridge and put the padlock on it, but before I could close it, Calum put his hand on top of mine. "Together," he said. "God, we look like a disgusting couple," I said. "You say disgusting a lot, but you totally love this," he said as we closed the lock together and pulled the key out.

He grabbed the key out of my hand and threw it in the Seine. "Damn, what if I ever start to regret this friendship?" I said, nudging him in the side. "Sucks to be you then, we are now best friends forever," he said.

"Don't ever say that again," I told him and he laughed, putting his sunglasses back on. "Let's go, Ashton is waiting for us and its a long way back to the hotel," I said and he nodded. He took a quick picture of our padlock before following me down the bridge.

"Would you kill me if I put my arm around you?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered with a nod. "Excellent," he said, putting his arm around me.

Nothing happened. I let him.

"Woah, the shock has been done," he said, smiling at me. "Well, I was being nice. I can still kill you if you want." I said, looking up at him. He was taller than me, not that tall, but he could rest his chin on my head if he wanted to. "Nah," he said. "It's ok. I'll just keep walking for a while. With you, preferably."