diagnosed (calum hood fanfiction)

VI

grace's pov

I take a deep breath, and Kate notices my nervous eyes.

"Hey, it will be so fun!! I promise! Don't worry, okay?" She asks, and although she tells me not to worry, I don't stop worrying. Because, that's not really how it works.

"Okay." I say, and she grabs my hands, squeezes it for reassurance, and we walk up to the front door. Judging by the amount of cars parked along John's street, I know that this really won't be a small get-together. It will be more like a party, a high school party. There's not enough cars to give me a panic attack, but there's enough anxiety built up to make my throat close partially, my breath shaky.

She opens the door to John's huge house, and we walk in.

The sound of the music coming from the open door nearly scares me to death, and I laugh at Kate when I see her eyes grow wide. She wasn't even expecting it to be that loud.

"Okay, just hold onto my hand until I find us somewhere to sit." She says, and drags through the various halls contained in John's home. I'm surprised at the small amount of people I see standing around the corners of each twist if the hallway, and that makes me feel somewhat better. I expected it to be completely packed, a sea of people surrounding every inch of floor. But, my brain tends to overthink anyways.

Before I know it, we arrive to a room. The room consists of one big couch, and a TV that isn't on. This seems to be the living room, the kitchen a doorway next to it. We walk in, and I see the backs of a few heads that are seated on the comfortable-looking couch. When we enter, Kate asks me if I want anything to drink. I tell her no, and she just drags me to the kitchen with her anyways.

"Okay, I'm going to make myself something. You can just stand here." She turns her back to me and starts picking and choosing the different bottles of vodka, soda, and liquor, combining them together and creating something in a red solo cup.

I look around, and try to make out the faces sitting on the couch. I see John, and I'm guessing he's with other soccer players, and a few girls crowd them, laughing at whatever jokes the boys are saying.

And then my eyes move to the boy in the middle, his raven hair standing out against the other boys' light colored hair, dark and striking. He's staring at his feet, while girls surround him and talk to his buddies. A feminine voice calls his name, and he looks up at a girl sporting bleach blonde hair and a jean skirt with a black tube top. He rubs his arm and shoulder nervously as he looks up at her, rolling up his long sleeves to expose his arm and bicep. With that motion, I notice the ink across his arm.

An Indian head covers his bicep as a bird lies on his arm, with the words Mali-koa underneath its body.

It's him, it's the boy from the therapists lobby.

"Alright, we can go sit if you'd like!" Kate exclaims in my ear, causing me to jump as the sudden exclamation in my ear.

I just nod my head, not removing my gaze from the tan boy. He's talking to the blonde girl now, but his eyes tell me he doesn't want to be. Once you master telling stories with your eyes and hiding secrets behind them, you get really good at reading the eyes and faces of other people.

She grabs my arm gently, and pulls me over to the living room. John diverts his attention from the short brunette in front of him, and looks at Kate as she drops my arm. She smiles at him, and he smirks up at her. Kate came here to do one thing, and John knows that. So John doesn't waste anytime.

"Excuse me." He says, and he stands up from the couch. The brunette looks disappointed, but not surprised, as he greets my friend Kate with a hug. I stopped looking at the boy from the lobby a couple seconds ago, to watch this interaction between Kate and John.