One Hell Of A Life

chapter thirty five: trouble.

Third Person POV:

It was dead of night; almost. Picture Callum Airey knocking on Natalia Haddock's door, chewing the inside of his mouth with both anger, and nervousness. He hadn't seen this woman since JJ's birthday party in June.

Talia opened her front door, her coloured hair shoved up in a messy manner, the sleeves of her dressing gown covering her hands.
"Cal?" She questioned in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"
"Let me in, Talia, and I'll tell you." He said steadily. She obliged without a word, stepping aside to allow Callum through.

"You going to tell me now, then?" She cocked an eyebrow as the pair of them sunk into Talia's sofa.
"I-I'm jealous." Callum looked at his hands.
"I'm going to need a bit more context." She sighed. "Jealous of what? Jealous of who?"
"Em and Simon."
"Again, more context please."

So he told her about his and Emilohi's little thing they had going on for a couple of months; how he's not entirely over her. How the night they kissed for the first time on Southend's pier has never left him, how he regrets with all of his being for letting her go.

And how pissed off he is at his best friend for getting with her.

"Let me get this straight," Talia rested her chin on her hands, fingers interlocked, "You want Em and Simon apart? You want Em for yourself?"
"Yeah. I do." Callum flexed his jaw.
"Okay." She nodded, bottom lip stuck out.
"You're down?" He raised his eyebrows, wanting confirmation.
"Of course I am." She smirked, "Why wouldn't I be?"
"With Simon being your ex and all..." He scratched the back of his neck.
"That's the point, babes. That's why I want to destroy all of his hopes with JJ's fucking sister." She rolled her eyes as if this was obvious.

"I take it you're still angry that he ended it?" Callum almost laughed.
"You could say that, I suppose. He was happy with me, and I was happy with him. He treated me like a queen; you don't understand. Nobody else deserves that kind of love apart from me." Talia established.

"So..." The male started after a minute of comfortable silence. "How are we going to do this?"
"You didn't even come with a plan?" Natalia questioned, horrified.
"No! I came to see if you'd be down to participate, and you are! One step at a time, Talia." He blinked slowly.

"Do you have text conversations with Em?" She perked up suddenly, an idea striking her.
"Well, yeah, I still talk to her..." Callum looked at the floor, glumly.
"No, you idiot, I mean from–" She motioned her hands, unable to explain what she was referring to as Cal and Em's together phase. He picked up on what she meant, and nodded.
"Yeah. It'll take me a while to find them, but I'm pretty sure I have some DM's."

"Brilliant."

"Why?"
"Find them and screenshot them. We're going to frame her."

And just then, everything locked into place for Callum Airey. A switch was turned on, a side never seen before had been prised out of him. But, more importantly, he now understood why the woman had asked about the messages.

Because this plan was pure evil. Splitting up a relationship that was meant to be for so long, just because of jealousy.

Callum found the messages from so long ago. He saved them, and then let Talia explain what the next move was.

"We need to make it look like you're the innocent one, here. As if she's in the wrong. We need to make Em look bad. And you need to let down Simon as lightly as possible so that everything lays on her shoulders."
"How are we supposed to do that?"
"You, my friend, are going to need photoshop."

There wasn't just that night that they spoke. The two plotters called and texted regularly throughout a matter of weeks to check up on how the situation was coming along.

The photoshop part was easy enough. It was just deciding when to drop the bomb, and - more importantly - how they would do so.

a/n:

and all of a sudden, everything starts to kick off...

just as a reminder, i do follow back anyone who appears in my feed - if you don't vote, comment, or follow me, then i can't see who you are. any feedback at all is appreciated :)

i haven't done a double upload for a while, and simply couldn't possibly wait any longer to put this chapter out. hope everyone likes it!

thank you so much for reading,

lee x