Desperate ~ Calum Hood (au)

27

Calum

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After their little moment together on the London eye, which managed to help Shannel overcome her fear of heights, Calum took her to Mc Donald's and ordered two happy meals with 'Extra Happy' as he would always say.

He then took her to sit on a bench facing the river thames, where they sat and ate together and Calum decided to use it as his moment to get to know more about her.

"So...tell me about yourself." He said, throwing a chip in his mouth as she nibbled on her chicken nuggets.

She looked at him confused, not entirely sure of what she was supposed to say. "I already told you everything."

"No, but i mean like...things about yourself. You know like, your favourite colour, television show, animal...just stuff like that." He explained which brought a smile upon her face.

"Um....i like...brown?" She said as more of a question, looking at him as if to get his approval.

"Brown? Okay, that's different, what else?"

"What else do you want me to say?" She asked, biting down on her lip as he laughed lightly.

"Just tell me things about you, anything you want. Do you have a favourite animal?"

"Uh...a bird."

"Okay." He nodded. "Why?"

She thought a little before answering, looking at the seagulls that sat on the edge by the water, scavenging around for food, somewhat relating to Shannel's state.

"Because they're free." She simply said. "I admire them, the way they come and go without a care in the world. They have enough will power to go off on their own and look after themselves, it's pretty amazing actually. They can survive all on their own, fly away from their troubles so easily and yet at the same time find themselves in new situations. They're incredible animals and if there was anything i wish i could be...it would be to be free, just like them."

Calum watched as her eyes stayed trained on one seagull in front of them, wandering around on the ground.

A small smile found it's way upon Calum's lips as she spoke, for he never knew that she was one to notice the small detail in things, it intrigued him actually.

She turned to him and noticed him smiling at her, causing her cheeks to turn a light shade of pink. She shyly looked away, observing the contents of her happy meal and pulling out her toy.

"What is this supposed to be?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow as she held it up for him to see.

"It's a smurf." He chuckled.

"What's that?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"It's like these little blue, cartoon people. There was a movie about them out a while ago." He explained.

"Oh."

Their meal then consisted of small talk, just both of them trying to get to know more about each other, which was something very foreign to Shannel.

*

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*

When they had finished, they went for a walk, just exploring the Embankment pier. They walked along until they reached the few street performers that dressed up and had daily shows to impress the small crowds of tourists and sightseers.

"Oh my gosh." She gasped, heading over to a man covered in complete silver from head to toe. His skin, hair and clothes were all one colour and she had never seen anything like it.

He was a performer and in some ways, an illusionist, as he was seated on a small stool hidden beneath his clothes, but to the eye it looked like he was floating in mid air.

Calum followed close behind her and noticed the amazement on her face.

"Do you see that?" She asked him, pointing to the man a few feet away from where they were stood.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." He smiled.

"How is he doing that? I mean look at him he's a silver man, floating around, that's like..magic." He couldn't help but laugh at her, not in a rude way, but because of how cute she was.

She smiled widely at him, looking just like a little girl that had just seen a princess in disneyland.

"You wanna see if he does anything?" Calum nudged his shoulder against hers and she nodded furiously, excitement evident on her features. He racked his pockets for any loose change and pulled out a few silver coins.

"Come on." He said and clasped his hand in hers, leading her closer towards the performer.

"What are you doing?"

"They've got a little pot for change next to them, you see that one." He told her, pointing to the small tin can in front of the man. She nodded, noticing the loose change inside it.

"Here, take this and put it in his tin." He said, handing her a pound coin.

Wearily she took it from his grip and went over to put it in the man's tin. On hearing it land against the material, the man seemed to jolt up, starling her as she moved back to stand by Calum, making him laugh.

The man placed his hand out for Shannel to take, but fearful of who he was she decided against it, swallowing hard and gripping her arm around Calum's bicep.

"What's wrong? Are you scared?" He asked her, as she looked up at him and nodded slowly.

"He's not gonna do anything, he'll probably just pose for a picture." He explained, trying to ease her up.

"I don't want too." She shook her head, taking a look at the man only to notice his gaze still fixated on hers. Her fingers began digging deep into his skin and he knew just how scared she was.

"Can we go...i don't like it anymore."

"Okay." He nodded "Alright, you don't have do anything you don't want to, we ca-"

But she had already taken off, turning back when she was a few feet away, waiting for him to join her.

And he did, after mumbling a quick apology to the street performer.

~~~~~~~~~~

OKAY OKAY HERE'S ANOTHER UPDATE LOL

BUT EHHEEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE I HAVE SOMETHING COMING UP !!!

REMEMBER THAT BIRD PART OKAY!!

THIS BOOK WAS SUPPOSED TO END AT CHAPTER 20 BUT I FEEL LIKE ITS GONNA GO ON FOR AGES AWWW SHET

ILY ALL

-S