once // calum hood

11

"I don't think you've ever driven us anywhere. It's kind of weird." Calum says from the passenger seat. His hand rests on my thigh as I drive. I'm still in my party dress, and they're still in their party clothes too. It wouldn't feel spontaneous if we changed.

"I'm a fantastic driver, Calum." I roll my eyes.

"I think the last time we were all together in a car this small was when Teagan sliced her foot open. Calum puked his guts out." Michael laughs a little evilly, and I shake my head.

"Quit hating on my small car. I'm not a mother; there is no reason for me to have a big SUV."

"Except for when you're transporting four men roughly six feet or taller, that's a reason to have an SUV." Luke somehow managed to get himself in the middle seat, so after he speaks, he wiggles his knees.

"Got it, next time you're in town, I'll rent a car." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Calum smile as he's looking out the window, maybe he's thinking about that 'next time.' There was still a lot we haven't talked about, we apologized, but we never said what we wanted to do from here. I was too chicken to ask, but after our conversation, it doesn't feel stupid to assume we could try long distance.

We didn't have a plan, but since I knew the area the best it was kind of up to me. That also made it hard because I haven't gone anywhere in town in the last six months besides the grocery store — sort of.

"I guess the park would be fun. There's not much to do this time of night. The downtown strip area looks like a ghost town when everything is closed, but we could walk that too. Then we could end the night on the pier 'cause it's not too far from the hotel." I tap my fingers against the steering wheel and listen to them all say "okay" at different times.

When we pull up to the park, I find a parking spot and then turn off the car.

"Oh fuck yes, there's a playground!" Ashton giggles and takes off, Michael in tow. Luke is on the phone with someone, so I give him the keys before I get out. Calum is standing in front of the car waiting for me.

"Will you push me on the swings?" I ask, batting my eyelashes.

"Are you wearing underwear?" He immediately shoots back, and I blink a few times.

"What?"

"If I push you on the swings your dress could come up, so do you have on any underwear?" Cal places a hand on the small of my back and leads me towards the playground.

"Do you see how tight this dress is? Does it look like I have on underwear?" I ask, laughing. "I'll be fine. It's too tight to fly up anyway."

"Did you just ask if I've seen how tight that dress is? Of course, I fucking did, and now that I know that there is nothing underneath it kills me even more."

"Just shut up and push me," I smack his arm before I step away from him to get on the swings.

+++

Walking downtown was quickly erased from our plan because it was already two am and all the bars would start to close by the time we'd get there. Calum made a point that we could go to see all the drunks stumbling out of the bars, but I told him it wasn't nice to make fun of people. He's probably been one of those people before. 

Walmart is next on our list before the pier. The boys wanted snacks and blankets because it had gotten even colder as the night went on. An all-nighter in January wasn't the brightest idea, especially wearing a dress. I was surprised we hadn't gotten any snow yet. 

I should've been a little more worried about taking the four of them into Walmart at two a.m.. They're loud and obnoxious on their own and if you place them in a quiet and deserted Walmart that only intensifies.