Night shift - Completed

Chapter 26

Poppy's POV

After my time with Ashton, my head felt slightly clearer so I agreed to come back to the ward and try and sort everything out. It was now nearing 4am and my shift would be over soon. After that, I wouldn't see him again – unless I did something about it. Ashton and Dave took yet another detour to allow me time to speak to him alone. I really did have a lot to thank him for, yet wasn't sure how to thank someone I didn't really know. I breathed in and out nervously as I headed past Jack and into the room, knocking as I headed in. I was expecting Calum to be asleep, but instead he was sat up in bed with a smile on his face. He patted the tip of the chair beside him, indicating that he wanted me to sit down beside him. I smiled back instantly, heading straight over and sitting next to him.

"How are you feeling?" I questioned, my nursing instincts taking over. I know that's not what he was sat up and waiting to talk about, but I didn't want any more scares. I wanted this to run smoothly.

"Better, thank you. My chest feels a lot better now and my ankle doesn't hurt. I almost want to say I feel normal." He said to me thankfully, reaching a hand out towards me. I took his hand in mine and stroked my thumb over his knuckles. "So thank you, for everything." He changed the tone back to what I was assuming it was meant to be before I'd gotten carried away with my wellbeing questions.

"It's fine, Calum. It's my job." I shrugged like it was no big deal. I mean I didn't want to sound like a hero just because he was a celebrity. I did this job because I wanted anyone and everyone to feel the same way he was feeling now – back to normal. A silence fell over us and I knew straight away, Calum was struggling with wording what he actually wanted to say.

"Look," He sighed, knowing what he was saying was going to be difficult. "I asked Ashton to speak to you because we were worried about you. I may have asked him to put his phone on in his pocket so I could hear what you were talking about..." He cut himself off as my face dropped. I let go of his hand and shuffled back a little in the chair, trying to distance myself from him, upset that they could abuse my trust like that.

"You did what?" I breathed out, wanting to walk away while I could. I could barely look in his direction – but part of me was convincing myself to stay and hear what he had to say.

"Please, hear me out." He begged, the soft side of him that Ashton spoke to me about showing for the first time. He spoke with vulnerability in his voice, scared he'd already lost. I didn't say anything, but I was also still there which gave Calum enough hope to continue. "I know when we last spoke I was so negative about my lifestyle and made it sound like you couldn't handle it without giving you a chance but I was scared. You're one of the first people I've really opened up to and liked for a while but then I was worried if I kept you around that you'd hate it and the pain of losing you then would have been much greater than it would be to lose you now. It would really hurt, don't get me wrong, but with the tour coming back I'd have enough to distract me that it wouldn't be as fresh." He sighed, running his hands over his hair as he re-thought what he was going to say. "Look, if I keep blabbering I'm going to get myself in trouble again. I was worried that I'd already royally screwed it up and there was no way of getting you back, so the stupid idea was that I'd listen to what you were struggling with as you voiced it to Ashton and hopefully rectify it before the end of the shift." The room fell silent as I thought long and hard about what my answer was going to be. Ashton had told me to hold out and Calum would lower the walls that hid his feelings so well but had he just said that because he was on the other end of the phone. Could I trust anything Ashton said during that talk?

"Why did you bother telling me the truth?" I asked curiously, to which Calum gave me a confused look. "Why even tell me you listened in on the conversation? You surely had a feeling it would have upset me." I looked up at him for the first time since the conversation began and watched his face light up as our eyes connected. Could I seriously let someone like him go? A guy who has shown genuine interest in me for the first time in years? Yeah, he didn't go the best way around it but if what Ashton said was to be believed, it wasn't done maliciously.

"I want to be honest with you Poppy. I wasn't honest with who I was and that was hard enough. I'm not keeping things from you it's just not fair." He shrugged, his shoulders falling more in a defeatist attitude. I let out a sigh as I moved closer to him again, my hand finding his once more before I spoke.

"Thank you." I said honestly. "It's been difficult but I appreciate your honesty. I'll need to be honest with you too. If the paps do find an interest in me and my life, they'll start shouting about it and I don't want you to find anything out about me that way." I said, gulping down a sick feeling that rose as I thought about my past that I'd tried so hard to get away from.

"That sounded ominous..." Calum said in a light-hearted tone, noticing my vacant stare as I thought back to those years ago.

"It's fine. I've sorted it but I want you to know." I tried to smile as best I could, my eyes falling on the clock and realising the time. They widened slightly as I stiffened in the chair. I barely had a couple of hours left of this shift and there was so much I needed to do. "I've got to go and do some paperwork before the end of the shift..." I went to stand up but Calum grabbed my hand and pulled me back towards him.