Night shift - Completed

Chapter 28

Calum's PoV

As a last minute change, I invited the guys. I hoped Poppy wouldn't mind. I thought long and hard about what she had said, about the paps getting involved straight away when we hadn't even managed to talk alone without it being because she was working and thought I should ease her into this a little easier than some of the girls had been before. I thought if we all went out for a meal, it'd be a friendly environment and there would be enough distraction that she wouldn't feel under any pressure to be out with me while paps watched every move through their camera lens. Hopefully she wouldn't think it was too much to handle and then we could look at getting our relationship to the next level. Ha. Relationship. How my life had changed so quickly. One minute I was getting myself drunk because I was so lonely and the next I was inviting a girl out with us because I wanted to take the next steps in the relationship. Part of me regretted that night so badly, when I'd really lost control after seeing everyone so happy, but I had to keep reminding myself that without that downfall I'd never have met Poppy and we'd never have been in this situation now. I knew the paps were going to have a field day though, trying to bring up that I only want Poppy to end the loneliness and that it was just that I took the first girl I laid eyes on but that wasn't the case, hopefully I'd told Poppy enough that she'd be okay if the paps wanted to shout about it. She hadn't got round to telling me about her life yet, but it was all in good time. She'd been working a lot since I came out and this meal was just the first step. Following this, I wanted to meet with her privately so we could talk about ourselves and learn more in the hope that we could bat any stupid remarks from the paps away because we already knew they weren't true.

"You ready Cal?" Luke asked me calmly as we headed for the door, me on crutches to try and ease the pain of my foot in the boot. I knew Poppy would be mad at me as my nurse, but she already knew there was nothing she could say that would have changed my mind. I was fed up of being stuck in my bed and it had only been a few days. I'd ended up spending every day scrolling through social media and playing silly games on my phone because I'd run out of things to do within the first few hours. I needed to be out and about.

"Yeah, I just hope it goes well. I really don't want Poppy to be seen in a bad light for any reason when she's such a great girl." I sighed heavily as the others arrived with Dave, all ready and excited for our meal.

"I wouldn't worry about that. She's infectiously likeable." Ashton added, patting me on the shoulder. "If they make a story it'll be a desperate one." We all headed out the door but my mind was elsewhere, on what these bastards could write about her and how she'd react, probably going as far away from me and my life as possible. I couldn't let that happen. I had to show her how much she meant to me from the beginning. "Cal? You coming?" I looked up to see everyone had left the house and were halfway down the drive, whereas I was still stood in the same place inside the house. I gulped down my nervous feeling.

"Of course, sorry I was just thinking about something." I brushed it off and headed out with them, climbing in the car as Dave drove us to this restaurant we all enjoyed, Fratelli's. The car journey was pretty fun, we were all chatting and laughing, glad to be back out as a group. We'd spent half our time in the hospital and following that I was stuck at home so the guys had to do everything without me. Now we were finally back to normal and all happy with it.

We arrived at the restaurant and parked round the back, the boss allowing us to come through the back entrance and to a table that was inside a booth, making us less visible to the public and paps. We thanked him gratefully and shook his hand as we all took our usual seats, just waiting for Poppy to arrive.

"Who knew Cal would finally find a gal?" Michael laughed, nudging my right arm with his elbow.

"Yes alright!" I laughed back, shaking my head at Michael for teasing me. "Don't make me regret bringing you guys!" They all laughed with me as the waiter arrived, Poppy beside him looking very nervous.

"Your final guest, Sir." He said politely as he showed Poppy her seat beside me, which she politely thanked him for as she sat down. She smiled at everyone as she greeted them.

"Hi guys. It's nice to see you all again!" She said sweetly. "How have you all been?"

"Great thanks! I hope work has been treating you well, I bet you're glad to have some time off now!" Luke grinned as Dave showed up by the table.

"Sorry to interrupt guys, just updating you. I've checked the restaurant and it's all safe. A few paps are outside the building but it's nothing I can't handle. The usuals, you know?" We all nodded at Dave, taking in what he said. The moment he mentioned paps, my stomach dropped slightly. Please don't let them ruin this day.

"Thanks Dave. Just make sure everyone here is legit then." Ashton said and Dave walked away instantly.

"What does he mean by that?" Poppy leant over and whispered in my ear.

"Just that none of the people in the restaurant are paps with recording devices." I said like it was normal, but her eyes widened.

"They actually do that?" She said slightly louder, enough to attract the attention of everyone round the table.

"Not often, it tends to be one of Stacey's colleagues." I responded honestly, but I could sense her becoming less at ease with every sentence I said.

"Stop scaring the poor woman!" Michael elbowed me again, this time hard enough to me to express my discomfort.

"Yeah, it really only happened a couple of times, we make sure we check now. You'll be fine!" Luke added as he looked over at Poppy. She smiled back at him and nodded, relaxing a little in the chair. How comes everyone else was making her feel at ease while I was scaring her? I really needed to watch my words.

"Anyway, lets talk about something important! What's everyone eating?" Ashton said as we all laughed, checking the menu for our meals.