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The entire three hour train ride, Ariana had one thing on her mind. Calum Hood. The tall, rugged, handsome stranger who'd stolen her heart in just a day. She didn't know what it was, the fact that he was mean to her, since she was so used to that with Luke, him calling her princess with his thick, deep accent, or how he cared for her and saved her life. Either way, she could feel a crush developing hard, and she wasn't mad about it.
Dude, where have you been, i've been texting and calling you like crazy." Ariana's best friend Meredith said. "Girl, if only you knew." Ariana said, ditzy and in a daze. "With Luke again, i'm presuming." Meredith said, rolling her eyes. Ariana looked around to see if anyone was listening before she took off her oversized hoodie.
Meredith almost screamed at the sight of Ariana's bruises. "What the fuck Ariana, why didn't you tell me? We have to tell someone about this." Ariana covered Meredith's mouth as she got more and more loud with anger. Ariana slipped back into her hoodie and sighed. "It's fine, I'm fine, there's a officially no more Luke." Ariana said.
"There isn't?"
"Because there's Calum." She said. "Who the hell is that?" Meredith asked. "Only Luke's incredibly hot neighbor who's letting me stay with him until my bruises and scar and is healed. Mere, he's so cute and so...well, I don't know if he's funny, I've only known him for a day, but he's got the most amazing smile and the cutest dog, and he's been taking such good care of me and-"
"Hold your fucking horses sweetheart. You're talking about this man like you're in love with him. You just met him, he could be just as bad as Luke or even worse." Meredith said. "But he's not, he's so much more than that Mere, he's so great." Ariana couldn't stop talking about Calum, it's like her brain was focused on him and him alone.
"I'm genuinely concerned for you. I don't feel comfortable with you at some strangers house. You need to come back with me." Meredith said. "But my clothes are over there, and I already told you, it's okay—"
"Ari, if you go back there, I won't hesitate to call the cops and your parents on Luke and whoever this Calum person is." Meredith said. "But Mere—"
"I'm serious, you need to be somewhere safe. I won't tell anyone about the bruises and Luke if you come home with me." Ariana knew Meredith wasn't bluffing, she's been known to rat Ariana out. Though Ariana hated her in the moment, she knew she did it out of a place of love. "Okay, I'll come with you." Ariana said sadly. "Good, besides, I've missed you." Meredith said as she pulled her into a hug.
"I've missed you too."
It didn't dawn on Ariana until later that she didn't have Calum's number, so she couldn't tell him she wasn't coming back
———
"So let me get this straight. Your neighbor beat his girlfriend up, and raped her, so you decided to take her in as some service project?" Ashton asked. Calum was so wrapped up in Ariana after he dropped her off, he ran almost 12 miles to the gym and called Ashton for an impromptu workout session. Calum was taking his anger out on a punching bag, dripping in sweat, muscles burning and body sore, but all he could think about was Ariana.
"She's not a service project. She needed my help, so I helped her." Calum said. "But she's living with you, you're giving her a place to sleep, food to eat, letting her use your bathroom and you have no ties to her whatsoever. What do you call that Cal?" Ashton said. "Being a gentlemen, something you know nothing about." Calum teased. "Haha, very funny. Now punch the damn bag." Ashton demanded.
"Look, all I'm saying is, fuck her." Calum stopped punching the bag and furrowed his brows at Ashton. "What," Calum asked. "You, are the most sexually frustrated man i've ever met. You clearly aren't making her pay you for letting her stay with you, so fuck the shit out of her. You get pussy payment and you won't have to jack yourself off to pictures of Mia anymore." Calum frowned at Ashton, and decided not to respond, just continued punching.
"Your loss. I'm sure you'd enjoy it, even if you won't admit it."
Before Calum could respond, gun shots were heard outside. "Everybody get down." Calum shouted. All the girls began to scream as they got down on their stomachs. Once the gunshots stopped, Calum grabbed a nearby bat and ran outside, ignoring Ashton calling for him. Calum heard more gunshots around the corner and immediately went in that direction. He stopped once he heard the gunshots closer and snuck around the corner.
He turned to see 2 boys laying on the ground dead, and 3 boys standing over them. "You fucking idiot, you ran out of bullets, how are we supposed to finish the S?" Calum rolled his eyes as he picked up a large stone, and chucked it at one of the boys, knocking him to the ground. "Hey, who's out there? Show yourself?" One of the boys shouted. Calum slowly made his way back towards the other side of the gym to meet them on their side. He reached the corner where they were standing as he heard them speak.
"Come on bro, get the fuck up, we gotta get out of here." One of the boys said. Calum walked around the corner, and the minute his eyes locked with the 2 remaining boys, they were scared for their lives.
"Serpents, in my territory huh?" Before they could run away, Calum had knocked one down with the bat, killing him instantly once his head hit the ground. The boy with the gun was stuck, he couldn't move. Calum snatched the gun out of his hand, opened the bullet compartment and smirked. "Oh look, you had one more left, it was just jammed. I shouldn't let it go to waste." He shoved it back in the gun, and shot the boy in the head, no question. Calum was about to leave, when he saw a white Range Rover pull off in an instant.
He heard movement and sighed in annoyance. The boy who he hit with a rock was slowly getting up. "Now, what am I to do with you?" Calum asked. The boy backed up against the wall as Calum approached him with the gun still in hand. "P-Please, don't kill me. I d-don't even w-want to k-kill people, I didn't k-kill y-your boys Mr. H-Hood." He said. "I know you didn't, you're too much of a coward to kill. I can smell fear on you from a mile away." Calum said.
The boy opened his mouth to speak and Calum punched him in the face, again, gun still in hand. He did this multiple times before he heard something crack, assuming it was his nose. When he pulled the boy up, his face was bloody and bruised. "Please, please let me go." The boy sobbed. "I really shouldn't. I should let you end up like your fucking friends for even daring to come on the south side. But i'll let you go, so you can tell whoever the fuck that was in that white Range Rover, that if they keep sending your kind over here, they'll end up like your pathetic friends. I better not catch you anywhere near here again, do you understand?"
The boy shook his head, and Calum threw him to the ground, and watched as he struggled to get up and run away. Ashton finally appeared, sighing at the sight. "Still thinking about coming out of retirement?" Ashton said. "Not even close, but you're gonna need all the help you can get."
———
Calum was beat. He ended up training for 8 hours on his day off. But the one thing that actually made him excited to be done with training, was picking up Ariana. He was thinking about it all day, except for when he was killing those two boys.
Calum was trying to hide the wide grin on his face as he approached the station. He pulled out his phone and saw that he was actually a whole hour early. He rolled his eyes at himself. But no one would know except for him, so he was fine with that. He sat down on the bench and plugged in his earphones as he waited for the eight o'clock train.
Not a moment too soon, after that long hour, as he quickly jumped out of his seat once the train arrived. He waited and waited as loads of people got off, but none of them being his beautiful yet annoying new roommate. He figured she'd missed the train, and sat down as he waited another hour.
But the same thing happened when that hour passed, and the next train came and she didn't appear with her alluring smile.
After three train stops, and Calum getting more and more upset and worried, he took out his phone. He went to dial her number, and swore under his breath as it dawned on him that he didn't have it. Considering she was on the North side, he didn't think she was in danger, so he wasn't worried, and if you ask him, he wouldn't admit it, but he was definitely hurt
