home in houston ✈ c.h.

1: hello houston

“how long is this gonna take, dad?” she asked her father from the back of the car.

“two hours.” her dad patiently replied, still focusing on the road.

she let out a sigh. “okay.” she leaned back her head against the window as she tried to lull herself to sleep by watching the skyscrapers they’re passing by.

she and her father decided to take a long vacation in texas. specifically, in the outskirts of houston where her grandparents lived. both she and her dad have never seen them for so long since the day they moved to texas, so traveling all the way from chicago to  houston to take a break and see them was the best idea.

-

“honey, we’re here.” her dad woke her up after the long two hours of driving from the city to a middle of scenic nowhere.

she let out a little groan as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. she made a squint as the bright sunlight directly struck at her by the car window. she went out of the car and stretched her arms up to shake off the jetlagged and numbed feeling through her whole body.

“randy, is that you?” she heard a voice of an old woman she had never heard in years.

she looked at the direction where she heard the voice, only to see her grandmother approaching them. her face lit up beyond the tired feeling she had. “grandma!” she exclaimed excitingly as she ran up to her and hugged her.

“houston dear, is this really you?” her grandmother held her cheeks and looked at her in an awe. “you’ve grown so much and so beautiful.”

“thanks, grandma.” houston chuckled.

“hey, mom.” houston’s dad greeted her grandmother, a bit of a groan due to carrying their heavy luggages.

“william! your son’s here!” houston’s grandmother yelled, calling out for her husband. not by any minute when her grandfather went out of the door.

“mildred, you don’t have to yell.” william reprimanded in his round and husky voice then his attention suddenly went to his son and granddaughter. “randy? houston? oh my lovely family.” he happily said, pulling them altogether into a huge hug. “honey, you look gorgeous.” he slurred at houston in his texan accent. “how are you, son?” he asked randy.

“pretty good.” randy replied. “but i think i need help with these bags.” he chuckled and they all went into the lovely house, asking one another if how their lives have gone.

-

houston got so bored in her room that all she ever did for the past three hours was listen to music in her phone. it’s already three in the afternoon and she had nothing much to do since they’re in an outskirt, a vast land of nothing but fields, empty roads and streets, ranches, domestic animals, and a few residents. she sighed as she decided to take a walk out of the house, trying to explore the little village. the weather was a bit hot but not steaming and burning hot. she loved it. she loved how the heat touched her skin. she was too sick of the cold atmosphere in chicago and to feel the warmth of texas, she felt good.

she walked on the empty street as she wandered around, seeing houses of similar shape and exterior. she flinched and almost screamed when she felt a little creature bumping on her legs. she looked down to see a little baby goat nudging its head on her boot.

“oh, hello there, little one.” she bended on her knees to pat the cute animal on its head. “where do you live?” she just literally talked to an animal.

“he lives with me.” a male voice spoke up behind her and she looked behind, only to see a tall guy, about six feet in height, with dark hair, and looked more like her age.

“oh.” that’s all she can utter as she stood up straight.

the dark-haired boy walked up to her. “that’s my kid.” he said, a small smile on his face.

“uh…” she fumbled. “ kid?”

“yeah. kid. kid as in baby goat.” he said in his lecturing tone.

“oh. yeah.” she nervously mumbled, twiddling her fingers. she noticed his tattoos on his arms and she found them quite cool. another thing she noticed was that his accent wasn’t the same as the texan’s.

“you seemed like a new face here.” he told her, scanning her from head to toe, which she found a bit uncomforting. “what’s your name?” he asked, looking back at her face.

“uh, uhm…” she had never been that nervous over a stranger. maybe it’s because she didn’t know how to handle texan strangers more than the ones in chicago. “houston.” she said, almost a whisper.

he let out a few chuckles. “i asked for your name, not where you’re living at.” he smiled at her.

“no. my name is houston.” she slowly pointed out.

“oh.” he slurred then laughed at himself. “hello, houston. sorry about that. by the way, i’m calum.” he held out a hand to shake. “calum hood.”

as much as she felt nervous, she still took his hand. that would be rude if she didn’t. “hello, calum. i’m houston beauchamp.” she introduced herself again.

***

an: ok so i think this is a boring chapter but pls understand that this is just like an introduction of the characters. also i would like to point out that most of the setting will be in houston, texas.

p.s. luke, michael, and ashton will barely show up and be mentioned in this story so basically it’s going to be more of just calum and houston

p.p.s. if you like this you can hit the vote thank youuu :)))