I open my eyes and find myself in Calum and I's bedroom. I turn on my right side and am greeted with his dark brown eyes and ruffled hair. His arm is still wrapped around my body, and our feet are tangled together.
"Good morning, J," Calum smiled at me. I love when he calls me by a nickname. My name is Jessica and usually the nick nicknames I get called are Jess or Jessie, but J is unique and different; it gives me butterflies in my stomach. The way his lips and his facial features move when he says "J" makes me want to curl up into a ball every time and cry.
Calum is a beautiful, kind, sexy man, what else a girl could want in a boyfriend?
"Morning," I mumble out. My eyes are still half closed.
----
Calum and I met in middle school. He had just recently moved to Florida and he was being made fun of for his accent. He moved from Sydney, Australia so his Australian accent was really strong. He also looked Asian, which I later found out that he isn't Asian but Kiwi. Kiwis are people from New Zealand.
Anyway, many people made fun of him and no one would talk to him. One day we were in Gym and these popular jerks who think everyone is head-over-heels for them were making fun of Calum's sneakers. They were dirty and old, ripped and had holes in them. Poor black shoes looked like they had just gone through a tornado. But no one deserves to be bullied for your appearance or for any reason in general.
So I stood up for him. I told those guys off. I walked up to those jocks while they were bullying Cal, and I told them that they shouldn't make fun of how he talked or what he wore.
"You're not far off. Maybe you should stop skipping English and actually go. Oh, wait you're too busy hooking up with Ashley and having a gangbang that hour." I smiled.
It's the truth, before you start telling people they're "fat", "ugly", or even stupid, make sure you are perfect. And as my childhood friend, Hannah Montana used to say, "NOBODY'S PERFECT!"
The three boys stood there, dumbfounded, not knowing I had it in me to stand up to someone, especially them. I was and still am that quite girl that sits in the back of the classroom and minds her own business. To have me stand up to them, well, they were humiliated and astounded.
I asked Calum that day if he wanted to sit at my lunch table with my best friends Dani and Stacy. He gladly accepted. We shared laughs and stories about each other, just like every other day. I found out more about Calum's past in Australia and his family. He has a sister named Mali-koa, and she apparently sings. Calum played soccer, or how he still calls it, "football" in Sydney with his friends. His dream one day is to play the Division One Premier League in Australia.
----
When I was walking home from school I bumped into this kid who had just turned a corner. The first thing I noticed about him was that he had bent down to pick up my books and school work that fell out of my hand.
The second thing I observed about him was that it was Calum. Why was he in my neighborhood? Not that I don't want him to be near me, but I was generally confused as to why he was here.
When he got back up, he, still looking down to the floor, handed me my school items. "Here," he finally spoke, barely above a whisper. Then, he looked up, slowly; as if he were studying my body's every feature before he reached my eyes.
"Calum?" I asked him with a confused facial expression. I knew it was him, but I still had to ask.
"Jessica? What are you doing here? Do you live here?"
"Yeah, my house it right around the corner. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, this is my house," he points to the house that we are standing right in front of. The house that was on sale for the last two months, and it found an owner the in the second month. The house that is right next to mine, and right around the corner from mine.
I've finally come to the conclusion. Calum is my neighbor.
"Oh," is all I say.
We stand in silence for the next minute, which felt more like hours to me. Finally I spoke up, desperate to be home and away from this conversation.
"Well, I'm going to go. Nice seeing ya, Cal."
"You too, Jessica," he said as he started to walk forward and onto the pathway of his house.
I had already made it to the front door of my house, and I was trying to find my house key when I hear someone call me. Ugh, all I want is to go home, eat, go on tumblr until 11pm, then stress about all my homework and studying I have to get done for the next day. Is that so hard?
"Jess! Hey, Jess?" Calum had ran around the corner to the front of my house to ask me a stupid question. "See you tomorrow?"
My head spun around, and saw the cheeky grin plastered on his face. Damn he's cute...What, NO! I will not have another stupid little crush on another guy, no way.
"Yep, tomorrow," I winked at him and pulled the front door open. "Bye, Calum," and with that I shut the door.
I don't want to fall for another guy. I might get hurt, and I don't want that. The truth is I'm scared, scared that if I fall for Calum, he won't catch me or pick me back up again. God, Jessica, get your life in order.
----
Calum and I are already downstairs making breakfast. He decided on making pancakes, even though every time he tries to, he ends up forgetting about them because usually gets distracted with KUWTK that I like to watch in the mornings. What? It's a good show.
But the pancakes might not be the only thing getting ruined today.
