dedicated to prettyhemmings bc Sex Education is my life omfg
~*~
The doorbell finally rang and Rylin opened the door, since Hallie was still upstairs. Rylin gave Calum the "don't-get-my-best-friend-pregnant-or-I-will-annihilate-you" speech, which intimidated him to the fullest extent.
Hallie finally ran down the stairs (only tripping once). She waved bye to Rylin and dragged Calum out the door, literally.
"You look lovely tonight, Hal."
She laughed and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please. I didn't know what to wear, since you so kindly neglected to tell me where we were going."
"You'll find out when we get there," Calum replied, a small smirk gracing his features.
And the rest of the car ride was spent in a comfortable silence, the two friends content with the other's presence.
~*~
Calum lied. When they got there, Hallie still had no idea where they were. Calum had parked the car on the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Hallie opened the passenger side door, and stepped out of the car. She could faintly make out the joyous sounds of screaming children and the smell of funnel cake.
"Calum, where are we?"
He simply grabbed Hallie's hand and led her closer to the noises she was hearing as she left the car.
After a few minutes of walking, their destination came into view: a carnival.
"Surprise," Calum laughed. Hallie forced a smile; in all honesty, she hated carnivals and amusement parks. She wasn't about to tell Calum and ruin their date, though.
They approached the entrance and Calum payed for their tickets. When they finally walked in, an overwhelming aroma of funnel cake and popcorn hit them like a wall.
"Where do you want to go first?" Calum inquired. Hallie contemplated for a minute before answering.
"Can we get a funnel cake?" she asked sheepishly. Calum chuckled and grabbed her hand, leading her to the line for the funnel cakes.
Calum studied her as she ate the delicious snack. Hallie had a very routine way of eating he concluded (at least when she was eating funnel cake). She would break off a piece of the cake, using only her first two fingers and then slightly stick out her tongue and open her mouth, placing the part of the snack that she had previously ripped off on her tongue. She would then let the food sit in her mouth for a few seconds before diligently chewing it, and finish up by licking the excess powdered sugar off of her fingers. Calum felt extremely accomplished for figuring this out (and then he realized that this was extremely stalker-ish and stopped feeling so proud).
"Alright, Cal. Where to next?" she questioned, wiping her fingers off on her shorts and standing up from the bench.
Calum's eyes scanned the park before landing on the biggest, most terrifying contraption Hallie had ever seen. He didn't say anything, just grabbed her hand and led her in the direction of the roller coaster.
Hallie felt like she was going to have a panic attack. She wasn't going to let Calum know that she had a fear of roller coasters, so she was going to have to tough it out. But this machine looked like it was conjured up from the deepest pits of Hell. The cars shot out backwards, straight into a loop, did a few more corkscrews and shot straight up. When it reached the top of the track, the cars plummet back in the direction it had previously come from, repeating everything on the track yet again, only the cars were facing forward this time.
Calum insisted that they sit in the front car because "it was more fun that way," though Hallie seriously doubted that. It was soon their turn, much to her dismay. They took their seats and Hal tightened the seat belt until it physically could no go any tighter. She grabbed Calum's hand and squeezed her eyes shut equally as tight.
The ride started, but she did not scream. She heard Calum's shouts of joy, but she could not make any noise. She was terrified. Hallie was 100% sure that she was 5 seconds away from death. She was remembering the last words she said to her parents and Rylin, wishing that she could go back and tell them how much she loved them before she was gone forever, but then the ride was over.
They undid their seat belts and leisurely made their way out of the Ride from Hell (that's what Hallie was calling it at least). Calum was rambling about how awesome the ride was, but Hallie was just focused on finding a trash can; she was definitely going to puke.
She finally spotted one and sprinted over to it, abandoning Calum in the middle of his sentence. She threw up into the trash can and prayed that Calum didn't see her. She put her hands on the sides of the trash can and pushed herself up, slowly lifting her head up as well. Calum stood across from her, smiling at her with pity.
"I guess the funnel cake was a bad idea," he suggested with a slight smile.
"If you were considering kissing me, I would strongly suggest against it now," she tried lightening up the situation with awkward laughter but ended up bursting into tears. She was just so mortified. Crying wasn't making her feel any better, but she couldn't help it. Hallie was never like this. She never let anyone see her weaknesses. But right now, she just wanted to sink into the ground and disappear.
Calum waited and watched her sob quietly. He didn't really know what to do. He stood with his hands shoved deep into his pockets and awkwardly rocked back and forth onto his heels. He was awful at dealing with crying people, and this took him completely by surprise. "Oh, god," he thought, "this was the worst idea in the world."
After about 5 minutes, Hallie's head snapped up. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were still wet, but she was no longer crying. She coughed, clearing her throat, and looked towards the ground.
"If you don't mind, I would like to go home please," Hallie politely requested, pretending as if nothing had just happened. Calum nodded and walked in front of her, leading the way back to his car.
Hallie's personality towards Calum had taken a complete 180. She was acting like the girl he had encountered on the football field. She was quiet and closed off and Calum felt as if he was sitting next to a complete stranger. He realized that she was embarrassed but she really didn't need to be. Calum was never going to judge her, and he still had a crush on her. If anything, his feelings for her had heightened now that he saw that she had a weakness, that she wasn't as fearless as she let people believe.
They drove to Hallie's house in silence. Hallie stared out the window throughout the entire drive and Calum took his eyes off the road to analyze her every few minutes. When Calum pulled into the driveway, Hallie unbuckled her seat belt and jumped out of the car.
"Thank you, Calum. I'm sorry," she stated vaguely, with an embarrassed look adorning her features. He didn't get a chance to reply before she slammed the door shut and ran into her house.
As Calum made his way home, he thought about Hallie. She was a mystery and Calum couldn't help but want to solve her. He wanted to figure her out more badly than anything before. But even though he had an undying urge to know her, he couldn't help but take tonight as a sign. Things didn't work out for a reason. Calum was convinced that he was never going to get over Gretchen. He thought that she was the one for him. Nobody would ever be better than her, even though, in the back of his mind, he knew that Hallie already was.
~*~
HONESTLY WE FEEL HORRIBLE ABOUT NOT UPDATING THIS. WE DON'T REALLY HAVE AN EXCUSE. WE JUST GENUINLELY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE. I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO WRITE THIS FOR MONTHS I JUST REALLY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY, SO I APOLOGIZE THAT IT'S SO SHORT AND BAD. THANKS FOR READING EVEN THOUGH WE SUCK AT UPDATING. WE LOVE YOU GUYS.
-LENNON
ps- we live in America so I'm really sorry if we call it soccer or any other American terms ok ok bye
