Shaving Cream (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 5 - Pizza

Eventually the teenage girls stopped screaming, as if they had gotten tired of it. That was until Calum Hood decided to waltz out back into the main room to check the state of it.

They started screaming once again and 10 times louder. Sick of it, I decided to see if I could find a way out or a quieter room. If they weren’t going to let me out, they had to at least let me sit somewhere quiet.

Finally finding a small woman’s bathroom, I sat on the floor before reaching to grab my phone out of my pocket. As I grabbed it, a crinkled photo from being folded up, fell out of my pocket tumbling to the ground.

Knowing what it was, I picked it up slowly before unfolding it and clenching my eyes shut. A tear escaped my left eye before I opened my eyes and looking at the photo.

My eyes had gone blurry by now and I found it hard to bear looking at this even though I should treasure this photo.

I was always told I looked very similar to my mum, and looking at the photo of her again made me realise once again how similar we actually were.

My mum saved me from the inevitable fate she had received of dying. I wish we would have detected it earlier, but she had no idea until she started feeling unwell.

My mum had been diagnosed with breast cancer late last year, but by the time it was detected, it was too late to start any live saving treatments. They could only lengthen her lifespan, but my mum, Angela, protested that was no point wasting our family’s money on a treatment that wouldn’t be able to save her at this point and that they should just treasure the time left.

The picture was of her just before she got sick. We were on the Flamenco Beach in Puerto Rico for a holiday which was well deserved. We were all so naive that everything was about to come crashing down on us.

While silently crying to myself, I felt the presence of another person come and sit down next to me, who I looked up to see was Calum Hood.

“What do you want”, I questioned while sniffling and looking back down, not wanted to show my tear streaked face. Realising I was in the woman’s bathroom, I wondered what the hell he was doing here.

 “Also, this is the woman’s bathroom, what do you want,” I added on smiling at the situation.

“I heard crying so I wanted to see if they were okay, which turned out to be you. By the way, sorry for running off, those girls freak me out. It is awesome they are fans and all but whoa!” he exclaimed chuckling.

I let myself smile once again. Composing myself, I decided to ask the question I had been wondering for a while now.

“So… when will I finally get my pizza, I’m kind of hungry” I asked. As if on cue, my stomach grumbled before Calum burst out laughing at the coincidence.

“I actually have no idea, but here have some of mine” he chortled before passing over a box of meat lovers pizza. Yes, my favourite I thought before I grabbed a big slice and munched on it. Hang on, why did he get his before me?!

We were soon talking just about random things. He never asked about what had upset me, which I appreciated greatly. Eventually, we left the bathroom to find that I was free to leave with my pizza. They decided to only cook it when I was able to leave, therefore it being hot and fresh when I received it which I was happy about.

I bid farewell to Calum knowing I most likely wouldn’t see him again, but I was still appreciative of how he helped me.

Hopping in my car, I started the ignition and decided to take the long way home to clear my mind. That was definitely an eventful two hours.

****

“OMFG THERE YOU ARE YOU BITCH!” Cat exclaimed running to the door as I arrived back home after the drive from the Pizza Parlour.

 “Where the hell where you, I was waiting for two hours, what the hell happened”, questions were thrown as me as I placed the two boxes of pizza on the table and went to the kitchen to grab two plates.

Cat was obviously pissed that I was ignoring her, but I would explain all while eating glorious pizza. Motioning her to sit, I went and grabbed the water before plugging in my phone to charge as it had run out earlier. I looked up to the side wall to see more sketches by that were added ,meaning she had been drawing while I was gone.

Drawing was her biggest hobby and she drew whenever and whatever she could. She actually had stacks of drawings in her room.

I had tried to tell her that instead of being unhappy and going to University to learn law, she should study art, but every time she said no and she had to fulfil one of her parents last wishes.

Cat was eagerly seated as I pulled my chair out to sit down. I braced myself for the reaction I knew was coming from what she would hear.

“I met Calum Hood and was trapped in a Pizza Parlour with him for two hours”, I blurted out before covering my ears.

Suddenly, all I could hear was Cat going OMG and running around like a madwoman. Let’s just say 5SOS was her current favourite band as she loved their style of music they made, and that they weren't like a boyband. Fearing about what would happen if I mentioned Luke, I kept my mouth shut.

It was going to be a while before she calmed down, so I grabbed a slice of pizza and started munching on it.

Soon, she came back to sit down but she was still hyped.

“So, what happened?” she asked curiously. I explained everything in detail and by the time I finished she was in awe.

“Damn, I am so coming to get pizza with you from now on”, she stated in a defeated tone but then started laughing before digging in to dinner like I previously had.

We finished dinner and had a laugh before we decided to start cleaning up the kitchen and the table. The most annoying thing about owning your own place was the cleaning. I would never survive living alone if I constantly had to do this shit!

Heading to my room, I grabbed the phone to call my dad, like I did twice a week. I saw him less now as he lived an hour away, meaning it was quite a way to visit, but I still did often.

Punching in the numbers, I waited patiently until he answered.

“Rose! I thought I would be waiting all night!” he laughed. He liked to try to be a comedian a lot to hide the pain of losing mum.

“Haha never dad, I don’t forget our calls ever do I?” I asked knowing the answer.

I had my usual conversation with dad about how my job was going and my applications were for Uni. And as always, he asked me if I had a boyfriend yet. I was asked this question every phone call which was funny once, but now just plain annoying.

“Yes of course!” I said with sarcasm, “no dad no. You need to stop asking!” I said in a bored tone.

“Haha, well you know the drill when you do get one! They better watch out. I have to go, the footy game is soon. See you on the weekend when you come down. Bye love!” he said then hung up when I replied with a bye.

Shaking my head, I walked over to Catherine who was busy sketching a picture of a perfect beach. I proposed the idea of a movie to her, which sounded great after the drama of heaps that had happened today. This was probably one of the busiest days all year. I was exhausted and ready to plop on a couch and watch a movie.

Agreeing, she got the popcorn and I turned on the TV to put on the Maze Runner.

Just as I was about to change to the DVD player, I noticed a picture of myself on the screen in the pizza parlour with Calum Hood.

Shit.