Beginnings • c.h

Chapter Thirty Three

Chapter Thirty Three

Calum POV

I sat there in silence as Annika finished retelling me her past. My brain just didn’t seem to know how to function, I just sat there and stared wide-eyed at Anni as tear after tear slipped down her cheek. I think she forgot that I was there, too caught up in remembering her relationship with Ashton.

Whatever I thought it was, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Ashton was the one to take her virginity, I knew that already, but I certainly didn’t realise that he had cheated on her. Anni stared unseeingly ahead of her as she concluded.

“I felt broken, I felt like I wasn’t human anymore. It felt like everyone could breathe underwater fine, but I just seemed to be drowning. Only after months of not seeing or hearing from Ashton, did I finally start to feel human again. But I could never forgive him for what he did to me. He took something from me that I can’t have back, and I think that is what hurts the most.”

I twitch, wanting to reach out and wipe the tears off of her cheeks, to be the one to comfort her and tell her that everything would be fine, but I didn’t. I don’t know why I didn’t. Anni didn’t seem to miss my small movement, her eyes finally focusing back on reality and staring at me, biting her lip.

I opened my mouth to say something, but no words would come out. Anni stares at me with a broken look on her face, and she is the first one to say anything.

“You don’t have to say anything, I get it.” She mutters, looking down and pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. I furrow my eyebrows.

“What are you talking about?” Anni lets out a sigh, and fiddles with the hem of her shorts.

“You don’t want to be with me, I mean, who would be with all this fucking emotional baggage I have.” She spits the last bit of the statement. I almost let out a laugh at what she said.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I exclaim, “If you think I don’t want to be with you, just because you’ve had struggles in the past, you don’t know me.”

“But why do you want to be with me! What could you possibly see in me that I can’t?” She says, a new wave of tears falling from her eyes. This time I don’t hesitate to lean forward and catch them, but even with all ten fingers, I couldn’t catch all of them.

“Because,” I whisper, “Why would I want to be with someone who doesn’t challenge me? Who doesn’t make me question every thought, every movement? I want to kiss someone so hard that when I pull away and ask them fucking two plus two, they would say my name in answer. I want to kiss someone like we have forever. And right now, that person is you.”

Anni stares at me dumbfounded; her blue eyes wide with shock at my monologue. When she doesn’t say anything, I say,

“Anni, I want to be with you.”

Anni’s eyes soften slightly, and she throws herself at me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck. Pressing her face to my neck, I feel her body shaking, but I can’t tell whether she is crying or not. The sound she was making were unintelligible, my neck muffling them.

I hold her for a few more seconds until she pulls back. When I look her, her smile is dazzling. The contrast between her stunning smile and shining tears is something beyond beautiful. I don’t even know how I possibly got this girl in my life.

“You’re a dork, you know that?” she laughs, wiping the remaining tear trails off her face. I shake my head, and chuckle lightly.

“Are you serious, Annika? I make a speech that freaking awesome, and that is the first thing you say to me?” I growl playfully, pulling her to me once again. She lets out a loud squeal as I poke her sides, tickling lightly.