hey rockstar

seven ; lucky

CALUM

It takes well over an hour for us to finish the rest of the papers, Tenley leaving half of the essay questions for tomorrow. Despite her tired eyes I feel the need to stay with her for longer, to talk all through the night and watch the sunrise. As she packs her bag up she watches me with soft eyes, shadowed in the classroom lighting.

"Okay, shot in the dark but...do you maybe wanna hang out longer?"

"Is this a never ending date?" She smiles brightly at me as we leave the room, shutting the light off and closing the door behind us. Her steps are slow as we walk close together, her hair tickling my shoulder. "What are your plans?"

"Can I say it's a surprise?" She gives me a look as she holds up her own keys. "Oh yeah uh, we can drop a car off?"

"Sure, mine?"

"Uh, well my house is closer, and I'm driving my mum's car right now..."

"Right, so I'll follow you to your house, and then-"

"Oh god, my mum is gonna wanna meet you," I run my hand over my head, she always gets so excited to meet new people. And I know that Liz definitely texted her so she's probably waiting up for me anyways.

"I mean, that's fine by me. Unless you don't want her to..."

"No, no, it's okay she's just a hugger," Tenley shrugs as she gets in her car, smiling at me. "Drive safe?"

"Always."

The whole drive home I had to think quickly about what we were going to do. I don't remember the last time I've gone on a date, especially a date in Australia with someone I've practically just met. What is going on with me?

I pull into the driveway, taking a deep breath as Tenley pulls up behind me, getting out of her car with a huge smile on her face. I can see my family in the windows, rushing around the living room as if to look more natural - like they weren't just spying on us. I roll my eyes as we step in the doorway, all three of them fake watching the tv.

"Calum you're home! And you've brought a friend!" Mum is the first up, approaching Tenley with her arms wide open. She greets her with her arms just as wide and a smile as she kicks off her sandals.

"I'm Tenley, you must be Callum's mum," there's a twinkle in her eyes as she pulls away from Tenley - the only girl I've ever brought home to hug her back.

"Joy, call me Joy," Tenley nods as Mali walks to the door, ignoring me as I try to break through the small group. "You're even prettier than I thought you would be.

"I'm Mali-Koa," she gives a wave as she keeps a bit of a distance, still keeping us trapped in the doorway. "What are you guys up to tonight? Causing mischief?"

"I'm not really sure. Calum said it's a surprise so..." the three women raise their eyebrows at me.

"Girls, come on. Let the guy live," dad echos out of the living room, shaking his head at his wife and daughter. "Tenley, I'm David."

"Nice to meet you!" I grip her hand quickly, practically dragging her to my room. She laughs as I practically slam the door behind her. "They're so cute. And definitely didn't know our dads had the same name."

"I kinda forgot about it honestly," I shrug as I hand over a few blankets, stuffing a speaker and two hoodies into a backpack.

"What in the-"

"Top secret," I throw the bag over my shoulder, turning to look at her - a blush on her cheeks as she holds three blankets in her hands. Leaning over the blankets I kiss her softly, regretting not doing it at the school. On our way out of the house we can hardly move fast enough, Mali laughing at us as I shout answers back to my mum.

"I think they're sweet," when we got into Tenleys car I moved the seat back shocked by how close it was to the steering wheel.

"How short are you Jesus Christ, I think I just broke my hip," she rolls her eyes at me as we pull away from the house. "No seriously, do you just like to sit an inch from the steering wheel or?"

"Wow, original," I can see her holding back laughter as I drive down the streets of sydney. Watching the horizon get closer and closer. "Where are we going?"

I stay quiet, mostly because the only place I could think of is the beach, and that might be the lamest date ever. But I think I can make it all worth it.

The drive takes a little longer than expected, but it doesn't seem to bother Tenley as she watches the city passby with the radio as her soundtrack. Her smile is soft but still on her lips and her eyes are wide and excited as we stop, the headlights shining brightly into nothing but the bushes. Her face falters but not for long as she questions where we are.

"Grab the blankets," she hops out of her own car grabbing the blankets from the back seat of the car. I meet her around the front end and take her hand, walking ahead of her as I navigate the path I used to walk every summer.

"Are you going to murder me?"

"No, i'm not going to murder you," I roll my eyes playfully, despite her not seeing it she still lets out a laugh, gripping my hand a littlle tighter as the sound of the ocean gets louder. Suddenly my feet sink into sand and I can see the waves rolling onto the beach in the bright moonlight.

"Oh wow, it's beautiful," I nod, dropping her hand carefully, centerng us in the sand to lay out the blankets. She sits carefully on the blankets, kicking off her shoes and looking up at me with her big brown eyes. "How did you know about this beach?"

"I don't know, me and Luke used to come here all the time in the summer. I don't know how I just remembered it actually. I haven't been here for...four years at least. Probably more."

"You must love it here," I nod remembering how we would sneak out in the earlier mornings or late nights when we couldn't sleep. We used to come out here to just talk, a couple of our songs were actually written on this beach. And I still love those songs. I wish I had a place like this back home.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, relaxing in the breeze coming from the water and the soft smell of salt before we say anything.

"Full disclosure, my mum and my sister might have looked you up..." she turns slightly to look at me, an eyebrow raised. "Like on the internet, they were googling you and stuff."

"Oh..."

I can barely hear her as she whispers into the wind. I debate on whether I should admit to the things that they had told me, or the fact that I spent so many hours this week discussing her to Michael and Luke, and looking through various social media accounts. When she looks at me again her eyes are soft, almost encouraging me to get my stupid questions off my chest. I felt my chest tell me that she wouldn't tell me about them unless I asked, so I bit the bullet.

"Mali said you were in a car accident when you were in school? Back in Canada?"

"Yeah uh, we were being stupid and fucked up," i hold my breath to see if she will tell me the story, "the summer everyone turned 16 we went to this beautiful lake back home. We spent the whole day and had the best time. On the way home our friend..he crossed the highway completely and drove into the barrier. We didn't know at the time but he was trying to kill himself..."

"Oh my god, ten-"

"It's okay I've told the story a hundred times," she clears her throat to finish the story. ''The rest of us survived somehow. I was hurt the most because I was in the front. I passed out and when I woke up I was in an ambulance and my entire body hurt so bad. Our friend, Ashley, her parents tried to press charges on the family so we had to do all the interviewing stuff."

"That must've been awful. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, i'm okay now. I got back to dancing by Christmas but... it wasn't the same you know?"

"Well, yeah, that's a traumatic surgery, I can't believe that happened when you were 16," she nods, slumping into her knees. "You're so brave."

"No, I'm just lucky."