Meet You There | Calum Hood

28

Things between Calum and Holland had been a bit tense as she began to see the possible repercussions that could result from someone linking her to Calum, at least before her season and the Olympic team selection.

"I shouldn't have brought it up, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you." He said lowly into her ear. "We've only got so much time together and I shouldn't have killed the mood like that." He told her.

"No, but you're right. I haven't even been thinking about gymnastics, which is strange for me. Maybe coach is right, maybe I am becoming unfocused."

"Aw, come on now Holls, don't say that. You're just taking a few days off. Let's enjoy our time together, but be smart about it, and we'll worry about the rest of it down the road. Okay? Right now the whole world still thinks I'm single." He told her, reminding her the radio interview wouldn't be released until after she had returned to school and her tenuous practice regimen.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It'll all work out anyways. I'll try not to worry." She promised as she leaned up to kiss him.

"I've got soundcheck, you coming?" He asked, gently pushing her shoulder up as he stood, Holland repeatied his actions and nodded to indicate her intentions.

Everyone else that had been in the previously crowded room had departed leaving just them to head towards the stage. Calum pulled the door shut behind them and pressed her against the wall in the hallway, his lips finding hers easily and his hands gripping tightly to her waist.

"Sorry" he said as they pulled away. "I've got to take every opportunity to do that while you're here and I can."

She was blushing hard and he grinned practically ear to ear as he held her hand and led her to the side stage area where she could watch the sound check happen from.

"Should we not be being more discreet?" Holland asked, glancing around at all the crew members and people wandering backstage.

"We don't have to worry about the crew, they all sign NDA's when they're hired. It's just the fans and press." He promised, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

She still felt a bit on edge from their previous discussion but she tried not to let it show on her face. As Calum had said, they only had so much time.

Calum dropped her hand as he was given his bass, climbing the stairs to stage and taking his place as the band began their soundcheck. Holland had never seen a soundcheck before and her curiosity kept her entertained, watching the boys tune, adjust mics and complete a few run throughs for the entire hour.

Calum came off stage and slid his hand immediately back into hers as they headed for the green room to await their call to stage which would be in a few hours.

"I never realized how much prep there is before a show." She told him as he pulled her down next to him on a couch, Michael and Crystal across the room in a similar position, Luke pouring himself a glass of tequila and Ashton disappearing to call his girlfriend.

"Yeah, a lot of people think we just show up and go straight on stage but there's a lot more to it than that." He told her.

"I see that now."

"So, um, I have a question." He said hesitantly and her eyes narrowed as she waited for him to ask.

"I usually call my mum on Friday's, it's morning there and I was gonna give her a ring if you didn't mind and I thought maybe...I don't know. I thought you might like to meet her? It's just through FaceTime but it's probably the best I can do for a while and she's heard so much about y-"

"You talk to your mom about me?" Holland interrupted, a half smile on her face.

"Well, yeah." His eyes shifted to her. "Is that not okay?"