Meet You There | Calum Hood

32

Holland was exhausted as she dropped her bag in her apartment and fell on her bed.

It was just after nine AM local time but she'd already been up for hours after a sleepless night. She set her phone alarm and snuggled under her blankets, wishing she had Calum's body lying next to her to keep her warm.

•

"Holland!" Lexi said, throwing open her bedroom door what Holland was sure was only moments later.

"Let me sleep, Lex. I'm exhausted."

"Holls, you've been passed out since you got home, we have practice in forty five minutes."

Holland groaned and buried herself deeper beneath her covers. If she'd really been asleep that long why did she still feel so completely and utterly give out.

She knew she couldn't be late though so she rolled herself out of bed and rifled through her drawers in search of a leotard and shorts to slip over it for the walk across campus.

She found what she was looking for and slipped into them, sliding into a pair of sandals as well while grabbing her bag and following after Lexi who had waited for her.

"So how was your break?" Lexi asked, clearly intrigued at how things had gone with Calum.

"It was....magical." Holland told her.

"So you guys fucked." Lexi laughed and Holland playfully hit her, her eyes widening from Lexi's crassness.

"He told me he loved me." Holland admitted after a moment, her cheeks flush and a wide grin on her face.

"Shut up!" Lexi squealed as Holland placed a finger up to her mouth in a hushing motion.

"Don't be so loud."

"Holls, no one knows what we're talking about. Besides, Cal came to the tailgate and no one set that slip, you guys are fine."

"Yeah, yeah I guess you're right."

"Now come on, you know Coach Waller's rule. Fifteen minutes early or don't come at all." Lexi reminded, holding the door open for her to pass through as they headed in to the gym, dropping their bags and beginning to stretch out with their teammates.

As they completed their stretches and their practice began Holland couldn't help but notice how shaky she felt. She chocked it up to her early start this morning and the fact that she was basically just now waking up and tried to push through her drills and routines.

She downed water between apparatuses, trying to put on a strong face and set the precedent for the rest of her team, that was her job as captain after all.

She suspected it must be working as no one seemed the wiser to the way she was struggling. She completed her floor rotation and uneven bars, though she did drop during a grip change which earned her a few curious glances.

She made it through vault and on to beam. Her mount went fine, the flipping that she did during it however, made her dizzy and she stumbled once she was on, her hands reaching out to her sides as she tried to gain her balance.

She righted herself but was quickly overwhelmed with the feeling of falling, before everything went black.

•

Calum felt a bit perplexed as he stared at his phone. He knew Holland's flight had gotten in safe because he had tracked the flight. What he didn't know was why she hadn't texted him since that morning and why his three texts to her had gone unanswered.

She'd never ignored him before and while he wanted to believe that that was still true and that there was valid reason for her silence, he hesitated to think about what that reason might be.

He knew she'd had a practice this afternoon and had probably been tired. He hoped that explained her absence from his notification and decided not to grow too concerned until the morning.

He dropped his phone into the lock box with the other boys as they headed for stage and tried to put his worries and feelings of missing the girl he loved aside as he waited for his cue.

He loved the roar of the crowd, it always sent chills running through his body and served as an almost out of body experience nightly for him. It didn't seem real. Any of it really. He couldn't believe he was here. He couldn't believe this was his life.

He was often struck by this kind of though and maybe one day all of it would become normal but there was something to be said for constantly being blown away as he came on stage each night.

He took his place next to his brothers and they played through their set. He lost himself in their music and interacting with their fans, it took him over half the set to realize he was searching their faces for Holland's. That information shook him a bit, he couldn't remember a time he'd ever felt that way about someone, then again he'd pretty much written love off as a scam before her, so there was that.

He was a sweaty mess by the time they finished their set and their guest appearance with the headliner and were able to hit the showers.

"Hey, Ash?" He asked, hastening his steps to catch up to his friend.

"Yeah, mate?"

"If I haven't heard from Holls since her flight landed...that's weird right? I'm trying it to worry but the more I think about it the more I'm genuinely worried something's wrong."

"I'm sure it's fine, Cal. She had a long day and probably went to sleep, plus she may have texted or something while we were onstage."

"Well, I guess that's true." He said. "Guess I'll check once I clean up. I smell like ass."

Ashton laughed in agreement as they entered the arenas bathroom to wash up.

When he was clean, smelling heavily of the body wash Holland had told him she loved the scent of so much, fuck even his body wash was making him think of her now, he found his way to the green room and collected his phone back from their lock box.

He didn't have any new texts or call from Holland, there was however a new Instagram message from Lexi.

LexiNash: Cal! There's been an accident. Please call me as soon as you can. I have Holland's phone so just call it.

He read and reread the message over and over again until Michael called out to him. "You good?"

He broke out of his trance and showed his friend the message before frantically finding Holland's contact, rushing towards the door and waiting for the phone to ring.

An: do you think Holls is okay?

Let me know!

I love you!
Sav 🖤

PS: please read Sprinting_Ginger 's stories if you don't already. She's an amazing  write and my best friend 🖤