Meet You There | Calum Hood

36

Calum's pulse raced, barely contained within his skin as he introduced himself to Holland's mother. Amy Mayfield had the same striking features and golden blonde hair as her daughter though hers was peppered with flecks of grey, telling of her forty odd years of life.

"Hi, Calum! Come on in, Aaron and Evan are around here somewhere." She told him, a warm smile on her face as she welcomed him into her home.

Some of the nerves Calum had been feeling disappeared but he was still on edge as he stepped through the entry way followed closely by Holland behind him.

"Holls, do you wanna show Calum your room and put your bags down?" Amy asked and Holland blushed, nodding and moving past Calum. She took his hand and directed him up the stairs and into the first room on the right.

"Is it gonna be okay for us to stay in the same room?" He asked, a bit surprised as he'd expected to be shown the guest room.

"Yeah, we don't have any extra beds at the moment, my grandparents are in town for the holiday, they're just at the store now so I'm afraid you're stuck with me, Mr. Hood. That gonna be an issue?" She asked, a smirk covering her face.

"Not at all." He said with a grin, his hand grabbing around the top of her thigh and pulling her against him. He dipped his head to kiss her softly.

Holland smiled as they pulled away and squeezed his hand.

"You ready for this?" She asked him.

"Probably not but I don't have a choice now." He laughed nervously.

"You'll be fine. Come on." She said, urging him forward and back down the stairs. She led him into the kitchen, where her mother stood chopping vegetables for, Calum assumed, the meal tomorrow. He didn't know much about the American holiday other than it's rather cruel inception but he knew a feast accompanied it and he was looking forward to partaking in that at least.

"So Calum, it's really good to meet you. Holland hasn't been sharing many details other than telling us you existed."

"To be fair you guys have been out of the country!" Holland defended, her face taking on a reddened hue.

"Small details." Her mother dismissed. "So Calum, what do you do?"

"I'm a musician." He told her slowly, watching closely to gauge her reaction.

"Ah, what kind of musician."

"I'm in a band, we're called Five Seconds of Summer, it's like, rock influenced pop."

"I see." Amy replied, a smile that Calum could tell was forced, on her face.

He pursed his lips but kept quiet as Holland jumped to his defense.

"They've had three number one albums in the US." She praised and Calum squeezed her hand to show his appreciation.

"That's lovely." Amy told him, though she still seemed unimpressed which was fine. He'd dealt with difficult parents before and he was sure with time he could win her over.

The conversation was interrupted when two males he assumed were Holland's dad and brother walked through the back door.

"Dad!" Holland squealed, running across the kitchen and into her Dad's arms.

"Dad, Cal. Cal, dad." She said, waving her hands in gesture between them as she introduced them.

Calum held his hand out for a shake and greeted her dad, Aaron,  as he asked Cal to call him.

"And Calum this is Evan, but you can just ignore him, that's what I try to do." She said with a roll of her eyes as she ruffled her younger brother's hair.