Meet You There | Calum Hood

42

How was she supposed to do this? That was the only thought repeating Holland's mind as she dragged herself out of bed at five fifteen and trudged to her shower. The hot water did little to wake her up or dull the ache that had completely consumed her body.

She was in pain, and it wasn't from her training.

She was so lost in her head she didn't even realize she was crying until her chest shook from her sobs. She dragged in another breath, struggling to manage even that and completely lost as to how she was going to be able to function during practice let alone class that day. How was she supposed to go on when it felt like a giant part of herself was just gone.

Maybe she was being a bit overdramatic, she'd only been with him a few months but he was already so intrinsically wound into every aspect of her life and she wanted removing him from it by choice. That part of all this left a bitter taste on her tongue that didn't dissipate even as she dressed herself, grabbed her gym bag and forced her feet to move towards the team gym.

The heavy metal door clanged behind her and Holland's cheeks burned as the meme era of her team turned to stare at her.

She dropped her bag with everyone else's and ditched her track pants and slides, taking her spot on the mat and beginning to stretch while pretending not to notice that all of her teammates were staring at her.

Her face was probably puffy and blotched but their was nothing she could do about it now.

She led warm ups, her voice shaking and her eyes trained on the wall in front of her. She knew if she met any of the other girls eyes, especially Lexi's, she'd melt into a puddle of tears and she couldn't do that. She had to be a leader.

The dull burn in her muscles was welcomed. It gave her mind something to focus on that wasn't Calum and her broken heart. Her face remained stoic as she went through their circuit, hoping to just make it through  her practice without completely falling apart.

With their warm up complete Holland followed her rotation to beam. She liked beam and she had been working on perfecting her Arabian mount.

She got a running start and hit the springboard propelling herself into the spin and landing the mount perfectly, steadying herself on the apparatus. She breathed a small sigh of relief before dismounting and preparing to run it again.

She continued this way through beam and floor, the two apparatuses they were working that morning before going through her cool down exercises.

By the time practice was over she was almost wishing for another hour just to prevent the interrogation she knew she was bound to hear from Margot and Lexi in class. She lingered longer in the shower than usual, hoping that by dragging it out the girls would either head for the lecture hall without her or that when they got there they wouldn't have time to question her before the professor began their class for the day.

"Holland! Holland, slow down! You're gonna have to talk to us eventually!" Lexi said, hurrying to catch up to Holland after she had breezed past the waiting girls and made a bee line in the direction of their lecture.

"C'mon Holls, what gives? We're your friends we can see you're hurting and we just want to check on you." Margot added.

"I'm fine." Holland replied, her words short and harsh but she couldn't have this conversation right now. She had managed to lock away her emotions about the whole situation and if she were to try to talk about it she was certain she'd break down and she wasn't exactly keen on having the whole quad see that. Especially since the tabloid article had led to an increase in her being recognized and no doubt her being a hot mess in public would get the ball rolling on the breakup news.

Fuck.

She felt the first tear roll across the top of her cheek and quickly wiped it away. She couldn't do this, not today.

"I'll see you guys at lunch." She called softly, turning away from her intended destination and heading back towards her dorm instead.

Margot and Lexi both called out for her but she didn't let it deter her. She needed to be alone.

•

Calum felt lost. He had been so sure about Holland, things had felt so right. The worst part of all of it was that he knew if her coach hadn't caught wind of their relationship he believed with everything in him that they would still be together. They were only force to breakup because of the tabloid article and the supposed way she had been slacking off.

Had he really been holding her back? Sure she had been hanging out with him in times she had told him she would normally be putting extra hours in in the gym but she still spent at least four hours in the gym every day she was in town, and the days she had been on the road with him she'd conditioned and worked out with the boys trainer. It wasn't like she was sitting home on the couch. It didn't make sense to him and he harbored a great deal of resentment towards her coach for making it a him or her team thing that he felt it hadn't needed to be.

He checked in daily with Lexi but it was hard. Holland's friend was obviously loyal to Holland so he didn't get much out of her. He was surprised to learn however that Lexi didn't seem to be having much success with Holland either.

Knowing Holls history with her health, that fact concerned him most of all.

He hated this. This feeling of complete helplessness. He was still tied up with band obligations when all he wanted to do was fly home and make her talk to him. He just needed to know she was okay. He needed to se wit for himself.

Her showcase was the next day and he'd been contemplating whether on not to go. Ultimately, after a few glasses of jack and coke he'd had the courage to make the decision to go, preordering a ticket to her showcase.

He hoped she wouldn't be mad to see him there. He just couldn't pass up the opportunity when he knew it might be his only shot at figuring out some way to save them. He didn't have it in his heart to believe that they were really done for good. If there was a chance at all he had to try.

An: oh boy ☹️ this is sad times for them

What's next?

How's Holland going to react to Cal being at her showcase?

Will he even have the guts to go?

How will the showcase go?

We'll find out in two days 😘
I love you guys!
Thanks for reading,
Sav 🖤