noted → calum hood | #Wattys2015

thirty three

It's a quarter until the clock reads six in the morning when Melanie is awoken by the ringing of her cellphone. "Whaddya want?" She grumbles into the speaker, not even half awake.

"Your note said you would be ready to go at any time. Does that still hold up?"

Melanie sighs and tries to rub some of the sleep from her eyes. "You woke me up, Cal. I'm in my pajamas and I haven't even showered."

"I booked a hotel for us; we'll be there by eleven if we leave within the hour." Cal lets out what can only be described as a giggle. "You can shower then."

Melanie sits up, pulling her hair into a bun with the hair-tie on her wrist. "Give me ten minutes?"

"Of course," Calum obliges. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Melanie hangs up the phone and plugs it back into the charger. She quickly brushes her teeth, only to reenter her room to retrieve her phone once again, along with her single suitcase.

Trudging town the steps, she notices her mother is already up for work and making breakfast in the kitchen. "You're up awfully early."

Melanie drops her suitcase at the bottom stair, but only groans in response to the mishap. She walks to the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water rather than picking the case back up. "Calum decided that we'd leave a day early for the roadtrip, but he decided to inform me while he was on his way to pick me up." She gives her mother a quick hug and goes back to grab the fallen suitcase at the bottom of the stairs. "He'll be here soon; I'm gonna wait outside for him."

"You haven't showered, nor dressed, Melanie."

She sighs. "He insists there's not enough time."

Melanie knew that she would regret spending such little time that morning with her mother before leaving for two months. However, she had previously vowed to call her mother at least once every day just so her mother could ensure that her daughter was doing well.

She sits on her stone-cold front porch, awaiting Calum's arrival. It doesn't take long; he's there within the final minutes of the ten that he was allotted. "Well, well, don't you look glamorous." He chuckles.

Melanie stands and rolls her eyes, giving him a quick side-hug. She couldn't quite shake the thought of how Calum had vaguely sounded like Maleficent when he spoke that.

"You're no better." It's such a lie. Calum's in his dark grey singlet with ripped, black skinnies to match. The fading highlights of his hair poke out beneath a sagging beanie. If Melanie was being honest, this was by far her favorite look on him. So effortless, yet it was absolutely perfect in her eyes.

Calum grabs Mel's suitcase and begins to walk back to the car in order to place it in the trunk. Melanie simply follows, still only just beginning to fully wake up. "Is that my shirt?" Calum asks, smirking at the Green Day tee Melanie has donned.

She nods. "I think so. I borrowed it when I stayed over at Luke's a while back; I kind of remember him mentioning you leaving it, but I'm not too sure."

"Well," Calum closes the trunk with one swift movement. "It looks nice on you."

"Do you want it back?" Calum only shakes his head.

The two take their seats in the car- Calum driving, and Melanie at his side. "I'm really excited to be doing this." Calum mentions.

"I am, too." Melanie's response is short, yet efficient.

The pair drive for fifteen minutes until they are first confronted by rush-hour traffic. Calum is tapping on the steering wheel as they wait in a long line of passengers at the light. Melanie simply watches him, admiring the way he looks through the windshield, as well as trying to soak in an updated memory of each of his features.

Going out on a limb, she turns to Calun and leans forward to kiss his cheek. Not fully being capable of it, Melanie can only place a feathery kiss onto his jawline before her seatbelt locks. Had he not seen her move, Calum would have been unaware of the gesture.

Melanie groans and unbuckles the belt to unlock it, and rebuckles it once it has loosened. "What was that for?" Calum asks, the rhythmic tapping having abruptly stopped.

Melanie smiles. "I don't know; it's like you said, I'm happy to be spending my summer traveling with you."

Calum feels a heat rise to his cheeks, but sighs. "Look on your phone and see if there's anywhere nearby we can stop for breakfast?"

Melanie knows that he's purposely changed the subject, but nods. "Of course."

Calum looks at the girl in the passenger seat. Her hair has faded to an odd teal and she's got dark circles underneath her eyes, but Calum still sees her to be one of the most beautiful people he's ever seen. He sighs happily. "Your hair reminds me of that volcano science project Luke and Michael did last year." The two laugh at the memory. Michael had forgotten to color the lava for the volcano he had to make with Luke (it was the simplest thing Luke knew he could do, given the possibility of Michael not aiding him), so he brought in food dye to color it the day the project was due. He added too much, too no one's surprise, and the chemicals reacted with the food coloring to turn the boys' makeshift lava an ugly green. "You should let me redye it."

Melanie chuckles. "Maybe," she places her phone into her lap. "Should my hair really be your priority?"

"That depends," offers Calum. "What should be my priority?"

Melanie smirks. "Making sure I owe Ashton ten dollars by the end of this trip."

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an: this chapter was short and it sucked but IM SO EXCITED TO WRITE THE ROADTRIP