noted → calum hood | #Wattys2015

forty

(an: listen to "night changes" by one direction while they're out, and "robbers" by the 1975 when they return to the hotel okay tysm)

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Calum knocks on the door to their hotel room before opening it. "Are you ready to go?" He calls in.

Closing the door behind him, Calum notices Melanie rushing toward him. Tripping over her half-tied shoe, Mel falls forward to the ground with a thud, just barely missing the bed to break her fall. "I'm okay!" Calum's laughter is hard to be contained as it roars throughout the room. Melanie stands and quickly moves to her bed to finish tying her shoe. "Sorry, I'm running a bit behind."

Calum shakes his head. "Don't worry about it." Having not cometely regained his breath from laughing, he heaves a bit as he speaks. "I, um," Calum pulls a small bouquet of flowers from behind his back and hands them to Melanie. "I got you these."

She smiles and accepts them graciously. "They smell like plastic."

Calum nods. "As they should; they're fake, so..."

Melanie sighs and places them on the bed behind her. "Only you, Calum."

"Are you ready to leave?" Cal questions.

Melanie nods. "Where are we going?"

Calum holds the door open for her as they exit into the hall. "There's a little café downtown, so I was thinking we could stop there first. There's a park nearby, as well." Calum presses the ground floor button on the elevator after they step in. "After that, it's up to wherever the night takes us."

Melanie nods her head with a smile. She was nervous to say the least. It didn't matter if Calum didn't want this to be a date, because it absolutely was. Just calling it a friendly outing wasn't helping anything. In fact, all it did was make Melanie nervous. She couldn't help feel like she was pressured to believe that they couldn't date. It was confusing, to say the least. As far ask she knew, both her and Calum had feelings for each other at a point. Had hers diminished recently? Yes, but the roadtrip with him was certainly building them back up.

Unbeknownst to her, Calum had a similar confliction. He initiated the reason they didn't date in the first place, the reason they were so distant, and the attempt to fix things. By staying friends, Calum had genuinely thought that it would aid with

getting rid of the feelings he held.

With a ding, the elevator comes to a halt on the desired floor. Calum grabs Melanie's hand and pulls her out into the lobby, dropping her arm just as quickly as he had held it.

Calum pulls his keys from out of his pocket and presses a button to unlock his car. He slides into the driver's seat, Melanie next to him in the passenger's. They don't talk much on the way there; the uncomfortable tension between them could be cut with a knife. Just going out as friends had something to it that just didn't feel right.

Melanie distracts herself by texting Michael.

Sent: 5:47 PM To: Mikey
"I need advice."

Received: 5:48 PM From: Mikey
"You alright?"

Sent: 5:50 PM To: Mikey
"Calum and I are going out tonight, but he insists it's not a date. I feel like it probably should be one, but we chose to stay friends. Idk, I just feel like the path he and I are on right now isn't working."