New Year's Eve || C. Hood

Central Park

"Central Park? How basic."

Shop girl shoves Calum to the side and huffs. "Hey, do you have any better ideas?"

Calum smiles at the feisty attitude that contrasts her small stature and shakes his head. A group of giggling girls gains his attention, and he quickly lifts his hood to hopefully cover his face just in case they were fans. Shop girl raises an eyebrow and smirks.

"Trying to look like a pedophile as we pass a group of teenage girls? Good plan!" She laughs when he gives her a look.

Other than a few people, Calum is fairly surprised to see the lack of people around. "Why isn't it totally packed here?"

Shop girl shrugs and sticks her bare hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. "A lot of people are lined up at Time Square already. They usually file on over here afterwards."

Calum puts the idea of his bandmates nervously running around looking for him to the back of his mind. He tries to focus instead on the strange girl beside him and the beautiful, peaceful scenery around him. Shop girl glances up at him as they quietly walk through the park. "What's wrong with you?"

Calum is alarmed by her question. "What? Nothing?"

"Then why do you look like that?"

Calum scowls. "What? This is my normal face. You don't know me. Maybe it's an Australian thing."

She snorts. "I'm not stupid. Why do you look as distressed as a little kid that has lost his mother in the supermarket?"

Calum shrugs and looks down with his plain black jacket's hood shielding his face. "I've just got a lot on my mind, alright?"

"Well, your busy mind is making for bad company." She winks and grabs his hand to start running again. "So you better loosen up before I push you into the water and laugh in your face."

For some odd reason, running through Central Park at night with this eccentric stranger really was clearing Calum's mind. He loudly laughs when she nearly trips over a rock, and she shoves him into a shrub. She pulls him to an abrupt halt when they make it to a bridge, and she smiles as she easily hops up to sit on the ledge. Being much taller than her, the task is even easier for Calum as he takes the seat next to her. They dangle their feet over the ledge of the bridge and stare down at the water below them.

"You know," says shop girl, "there's an urban NYC legend that on cold winter nights you can sometimes see two sisters ice skating on this pond."

Calum raises an eyebrow as the corner of his lips quirks upward. "Yeah?" He watches with interest as shop girl subtly nods and peers down at the pond with a curious sparkle in her green eyes. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

After a few more moments of silence, she tilts her head to look at him. He'd never really realized how much he likes the color green. "Well," she starts matter-of-factly, "I don't not believe in ghosts."

"You're peculiar," says Calum. Shop girl pauses and considers cussing him out; however, when she glances at him and sees his genuine smile, she realizes that he didn't mean it as an insult.

"Well... thanks," she says and returns his smile for a second before averting her eyes back to the pond. "I never rule anything out, you see."

"Never?"

"Never!"

"Not even Santa?"

"Not even Santa."

"Tooth fairy?"

"Nope!"

"Love at first sight?"

She tilts her head. "I feel like that one is a bit more complicated, but I still haven't ruled it out." She thinks for a second. "Well, I take that back. What's more complicated than Santa?"

Calum chuckles. When he accidentally moves his hand and brushes it against hers, his mind blanks for a second.

"You know, you can hold my hand if you want, Calum. I won't cut it off. Your hand, I mean."

Calum looks at her with surprise. "You're suspiciously nice after being a total psycho earlier."

"I'm still a psycho," says shop girl. "I'm just a psycho with pizza in her stomach now."

"I knew you could be bought."

She laughs and threatens to push him off the bridge. A few more people start passing the pair, and shop girl notices Calum shift uncomfortably and readjust his hood. She eyes their surroundings once more before turning around to hop back onto the bridge. "Alright, let's go."

"What? Where?" Calum has really been enjoying her company. Before he just wanted to mess around with her because her irritation was extremely amusing and kind of cute, but now he just likes being around her in general.

"I've got an even better view than this." She wiggles her eyebrows and giggles.

Calum returns her bright smile before saying, "Not sure it can get much better than this."

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A/N: they're awfully friendly now ;) who knows what they'll do next?! (Me lol)

Fun fact: that urban legend is truly an urban legend! The Van der something's...