the bucket list | lrh

37 - affair

Early morning on July 4th, Calum Hood set out on a mission. It had been too long since he had uncovered an unclean piece of information in Valentine's birth records, and he needed answers. He knew very well that what he was doing was absolutely ridiculous and beyond intrusive. He just couldn't hold himself back, he had to figure it out.

"Hi, is uh... is your mom home?" He asked, voice caught somewhere in the nerves overwhelming his body. He didn't know how exactly he would go about confronting the woman who had been plaguing his thoughts, he just knew he had to get past a certain blonde girl first.

"No," she crossed her arms against her chest, blocking the doorway so that Calum couldn't see into her living room.

"Mary, I have to talk to her. This is kinda important—"

"I'm right here, I'm a great messenger," Mary smiled politely, despite her sarcastic tone. Calum shot a nervous yet annoyed glare at her as he narrowed his eyes.

"It's not something I can talk to you about," he shrugged, backing up a little so that he was farther away from her. If Kellianne wasn't home, there was no reason for him to be interacting with Mary of all people.

"What can you talk to my mom about, but not me?" Mary asked, stepping forward to keep an equal distance from Calum. She definitely wasn't going to let the poor boy retreat that easily.

"It's nothing," he huffed, still not making any moves to leave. If he knew Mary at all—which he barely did—he would know that there was no winning, not against her.

"Come on, Hood. Spill it," she urged him on, trying to make the conversation as painless as she could.

"It's about your mom... and Scout," he surrendered, not having to go into details before Mary threw her palm up to cease his talking.

"How do you know about that?" She nearly gasped. See, Mary had assumed. That was her first mistake. She didn't really know what Calum was talking about, and they were on two totally different pages.

"You know? How could you not tell her?" Calum gasped, just as confused as Mary.

"I don't think I should tell her that her dad and my mom are hooking up while she's away... I'm just gonna wait until she—"

"Oh," Calum interrupted, letting a dramatic push of air escape his mouth in relief. Mary furrowed her eyebrows at the boy, examining his nervous body language.

"Why? Is there something else, Calum?" She stood up straight, appearing quite intimidating despite Calum being much taller. He definitely felt like a nervous wreck though, so it didn't really matter.

"Oh, no there's not... I just... I don't know, I thought you knew for longer is all," he backtracked, erasing any more damage he could've done as Mary nodded approvingly.

And thus birthed a string of secrets. Valentine hadn't really told the truth about her relationship with Luke to Mary, but that was nothing compared to the secret the blonde was keeping herself. And on top of that, Calum Hood was involved—and he knew something far more drastic than either of the girls are aware of. But he couldn't be the one to tell Mary what he really knew. It wasn't his place to deliver such personal news, and he couldn't do that to her.

So he didn't. He stayed quiet, and kept earth shattering information to himself as Mary continued on thinking she was doing the right thing. The three were horribly tangled up, and Valentine would've been so glad she was in another state—if she knew anything at all, of course.

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As Valentine sneakily dressed herself in the bedroom, she was extra careful not to wake Luke. Luckily, the boy was pretty restless after his secret trip to the backyard, and it was an easy task for the Valentine to accomplish.