No Shame

Seven

He's not 100% sure what propels him to do it, but the angry dancing around the edges of his vision as he knocks loudly it's a pretty likely reasoning.

She has his necklace and he needs it back. Now.

"Cal— Calum?" His anger dissipates entirely as shock sets in. She's wearing an oversized hoodie and sweats, her hair undone and falling imperfectly around her shoulders, not a single trace of makeup on her splotchy face, eyes irritated and red.

"CiCi?" He frowns.

"Great. You finally fucking show up and it's the one day I look like hell." She sighs.

"Are— are you okay?" He asks hesitantly.

She wants to say yes, he can tell, but as she opens her mouth to answer she closes it again, her lips trembling before she shakes her head no.

"Shit." He steps over the threshold pulling her into his chest tightly.

"Fuck! I'm not supposed to be crying. No! You were supposed to come for your necklace and I would be dressed in something provocative and get you again. Not like this. No one sees me like this." Her voice is muffled by the fabric of his shirt.

"Hey, what's going on, CiCi?" He brushes some of her hair back from her face.

"Some shit with my dad. It's nothing new and not your problem." She shakes her head, trying to pull away from him.

"Hey. It may not be my problem, but it is yours and clearly it's a big one." He frowns, combing his fingers over her hair and he hugs her, completely unsure as to why he is comforting her when she is nothing but a bitch to him.

"I'm 23 years old, it shouldn't bother me anymore." She sighs, giving up on pulling away and instead clinging to his t-shirt.

"But clearly it does." He chuckles lightly, walking her backwards towards the fancy leather couch he can see.

"That couch is the most uncomfortable place to sit in the entire world." She chuckles softly, "Come on, your necklace is upstairs anyway." She turns, linking her fingers through his before leading him up the stairs to her room.

Calum feels himself swallow slightly as he enters her bedroom in the daylight. Flashes of the only other time he'd been here running through his head.

"Here." CiCi catches his attention again as she pulls the necklace Ashton had yelled at him about from her nightstand.

"You kept it? Did you know what it was?" He frowns as she steps towards him, linking it behind his neck before letting her hands stay over his shoulders.

"I knew Ashton had the same one, so I did a little research. I'm not a complete bitch. I realized it was important and needed to get it back to you eventually."

"Just not quickly." He chuckles.

"I've only seen you once since you left it here. I didn't have it with me then." She shrugs.

"Well thanks. I did need it back. But I didn't want to come get it because I know you."

"But you did come?" She frowns, "And no one really knows me." She adds.

"I got in a fight with Ashton about it. I really needed it back. And if no one really knows you, that's not my fault. I know the version of you, you show."

"And now part of me I don't." She sighs.

"And I think I like this side better. The side that admits to faults and being human."

Burying her face back into his chest she shakes her head, "I can't be human. If I'm human no one will ever look at me again. Then I'll really be alone." She mumbles quietly.