Two rules that are never broken:
1. Drunken mistakes have lasting consequences
2. New Year's resolutions never go as planned
But is it a good thing or a bad thing when life throws in the plot twists? Calum and CiCi are about to find out...
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Calu...
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Liked by sierradeaton, and 482,852 others. Lia.Moore: Don't worry I wasn't hacked, but I wanted to show you all the new me. 2020 has been a weird year, and it's going to stay that way a while longer. But this year has given me time to get to know myself, to dig deeper than the surface and truly face the traumas in my past and the person I had become to cope with those traumas. And to realize I didn't like who I was, or what I was doing with my life. So I decided to change me. It's been a long, tiring, and rewarding effort, and not a single day has been easy. I've lost my best friend, and I'm sure a lot of others as they read this. But I've also gained a true friend, the truest friend I've ever had. (at least I hope they are still my friend...) And most importantly, I've found me, the real me. I'm sorry to anyone I have wronged in my past, I know my transgressions are numerous and gaustly. I am turning a new leaf, CiCi is gone, I no longer want to be that person, I don't want to ruin lives or throw massive parties of the reputation they've held. I want to do my therapy sessions, I want to meet people who like me for who I am inside and not the things I can provide them in a materialistic way. I've cleared my feed of all my past the way I've cleared myself and my life of those things, and I hope you will stick around to see the journey I am now taking. I hope at least one of you takes this time at home to truly find yourself too, there's no time like the present after all. Oh, and you can call me Lia now, it suits the real me a whole lot better than CiCi.
Calum's jaw is hung open as he reads through the post again and again. Shocked she actually changed her entire Instagram, she'd had over 3000 posts, and now she had two. Two posts total on the account with her 3 million followers. The one she posted just this morning, an explanation to the world of her change, and the photo she posted after their road trip. A photo of them hugging as they watched the sunset over the ocean, her caption then a nod towards her changing perspective and life.
Slowly peeling himself from the sheets he wanders towards his shower, if nothing else, the post deserves her a chance to explain. She renounced her reputation to the world, boldly and proudly, at least she came across that way, even if her fingers had been shaking as she typed it, and he was damn fucking proud of her for it, and she deserved to know that.
An hour later his own hands are shaking as he presses the doorbell, hearing the distant chime of it ringing through the large house, praying her comment about him still being her friend was true and she will be happy to see him.
It takes a minute, longer than he was hoping, and enough time to get his heart stuck in his throat with nerves. His palms sweating as the door finally pulls inward, Lia standing only two feet away staring shellshocked at him as he looks back at her. The next five seconds seem to take about ten years, the air solid due to the level of tension filling it.
"Calum?" her soft voice seems to shatter the world around them, his heart suddenly beating through his ribs again as he swallows.
"I'm sorry." He blurts awkwardly.
"Me too. Come in." She nods, stepping aside to let him past her into the house.
"I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I know you, the real you. That story just seemed too real." He freezes his apology as he notices a major change to the room. "You um, you got a new couch?" He turns to face her, shock written across his face.
"Um, ya. I was already working towards it, like as a goal with my therapist, and I didn't actually get rid of mom's sofa, it's in the formal den no one ever uses, but now I can watch tv sitting on a couch like a normal human." She nods, hugging her arms around herself as she steps past him towards the new charcoal gray sectional filling the living room space.
"I'm proud of you, Lia." He smiles, sitting across the couch from her gingerly.
"I'm assuming you saw my Instagram?" She asks after a minute of awkward silence falls between them.
"Um, ya. I was really proud of that post actually. I can't even imagine how long it took you to delete all those posts."
"It was really satisfying honestly, each one of those delete buttons like a physical way to delete who I was from the world. I know they all exist out there other places, and all my articles and videos are still on the internet, but like, it was my way of removing it from me. And when I changed my name to Lia online... wow, that was exhilarating. I know it's probably stupid, but-" She stops, having not noticed Calum slide closer, his hand suddenly wrapping around hers.
Slowly she lifts her eyes to meet his, "It's not stupid, Lia, it's so amazing, I am so fucking proud of you. I'm sorry I let my fears of your past ruin this. I was so afraid we would end because your past came back, because you wanted to be her again. I don't know. I've had shit luck with love in the past, and you don't exactly have the best track record with guys... I got scared and then the article was an excuse to push you away and blame you, when really it was me the whole time."
"I can't blame you for believing it, I mean, it was completely CiCi, it's exactly something Brit and I would have come up with and it's sickening. I hate that it was exactly who I was." She sighs.
"But it's not who you are, and I do know that."
"I want to be better, I want to be the version of me you know. I'm going to be the version of me you know, for everyone to know now. I'm done being CiCi."
"I like that plan, can I, can I ask you one other thing, Lia?"
"Anything." she nods.
"How committed to us are you? Like am I just a friend? Or is it more..? Are you ready for more?"
"Are you?" She smiles, a deep blush flooding her cheeks quickly.
"I'm um, I'm in love with you, Lia, it's scary and I'm really afraid of what it could mean for my heart someday. But right now, right now I want you to be mine, and I want to love you openly, I want to call you mine, to tell people you're mine. I love you, Cecilia Moore, with my whole heart."
Her smile grows as she lets out a nervous laugh, "I love you too, Calum. I know how scary it is, and I know it might be hard to love someone like me, but I'm so glad you do. Chasing you for three years, it was the best thing I ever did, I never knew you would be the one, the one who made the real difference. And if ever life pulls us different directions, I hope we can think back fondly of the time we were able to spend together, and the progress you helped me make in life simply by being you. I am irrevocably in love with you, Calum Hood, and I need you to know that."
Calum can't help but reach up to catch the single tear falling from her eye, cupping her cheek easily as swallows his own emotion, leaning in to kiss her gently, deeply, passionately. His Lia, truly and completely his, it may not be perfect, but they'll manage, they'll try, for as long as possible. And he will fight anyone, Ashton included, who tells him it's not a good idea.
"I love you." He whispers, leaning his forehead against hers as he pulls away slightly.
"I love you too."
--------------------------- The end!
I've been working on this story since July, and it has had about twenty different endings... But I hope this one was suitable. I fell in love with CiCi's character arc and couldn't make her a bitch again like I had planned in multiple of the endings. You're welcome.
If you haven't started Wildflower yet go do so! It's my next Calum story and it has 4 or 5 chapters posted already! I'll update it again tomorrow!
To my Ashton stans, never fear, there is an Ashton story in the works hopefully to be posted following Wildflower.
Also I do not have Covid! Hooray! It's just a chest cold. Boooo. But at least not Covid so I'll take it.
