close as strangers | calum hood

twenty four

Calum

The sound of birds chirping woke me up way before my alarm clock. The early sunrise was peeking through the closed curtains as my eyes adjusted to my surroundings. I looked down at the girl laying across my chest. It was difficult to believe the night I had with her after imagining it for so long.

I stroked her hair lightly. I was savouring every second of this moment, because I would be leaving in a few hours to meet up again with the boys and the tour.

I sighed in agony. Not because I didn't want to join the tour, but I didn't want to leave Jaden. There was no place I'd rather be. Nothing could surpass being with her.

Snapping me out of thought, I heard her soft murmurs on my chest. "You're up so early."

"Yeah, sorry. Did I wake you?" I asked.

Jaden lifted her head, and met my eyes. It was like I was lost in a trance, because I couldn't look away. I wanted to be with her forever. And almost like my eyes did the talking for me, she softly placed her lips on mine. It was a sweet, soft, slow kiss that we were both longing to hold onto. Because we knew it would be gone soon.

When Jaden pulled away, she looked at me with sad eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"You're leaving again." She almost whispered.

I frowned in response, "I know, love. I promise I'll be back. I'll always be back for you."

And she pressed her lips against mine again. But the conversation wasn't over, we let our bodies do the talking.

-

Jaden

"You have everything, right?" I asked as I walked around my hotel room, thinking about what Calum might leave behind.

"Yes, everything's here." Calum nodded reassuringly.

"You sure you don't want me to come, babe?" I asked. I had offered to go with him to the airport, but Calum refused.

"I'm sure. I hate the thought of you watching my leave." He shook his head.

I frowned and approached the tall boy, wrapping my arms around his torso and feeling his warmth engulf me. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I know, baby. I'm gonna miss you so much. Only a few more months and I'll be back in Australia." He said and kissed the top of my head.

I looked up at him with a playful smirk, "As soon as you get back, we're gonna fuck."

Calum chuckled in response and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. I savoured every second of it, because when he walked through that door, it would be over.

"I'll text you when I'm back with the boys. Have a safe trip home, love." He said in a whisper as he pulled away from me.

I nodded, "Okay. Bye, Cal."

I watched as he reached for the doorknob and swung the door open. As he began stepping out, he turned and looked back at me. "Jaden?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't cry." He said quietly, before exiting and closing the door behind him without a response.

I sighed deeply. I wanted to fulfill his request, so I held back all the tears forming in the brims of my eyes. I wasn't exactly sure why I was crying. Whenever he left, it always happened. As much as I tried not to, I cried. I stared at the door, utterly defeated.

Calum

I closed the door behind me and stood by the door for a few minutes. I had to make sure she wasn't crying. Maybe I should have left with different parting words, I don't know. I wanted to make sure she wouldn't cry. Just by experience, she's a cry baby. The little things make her sob, and she always cries when she watches me leave.

After standing by the door for two minutes, I still heard nothing. I decided to begin my trip back to Italy, and started walking down the long corridor to the elevator at the end. My scheduled taxi picked me up at the hotel, and I took a private jet back to Italy. The trip was short, but the minutes felt longer now that I was alone. As soon as I knew it, I was at the hotel in Italy. As I walked through the door, the room broke out into a chorus of greetings.

"Cal!"

"Hey buddy!"

"Hey Cal!"

I chuckled and threw my small bag on the floor. The boys started sitting up, all looking at me awaiting a response. "Hey guys." I replied with less enthusiasm.

"Aw, Cal, are you sad?" Luke said in a mocking tone and made a pouty face.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh God, shut up."

"Nah for real Calum, how was it?" Ash asked from across the room.

I sat on the edge of the closest bed and smiled at them. "We had a really nice time. I'm glad she had to go to Paris cause it was the perfect place."

"The perfect place for what?" Michael asked as he lifted an eyebrow.

"The perfect place to bang, obviously." Luke laughed, but he said it in a joking way. The other to boys joined his chuckle.

"Luke's right." I said, nonchalantly. My statement made silence fall upon the room. All three of them looked right at me.

"Pardon?" Mikey asked.

I nodded, "Yeah. We had sex. Twice. "

"Dude! Score! You've been trying to hit that for years!" Luke exclaimed.

I scoffed slightly. Even though Jaden was our friend, they still talked about her like she was some trophy. "Hey, yeah we did it, but it was so much more than that. Can we please talk about Jaden like she's a person and not an item on a list?"

"I agree." Ash said, "Are you guys official now?"

"No," I shook my head, "She doesn't want long distance. We said we would wait."

"What if she starts dating other guys?" Michael asked.

I shrugged. "I mean if it's meant to be us, then it'll happen, right?"

The conversation died from then on, and the boys went back to doing their own thing. I laid in my bed and stared at the ceiling. I wondered what Jaden was doing, and I thought a lot about what Mikey was saying. But if it's meant to be Jaden and I, then in the end, it will be us.