Taken // Calum Hood

Rollercoasters.

"How the hell can I look at either of them ever again?" He groaned, the moment Megan disappeared into the public restroom. I stared at the door without a word.
"Did you see the look on my mums face? Oh christ." He rambled.
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We had left shortly after the gift incident, Calum took half of us in his new car, the others going with Ashton in his. I wasn't sure whether it was because of the new car or because he was completely humiliated to be near his parents.
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I chewed my lip. Thankfully, Luke noticed my unresponsive behaviour and filled in. I barely listened as Calum explained this mornings events to our friends. I couldn't concentrate on a thing, my brain replaying images of them together over and over. I was there, but I wasn't really there, there.
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"Hayley!" Luke nudged me forcefully. I jumped, snapping my head up at him to find them all looking at me expectantly.
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"Sorry, what?" I muttered, pressing a palm to my forehead to try and push out the stress. It didn't leave.
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"I said, can you go and check if Megan's alright? It's been a while." Calum pouted out his lower lip when I glared at him in response. "Please?" He begged.
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I groaned, staring up at him blankly. "Why don't you go in? Nobody else is here and there aren't any cameras." I pointed out the blank walls surrounding the doors.
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"But it might be a girl problem." He whined. Oh, screw him and his damn puppy eyes.
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I rolled my eyes but went in anyway. When have I ever said no to him?
"Megan?" I called out impatiently. "Megan? Hurry up!" I snapped, I had no patience for her. Today, more than ever.
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"God, alright." She appeared, a compact mirror in her hands. Of course. There wasn't an actual problem, she was just doing her make-up.
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I turned to leave again when she grasped ahold of my wrist. "You better back off." She warned aggressively. This was the first time she had called me out on this, the subject was no longer taboo. Calum's girlfriend knew I had feelings for Calum.
And she was not happy.
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"Trust me." I sighed, not in the mood to argue about this today. "He's all yours."
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~~~
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I forcefully pushed all my sadness to the back of mind, saving it for when I was in bed alone tonight. This was Calum's birthday and I had to be his best friend. I wasn't going to ruin his special day by being moody.
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"Are you alright? This morning sounded pretty rough." Ashton asked as we sat down on the next roller coaster. We had all been switching round who sat with who, except of course, Calum and Megan.
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I nodded, pushing my lips into a smile. "Thanks Ash, but I'm fine." I told him, but my eyes deceived me. They glazed over, tears slowly appearing before I quickly blinked them away. I didn't do it quick enough to go unnoticed, but thankfully he didn't ask. He squeezed my hand instead.
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~~~
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As Megan went to sit down next to Calum on the next ride, he did the unimaginable. He actually stopped her. "I'm sitting next to Hayley on this one." He turned, giving me a nervous smile.
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My heart rate escalated rapidly.
He . . . He wanted to sit next to me?
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She stared at me, her eyes screaming silent words that were easy to translate. She had told me to back off and here I was, doing just the opposite.
She was absolutely fuming.
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I squeezed past her almost shaking body, sliding in next to my best friend. "She's going to kill me later." He muttered, half to me, half to himself.
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I turned around to see her livid expression, giggling slightly under my breath before turning back round. "She doesn't look pleased that's for sure." I laughed quietly.
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"Forget about it. No." We heard from behind us, Calum and I exchanged a raised eyebrow glance. "I'm not sitting next to you." Michael shook his head firmly. We turned around to watch, I tried to look unamused . . . Tried.
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"I can't sit on my own!" She whined, her voice reminded me of someone scratching a chalk board. She reminded me of someone scratching a chalk board.
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Mikey simply shrugged, closing the little gate to guard the empty seat next to him. "You've not been nice to me once in my entire life. I'm not sitting next to you." He repeated as she sulked, grudgingly slumping into the seat behind as I held back my laughter.
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"Okay yeah, you're going to die." I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.
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I was expecting a glare or a snappy response, but instead he surprised me with a genuine laugh. "Mummy and daddy Hood are going to be very upset."
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We laughed together as the ride started. "Did she not see the glares, seriously?" I wondered aloud.
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"I'm never sure." He shrugged. We both caught our first glance of the ginormous roller coaster track that lay before us. Oh. My. God.
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Calum grabbed my hand and held on so tight from fear that I thought all the bones were going to shatter. But that wasn't important. I'm pretty sure I was holding on even tighter anyway.
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If I wasn't so terrified, I would be freaking out about how he not only chose me over his girlfriend for the first time ever, but he was also holding my hand. In front of her. But I was terrified, and we were almost at the top.
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We gripped onto each other even tighter as my insides flipped upside down. Holy holy holy. This was insane.
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