Roommates || Calum Hood

Chapter 2 // The Deal

•Calum

"When were you going to tell us that you were friends with Cassidy Gold?" Luke hissed, his blonde eyebrows knitted together in utter confusion.

My eyes never diverted their gaze away from her as she sauntered off in her stained dress, muttering profanities about me to her friend. As stupid as it sounds, I was shocked to see her at her film premiere. Well, I was more just shocked to see her in general. She was beautiful when we were young but man, puberty was very generous to Cassidy. It's just a shame that she is too stubborn to forget about my mistakes.

"Not just any Cassidy Gold either. The Cassidy Gold. Also known as one of the hottest girls in the universe," Michael added, licking his lips like a meathead.

I rolled my eyes at them. "Look, we're not friends, okay? We used to be a long time ago. But I screwed up and she never forgave me and you can clearly see she hates me. I mean I'm not too fond of Cassidy either, she's an annoying brat, but I understand why she hates me so much."

Ashton sent me a disapproving glance. "And she hates you so much because...?"

My jaw clenched with anger as a sense of nostalgia swept through my veins. I didn't want to talk about the incident. All it ever does is fill me with regret. "It doesn't matter why. She just hates me. Leave it at that."

Our extremely unusal dressed bodies scurried towards the entrance of the theatre, not bothering to stop for anymore interviews or pose for anymore pictures. I wasn't in the mood to do so anyways, I felt like I had just been hit by a train made out of pure gold. We settled into our plush seats and got situated, preparing to view the next chick flick that would be sweeping the nation in a matter of months.

• • •

"Care to explain to us what this is?"

A glossy magazine was slapped down onto the glass table, one that was so clean and pristine that you could see my legs through the translucent top of it perfectly. Cassidy and I both skimmed over the front cover, the bold letters of the title catching my attention. Calum and Cassidy: The Newest Enemies in Hollywood. Underneath was some crap from an exclusive source that claims I purposely dumped water onto her and how she called me an asshole. The second one was most likely true.

Cassidy sighed from her seat in the black leather chair next to me and pushed the magazine out of her view. We had been called into the office for an emergency meeting with our publicists and management, but I honestly felt like we were at the principal's office as middle schoolers again. "It's not my fault he's such a pain! I can't be nice to someone I hate."

"Hate is such a strong word, Cassie," I teased, smirking at her just to piss her off even more.

She growled at me through gritted teeth. "That's exactly why I used it, Cal."

"Enough," Martin interjected before I could comment on her use of my old nickname. "I don't care about whether or not you two actually like each other, you are going to act like you do. With Cassidy's new movie and 5SOS's second album coming out, we can't have any bad press out there that could wreck the sales."

"And how do you expect us to pretend we like each other? Cass isn't that good of an actress," I sneered, making a gasp escape her mouth at an astonishing loud volume. I was lying. She was extremely talented. I just wanted to retaliate.

Her dainty hand collided with my cheek, initiating a sting on the surface of my tan skin. "What the Hell?" I whined, lifting my calloused palms to touch my face and stop the throbbing.

Mel, Cass's manager, threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "This is the kind of behavior that is not, under any circumstances, tolerated. Do you understand? You are both our clients and we happen to have the same management team. You can't have issues with each other or else you will both be dropped and lose all connections and endorsements you have made through us."

I opened my mouth to protest but was silenced by Brenda, one of the publicists who always sported purple toned lipstick that often stained her two front teeth. "That being said, we've bought a small beach house in Malibu for the two of you to live in for the summer while you are both on your breaks. Hopefully being roommates will make you settle your arguments. There will be a press conference where you say you pretended to fight at the premiere to try and cover up that you are now roommates."

"What?" Cassidy screamed, choking on her own saliva. "I can't live with him! This totally isn't fair!"

"If you two didn't cause such a riot in the media with the little stunt you pulled then this wouldn't have happened. Cassidy, you are now a big 5 Seconds of Summer fan. Calum, you are now a Cassidy Gold supporter. And the two of you are roommates. Consider this probation." 

Her golden brown hair cascaded down her back as she crossed her sunkissed arms across her chest. She was pouting like the brat she is. I huffed loudly from my seat. "This is crap. What about the guys? Are they living with us too? I need to be with my friends."

"No, this is just for you and Cassidy. It's like a little therapy session. Your friends are welcome to come over, but they are not allowed to move in," Mel stated firmly, narrowing her gray colored eyes at the two of us.

Anger pumped through my veins. I was constantly surrounded by my best mates. Not having them just down the hall from me was going to kill me. How was I expected to enjoy my time off and do album promotion when I'm not even with my band?

A shiver ran down my spine as a gust of wind blew in from the open window, tickling my exposed arms from the muscle tank I was wearing today. Cassidy still hadn't even murmured a word and I could tell she was creating some evil plot to get us out of this mess already.

I sighed, finally giving in to my boss's orders and retreating from the internal battle for dominance in my life. "Well, when do we move in?"

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Author's Note: oh my lord this was so short i promise they will get longer and more exciting and i am literally so excited for them to move in together u have no idea it's bout to be a partaaay

also cassidy isn't mean she just hates calum and in my opinion she has a pretty good reason too you guys will find out why she hates him so much eventually ok

wwa was absolutely incredible (on august 7th) i was sooo close to the runway like literally five seats away im still so emotional it was the best night of my life and you all deserve to experience it as well

i think im going to update this every other day or every three days idk one of the two bc i have so much of this written already and i'm so exCITED OREMFUS

ps today is my birthday and thanks for all the birthday messages u guys rock i love you all so much thanks for reading my stories u are all absolute babes

dedicated to xsnowberryx bc i literally love her comments she is a cutie pie