ⓒⓞⓛⓞⓤⓡⓢ |c.h + l.h|

Chapter 4.

Calum wakes up absolutely freezing. He looks down at his clothes and realizes how stupid he is. Honestly, who sleeps in wet clothes? Apparently a very tired Calum does.
Why can't he actually think about what he's doing, before he does it? He mentally slaps himself when he notices that he also left his shoes on. Nice move.

Calum sneezes really loudly. And then he sneezes again...and again...and again. Lovely. He's got a cold now, too.  Looks like it's a day for blankets, tissues, and Netflix. He could think of worse things to do. A Netflix marathon sounds quite nice to be honest.

Something seems a bit off, though. Oh damn it, I never checked that message Ashton sent me yesterday, Calum thought, and then sneezed again. What if it was important? Then again, what if it wasn't? It's Ashton we're talking about here. He could text anything. Calum sighs really loudly, attempting to retrieve his phone from his soaked jean pocket. It was very hard and tiring, because wet jeans are never pleasant. He tried to turn on his phone, but nothing happened. The screen remained blank, and so did Calum's face. This isn't happening. No. Not his phone. Practically anything but that.

Calum kicked the foot of his bed in frustration, then winced in pain seconds later. He was stupid enough to get not only his clothes wet, but his phone too. He deserves an award. There goes his iPhone. Everything is turning out so wonderfully today.

A few minutes later, Calum stops sulking long enough to change his clothes. Once that's done, he stares blankly at the wall. His phone is/was his baby. He's too lazy and upset to get a new one at the moment, so he'll have to manage without Tumblr for a while.

Calum walks into the kitchen, still sniffling and sneezing, and grabs a box of cereal out of the cupboard. He pours some of it into a bowl (yes, he eats his cereal dry most of the time) and waddles into the living room. Throwing himself down on the couch, he grabs the remote and turns the TV on. As he's flicking through the channels, the doorbell rings. But...Ashton is the only one who uses the doorbell. Everyone else just knocks. What's he doing here this early? It's only 9:30am.

The doorbell rings again, this time more persistently. Calum sighs and groggily gets off the couch as the doorbell continues to ring. He makes his way over to the door and opens it to find a grinning Ashton. Oh great...

“Hiya Cal! Did you get my text yesterday?”

Of freaking course. The one time Calum doesn't/can't look at Ashton's texts, it contains something relevant.

“Morning Ash. And yeah, I did,” Calum lied.

Ashton smiled brightly. “Well that's great! I thought you wouldn't want Luke and I coming over this early. ”

Calum started to say something but then closed his mouth. Luke? As in, that bubbly person that he's talked to only 2 times? Oh. Suddenly, Calum doesn't feel like he wants to hang out with Ashton today.

“Oh, um, I don't mind at all. It'll be...nice to meet Luke, I guess,” Calum mumbled, unsure if those words were true or not.

“You'll get on great with Luke, promise. He's a nice guy,” Ashton said enthusiastically, but also as if he knew something that Calum didn't.

Ashton held up his pointer finger to Calum. “One second, Cal. I'll be right back.” And with that, Ashton walked back to his car, where a boy with his hair styled into a quiff was sitting, as far as Calum could see. Ashton opened door and said something to the boy, who, now that Calum thinks of it, is probably Luke. Calum can see Luke nodding, and hopping out of the car. Ashton smiles brightly and walks back to Calum, with Luke in tow.

“Luke, this is Calum. Calum, this is Luke,” Ashton introduced them even though he didn't need to, as they had talked before, and knew each other's names.
Luke, who had been looking at his shoes like they were the most interesting thing ever, looked up and smiled at Calum.  Calum smiled back, but only a small smile. He didn't want to seem as awkward as he felt.