You Don't Go to Parties // Calum Hood

Chapter 13

After Calum left, Sophie stared at the $5,000 gift card to Target. She still couldn't believe that Calum would do something so generous, especially after she had failed to keep Kai a secret. Sophie grabbed her computer and diverted her urge to check her work email, but instead went online to Target. She knew Kai only had a short window of time before he'd wake up from his nap. 

Scrolling through Target's website, Sophie dreamed of all the things she could purchase for Kai. The big ticket items like cribs and strollers were already bought, so she felt like she got a lifetime supply of diapers. Sophie kept scrolling, looking through all the potential clothes that she could buy for him. Within seconds, she had found this adorable bear onesie. 

She copied the link and texted it to Calum, hoping to involve him a little more as he requested. Before noticing that he responded, Sophie continued to scroll through all the little outfits that she was now able to purchase. After about thirty minutes of online shopping, she finally checked her phone again. 

Calum: Glad you're using it, the outfit is cute

Sophie: Do you wanna send me stuff you like? 

Calum: I'd love to!  I'm out right now with Duke, maybe I can send you stuff later? Or maybe we can go in person to check it out? 

Sophie: I totally would, but I'm not ready to leave Kai with a stranger yet. Maybe another day you can come and we can online shop together? 

Calum: Sounds perfect, how's tomorrow?

Sophie paused. She had gone months from not seeing Calum to seeing him every day. Of course, this would only be the second day in the row, but she had a sinking feeling that he would want to see Kai every single day. Kai was his son, but besides a few flings here and there, Calum was basically a stranger. As attractive as Calum was to her, she was still hesitant on letting him into her life. His lifestyle was just something she could never have imagined herself wanting. She loved her plain, simple life as an attorney going through the motions. Having the baby of this famous star would completely uproot her life, if he went on tour again would she have to follow him around? Sophie felt her shoulders raise and tense up just thinking about the future. She had to put the phone down for a second. 

What seemed like an hour in reality was two minutes. Closing her eyes, Sophie sent her message back to Calum.

Sophie:  Perfect, see you then. Thanks again. 

Calum: Of course, Happy Valentine's Day too btw

Sophie looked at the calendar on her phone. Of all days possible, she allowed Calum to come over to her house to meet their son on Valentine's Day. Sophie took a deep breath and wished him a good Valentine's Day as well. 

After her text exchange with Calum, she had received a call from Mia. The last time she had heard from Mia was the day after the birth of Kai. She had spoke all about how she was going to help out with Kai, but Sophie didn't want to hold her to that. Instead, Mia was on a five day bender with a man she met off of Tinder. Sophie didn't judge, but the loneliness of having a baby and staying home all day was all-consuming. 

"SOPH! GUESS WHOSE HERE AT THE BAR!!!! YOU NEED TO COME DOWN RIGHT NOW!" Mia screamed into the phone. 

"Mia, I have a baby," Sophie flatly replied. 

"UGH FUCK. YOU'RE GONNA MISS HIM. IT'S HARRY! HARRY STYLES!" She squealed into the phone and seemed to be out of breath. 

"WHAT!" Mia screamed back. As much as she loved 5 Seconds of Summer when she was younger, she was a die-hard One Direction fan. Her inability to recognize Calum during a hookup, but to recognize Harry based on the wrinkles in his forehead proved who her loyalty lay with. She realized that there was a slight chance that she could meet Harry someday anyway if she and Calum ever threw a huge party for Kai. However, she knew that this probably wouldn't happen. As much as she wanted to listen to the voice of logical reasoning within her, Sophie couldn't help but fangirl like in the early days, "I'M MISSING HARRY STYLES?!?"

In that moment, Kai began wailing. Sophie huffed out loud and ran over towards Kai, after all it was her fault that she had woken him up by squealing like a teenage girl. 

"Mia, I gotta go. I'm sorry, take a picture with him for me or something," Sophie hung up the phone rushing over to take care of Kai's needs. After a bunch of trial and error, she noticed that Kai just wanted to be cradled in her arms back to sleep. She cradled him for a while until he fell back asleep. Once Kai fell back asleep, Sophie went to clean the house. 

Seeing Harry Styles at a fun bar or cleaning the toilets of her own house, Sophie did not need to debate with herself on which option was more fun. However, this is the life she signed up for. Although Calum was now in the picture, she'd still have to be doing this with another person or not. Meeting Harry Styles was a dream come true, and Sophie was glad that at least Mia could experience that and thought of her enough to call. 

For the rest of the night, Sophie went through the motion of routine. As she washed her face to go to bed (only to be woken up hourly for the rest of the night) she checked her phone once more to see if there were updates from Mia. There weren't. A twinge of jealousy hit her, so she decided to attempt to get some sleep for the night to prepare for the next day with Calum.