ⓒⓞⓛⓞⓤⓡⓢ |c.h + l.h|

Chapter 7.

Ashton and Luke left at about 6 that evening, and now it was well into the early hours of the next morning. 4:43am, to be exact. And of course, Calum was lying on his bed, fully dressed, staring at the ceiling. He studied the grey surface, paying close attention to small dents and peeling paint. He didn't want to sleep, nor did he necessarily need to sleep. He honestly wasn't even remotely tired.

And then suddenly, for the first time in forever (Frozen pun may or may not be intended) Calum had a good idea. He'll go to his tree. He can think better there.
Well maybe that's not so much a good idea, considering it was nearly 5 in the morning, but it was still an idea.

He's already dressed, so he just grabbed his shoes, coat, phone and keys, and set off to the park. Nothing too bad can happen. At worst he'll just walk into a pole.

As Calum walked down the familiar stone path of the park, he spotted his tree. This time though, there was someone there. And for once, this 'someone' wasn't Ashton Irwin armed with petals. No, this person was a male leaning on the tree, talking on the phone...crying? If Calum had stayed where he was, then he would have assumed that this person was having family issues, or dealing with a breakup. But no, Calum decided to walk as quietly as possibly without being seen, and the closer he got, the more of the conversation he heard.

“Nonono, it's his anniversary today. I didn't even attend it. I just...I couldn't. I screwed up, okay? I didn't know that it was going to happen. I didn't know that he was going to—”  he cut off, crying even more. It wasn't the usual sad crying though. It was broken sobbing.

Calum didn't know what to do. Should he walk off and pretend that he had witnessed none of that? Should he approach them? Well maybe a stranger coming up and hugging you out of the blue might be a bit strange. So naturally, being the awkward person he is, Calum just hid on the other side of the tree to eavesdrop.

“You don't understand! Stop being so ignorant! It was my fault, I know it was! Don't even try to sugar coat it. Yeah...yeah. I know. I'm sorry, but I'm such a mess right now. I  don't know what to do...Wait now? No I'm fine, really. Yeah I'm outside that 24 hour coffee shop. Mmhm...I'll text you when I'm home.”

So now he's hung up. Calum can hear him shuffling around on the other side, sniffling and still crying a small bit. And then Calum hears him start to walk away, and when he hears no more noise, he walks out from behind the tree.

He heard a startled gasp, and realised that the stranger hadn't left at all. He was standing only a few metres away and was staring at Calum.

“Oh um, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I swear. It's just this is the tree that I always come to when I need to think. Then I realised that you were hear and I didn't know what to do so I had planned on waiting until you left but then I heard you talking on the phone, and I really wanted to comfort you but I'm too awkward and, again, I'm so sorry man,” Calum rambled. He glanced up at the stranger, only to see his face soften.

“I guess we both like this tree, don't we? And about the phone call...don't ask please. It's a long story. Let's just pretend that it never happened. But I mean, you seem like an okay guy. To be quite honest, you look like like a really cute puppy.”

Calum looked down at his shoes. It's not every day that you get told you look like a cute puppy. “Oh um, thanks?”

The stranger smiled, eyes still a little blood shot, studying Calum's features. “It was a compliment, so you're very welcome.”

Calum looked up this time and looked at the stranger. Like really looked at him.
He looked into his eyes, trying to decipher if they had colour, what colour they might be. Calum finally decided that they were a light shade of grey, like Luke's. His hair was really dark and slightly wavy. He had a really nice smile and he overall looked quite nice.

“Hey, um...sorry, I didn't catch your name?”

Calum looked quickly away from the guys face. “Oh it's Calum. Calum Hood.”

If Calum was looking at the guy standing across from him, then he would have seen that he was smiling so happily compared to a few minutes prior. But Calum wasn't looking, and instead continued looking anywhere but at the guy.

“Mine's Aaron Lewis. But anyways, Calum, do you think we could maybe talk when I'm not an emotional mess and it's not 5 in the morning?”

“Yeah, uh sure.”

“Cool. I'll type my number into your phone,” Aaron then held out his hand.

Calum was very protective over his new phone, seeing as he basically destroyed his last one. Aaron didn't look like he had any bad intentions though, so he handed over his phone. Aaron then typed in his number and smiled, looking a lot happier than he did earlier. He could just be a great actor though, because after what Calum heard earlier, no one could be that happy.

“Text me sometime, yeah?”

Calum nodded, looking at Aaron intently.

“I will,” Calum decided, smiling a small bit.

And with that, Aaron sent Calum a final smile, with a hint of the earlier sadness remaining behind it, and walked away into the darkness until Calum could no longer see him.

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It was taking Calum quite a while to properly register what exactly happened. Basically, Calum ended up eavesdropping and got a guy's number. Not the worst thing that could have happened. Should he text him yet? No, he'd seem too clingy. Which he wasn't. He doesn't even know the guy.

Maybe he'll just text Ashton. Wait, Ashton said he'd be hanging out with Luke today. Maybe not then.

Or maybe he'll check his Twitter. Yeah. As he scrolled through his feed, he saw that a one of his favourite bands had tweeted about their new tour. Calum will have to check the dates later. Maybe he'll even manage to drag Ashton along with him.

When Calum was sick of scrolling, he closed the app and sighed. He stared out his window and smiled wearily, watching the breeze rustle through the trees. Eventually Calum fell asleep, curled up on his windowsill. 

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A/N: so um hi. This chapter was up to my usual bad standards I think. Well done me.
I sort of forgot about this story for a small bit, and then when I checked on it I had over 400 reads??? I didn't (and still don't) think much people would/will read this crap. But ty :D
Also, I've been meaning to say thanks to @aestheticcake and @sohomotho for commenting and voting because it just makes me really happy and ugh you are v cute

Peace out??