Disconnections (5SOS, Sequel to Connections)

3) Calum

Calum and his boyfriend were going through a slight rough patch at the moment, not that anyone noticed. They wanted to cover it up as much as possible because they both believed that it was something they could work through, in their minds nobody needed to know.

However, Michael still made Calum's heart flutter every time he was near him. What started off as a massive crush had sparked into something they could both act upon and they were somewhat the power couple of the year.

Everybody else would have short relationships or hook ups at parties but these two were the only ones that were consistent and people respected that, even if it had taken Calum a while to convince Michael to tell people of their relationship because he was afraid of judgement.

They'd been through so much together over the last half of the year and this was the first time they were struggling. They had gotten into a slight disagreement about something, one of those arguments that would mean nothing in a few months time but still enough to shake the peaceful relationship they had currently.

Especially seeing as it was their first fall out.

Calum was busy organising a box of magazines that had just been delivered to the shop he currently worked at when a man walked up and placed a bunch of yellow, pink and white flowers on the desk.

Calum dropped out of school and worked at the shop part time, the other time spent shadowing a football coach so that one day he could become one himself.

He put the magazines to one side and scanned the barcode on the flowers, taking the man's cash as he tapped his foot impatiently. He did not look happy. Calum panicked slightly and hurried along the change faster than he would usually, accompanied with a "have a nice day" because Calum believed in making people smile.

However, it soon became clear that the man was not happy. How could Calum have been so stupid? He'd never shortchanged anyone before and it wasn't deliberate he just hoped that man would accept his apology.

The man left after saying some quite hurtful things which got Calum thinking, was he really that useless?

Calum's shift ended soon after and he did the first thing he could think of which was automatically call Michael who picked up on the third ring. Calum was upset so the two arranged to meet at the park because it was of neutral distance between their two houses.

Calum cycled quickly up the road and sat on one of the swings on the far righthand side of the park, swinging only slightly at the push of his feet. Michael arrived less than two minutes later and they hugged before Calum began to explain what had happened.

Michael listened intently but he was getting annoyed at Calum, why couldn't he just see how great he was? The whole event had had a negative effect on both their days which is the reason behind what happened next.