Catch 22

Nice to meet you

Ashton took a deep breath as he entered Calum's house. It was kind of on the small side at least compared to Ashton's house but it felt more homey. The house smelled of something delicious. There were family pictures scattered on the walls instead of boring oil paintings like his mother had up.

"Mom, this is Ashton. He's gonna crash here this weekend." Calum spoke as he entered the kitchen.

"Hello, Ashton, it's nice to meet you." A shorter lady that looked much like Calum greeted him.

"It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Hood. You're house is really nice." Ashton could have an attitude but once thing his mother taught him was etiquette.

"Oh, please, call me Joy. And thank you so much, you're very sweet." She smiled at Ashton.

"Dinner will be ready by six, so be hungry." Joy said turning back to the stove.

"Thanks mom." Calum said as he lead Ashton to the living room.

"Hey Mali." Calum spoke to a girl that looked like Calum in female form.

"Hey, Cal. Whoa, who's this?" She frowned looking at Ashton.

"This is Ashton." Calum answered.

"Ashton, this is my sister Mali-Koa."

"Nice to meet you." Ashton smiled.

"Whoa, he's a lot nicer than your other friends. Is he on the Soccer team?" Mali-Koa asked?

"Ummm, no." Calum answered.

"We met in gym class." Calum said with a small smile at Ashton.

Ashton smiled and nodded.

"Is that what happened to your hands?" She asked looking down at Ashton's bandaged knuckles.

"Yeah, I got a little carried away with one of the punching bags." Ashton shrugged.

"Oh, wow." Mali said shocked.

"Calum, I thought I heard you come in. Oh, who's this young man? I don't think I've met him before." A man that Ashton assumed was Calum's dad spoke stepping into the living room.

"Dad, this is Ashton. A friend of mine."

"Mr. Hood." Ashton held his hand out.

"Wow. This one has manners." The man said to Calum as he took Ashton's hand.

"Call me David." Calum's dad gave Ashton a large smile.

"You boys be hungry for dinner, joy has been in the kitchen for hours." David smiled before leaving the room.

"You wanna head to my room?" Calum asked.

"Sure." Ashton nodded.

The two of them made their way down a narrow hallway and into a smallish room. The walls were covered in different bands and soccer players.

"I didn't know you were so into music." Ashton commented.

"Yeah, I love music." Calum nodded.

"Michael mentioned you played bass." Ashton said recalling a conversation in the drama room.

"Yeah, I love it. I have three bass guitars." Calum chuckled.

"I also write a lot of songs." Calum shrugged.

"Really? I'd love to hear you play sometime." Ashton grinned. He was expecting things to be a lot more awkward than they were.

"Hey, you two, mom sent these." Mali-Koa said suddenly standing in Calum's door holding two soda's.