Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU

47.

Like most things in my life lately, Tuesday night doesn't go to entirely to plan.

First my Dad gets called into work to cover someone else's shift. He keeps apologising, even as he's walking out the door. I tell him it's okay because I don't want to inflate his guilt further, but I'm disappointed. In a strange plot twist, I've been looking forward to him and Calum meeting. Maybe it would bring an end to Dad's incessant habit of calling him Book Boy, particularly when he catches me texting Calum with a big dopey grin on my face.

Okay, and maybe I'm a little upset that I've spent days psyching myself up for Dad to pull out embarrassing baby photos and childhood stories to share with Calum, and now I'll have to do it all over again for the rescheduled dinner. That type of emotional preparation takes work.

Anyway, it's not so bad because I end up burning the lasagne and Madison invites Alfie over for dinner anyway. I happily drop him off, swing by the local Italian place on the way home and buy two large cheese pizzas. An hour later, Calum arrives - maybe the only thing that's gone to plan tonight - and we lay on the floor, eating pizza and pouring over to USU catalogue.

"Did you ask your Dad about the open day?" Calum's laying on his stomach opposite me.

I nod. "He said he's more than happy for us to make a day trip. He's even going to pay for the petrol."

"And staying overnight?"

"He said not a chance in hell." He'd even used his serious detective voice. I didn't push the subject, I know better.

Calum laughs, rolling over and stretching his arms up above his head. A thin stripe of dark skin is revealed from the bottom of his t-shirt.

"So, when do I get to meet your family then?" What I'm really asking is: when do I get to meet the couple that blessed the world with a human like Calum?

A laugh envelopes his reply, "Never."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to scare you away."

I remember the day I ran into him in the bookstore. Achingly quiet, he'd described his home as. "I'm not easily scared."

"I know," Calum sighs. I find myself wanting to hug him. Instead, I gently touch his hand with mine. "They're good people, but they're kind of traditional, I guess. They put a lot of pressure on me."

"With school?"

"With everything. They think astronomy is a waste of time. They think I should study medicine, become a doctor. They're not bad parents, but they just don't get me. You know?"

Truthfully, I don't know. Dad's always tries his best to understand me. Before I can say anything else, Calum starts talking about We All Looked Up. For the first time I think I see why he loves books so much: they're an escape for him. He fills his room up with the voices of fictional characters to block out the silence of his reality. 

Anyway, we're about a third of the way in now. Poor Calum's keeping up with my snails-pace reading speed, determined not to read ahead without me. He starts reading the book out loud, holding the book with one hand and lazily running his other through my hair. 

We only get through a few pages. I have to drag myself away from Calum when Madison's Mum drops Alfie home. My little brother surprises me by giving Calum a fist bump and a smile before going off to his bedroom.

"He came around quickly." Far quicker than Finn will. He isn't around a lot but he does do that protective big brother thing well.

Calum bites into his lip. "I might have promised to help him plead his case for another dog, a friend for Pepper."

"Calum!"

He laughs, "What?"

The way he's staring at me, I'm lost for words: his huge smile, those dark eyes, the way his full lips pucker into the cutest pout. I shake my head, not losing my own smile. "Nothing. I'm just really happy."

Calum's arm snakes around my shoulders. He pulls me close to him and kisses the top of my head. "Me too."

-

"Did you get the legal studies reading finished?" It's the following day and Tess and I are sitting at our lunch table. After Calum left last night, I had to load up on coffee to get through all of my school work. It wasn't easy. All I wanted to do was curl up with We All Looked Up and text Calum about it.

Tess shook her head. "No. Did you?"

I nod. "Are you going to uni next year?"

She shakes her head again. "I'm going to intern at my Dad's firm. He's a lawyer."

Up ahead, I spot Heath, Calum and Michael walking towards us. They're all laughing, even Michael. "It's nice to see Michael happy again."

"I still can't believe what Joss did to him," Tess says. "I mean, look at him. How could you hurt someone like Michael?"

The boys are still a good thirty seconds away from joining us but I lower my voice anyway. "Can I ask you something? Do you ever see her around school?"

"Joss?" Tess shakes her head. "Not at all. You?"

"No, not really."

"What about Luke?"

I don't get time to answer because the boys all sit down: Heath next to Tess, Calum and Michael either side of me.

Calum hands me a pink-iced donut, "I got this for you. Figured you'd need a sugar rush to get through your Legal Studies class."

"That's what I want," Michael says suddenly. "Someone who loves me enough to bring me donuts."

I gently pull the donut into two pieces and hand one to Michael. "I like you enough to split it with you."

Michael takes his half of the donut and proceeds to shove the entire thing in his mouth at once. "That's more than Joss liked me," he laughs. For some reason, it makes me want to cry.

Calum interjects before the conversation can drag Michael back to sadness and self-pity. "Comet Catalina is right on track."

"Comet who?" Heath asks. He's a man of few words I've discovered since he and Tess have started joining us.

"Comet Catalina," I say, smiling. It feels like there's an invisible piece of string connecting Calum and I right now.

"It'll pass between midnight and 4am."

"You're going to stay up until 4am to watch a comet flip across the sky for a few seconds?" Michael scoffs, dusting the donut crumbs from his fingers. "That sounds so underwhelming."

Calum laughs. "Actually, even though it travels at about 200,000 kilometres an hour, it will look slow from our perspective."

"How slow?" I ask, curious because like Michael, I thought it'd pass over in a few seconds.

"Slow enough that it doesn't really look like it's moving at all. It'll look like a regular star, just super bright. I usually check my telescope every ten minutes for a position change."

"Sorry, dude, but that sounds super boring to me," Michael says with a shrug.

"I think it sounds magical," I say.

"Me too," Tess agrees. Heath, having already fulfilled his two word quota for this conversation just nods.

"That's because you're all in love and looking at the world like it's one big-ass fairy tale where everything is magic and happy endings."

It's the second time Michael's mentioned the L word, and the second time I ignore it.

another question: past or present tense? i'm so excited for this story to finish so i can share my new michael story with you all

ps if you need a cute luke fix go read my story the middle :))