Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU

54.

As soon as he walks in, Calum kisses me. It does feel like so long since we've been together. The memory of school is far away. Every minute I'm apart from Calum feels like hours, and hours feel like days. It's like love destroys your sense of time. "How much time do we have?"

"A few hours. Dad won't be home until after midnight."

"God, I missed you. I can't kiss you like this at school." He kisses me again. I don't think I'll ever get used to it, the way Calum's mouth feels on mine. My hands tug on the fabric of his black t-shirt, his weave through my hair.

"Wait," I say, dragging my mouth away from Calum's. "I want to talk to you about something."

He looks worried. "Is it about you being grounded?"

"Kind of." I take Calum's hand, heading towards my bedroom. I shut the door with a quiet click and Calum sits on my bed, looking around my room.

"I've never been in your room before." His eyes are still scanning, much like my Dad does when he's looking for something I'm hiding. I squash the thought immediately. I don't want to think about my Dad right now.

"It's just your regular bedroom. Dead bodies are under the bed," I joke. "Drug lab in the closet."

Calum laughs, a little too loudly. I lunge forward and cover his mouth with my hand. "Alfie's asleep," I explain. He presses a kiss into my palm, and then I'm climbing onto his lap and kissing him again.

"I thought you wanted to talk," Calum says, reluctantly pulling away.

"It can wait." I'd rather kiss him. It's more fun than talking, and far less terrifying than telling someone you're in love with them too.

Calum's hands trail down my arms and rest on my thighs. "No, it can't. I can feel myself getting carried away."

Trust me, I can feel him too. There's no missing it. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"I told you," he frowns thoughtfully. "I don't want to rush you into anything."

"You're not rushing me." Just to prove my point, I lean closer and leave a firm kiss on his neck, drawing some of the skin into my mouth and sucking gently.

Calum groans. I let out a small accomplished laugh. "It's not funny," he murmurs.

"It's a little funny." I can feel him shifting underneath me.

"You're kind of driving me wild, Rubes." He groans underneath my kiss. "Really fucking wild."

He's the one driving me wild, actually. It's like all of our conversations have been foreplay and so now, when things start getting physical, I'm on the brink of fireworks. His lips are moving to my neck now and my eyes flutter closed. It's like my body is made of slow-burning fireworks and he's about to light each one.

Wait. "I went over to Luke's the other night," I blurt out.

Calum's grip on my thighs tightens. "Okay..." he says, drawing his face away from my neck so that our eyes are locked. I notice he's clenching his jaw.

"Just to talk," I reassure him. "It was something Alfie said to me, about how sometimes apologising can make us feel better and - "

"You went over there to apologise to him?" He sounds angry, and jealous, and as wrong as it is, this makes me want him even more. "You don't have anything to apologise to him for."

"Yes, I did. I played a part in the whole mess, and now that I'm not blinded by my anger and hurt, it's easier for me to admit that."

"Did he bother to apologise to you?"

"Yeah, we kind of cleared the air between us," I'm getting off track now. "Anyway, he said some things and then I realised there was something I needed to tell you, but then, Dad caught me coming back inside to get my car keys."

"What time was this?"

"After 11," I say quickly.

Calum looks nervous. "You couldn't have just called?"

I shake my head. "It's not the kind of thing I want to say over the phone."

"So, what is it?"

I wait for my heart to start racing, or my pulse to thump heavily in my neck. I wait to feel any physical sign of my body freaking out about what I'm about to say, but it doesn't come. I don't feel scared about this. I'm staring at Calum who is staring at me, and I can't stop myself from smiling. Luke said that I'd make Calum feel like the luckiest boy in the world but I feel like the luckiest girl.

Who knows if the love you find at seventeen is the kind of love that lasts forever, but I do know it's the kind of love that throws your world off it's axis, turning over feelings you never thought were possible. "I love you."

Calum doesn't look surprised, or even taken back. He just smiles. I wish I had a photographic memory so I could capture this smile and look at it all the time. It's a smile so big that it takes over his whole face. Even his eyes are smiling, and his hands let go of my thighs and he laces his fingers through mine. "I love you too, Ruby," his smile says. "Honestly, I think I have for a while."

I kiss him, or maybe he kisses me. It's all a blur, now. He keeps asking me if I'm sure, and I keep promising yes. Then his shirt is off, and I can't stop staring at his perfect bare torso, and then I'm amazed when my shirt comes off and he can't stop staring at me. "Are you sure?" he says once we're both naked, barely either of us remaining restrained.

"I'm sure," I say, running my hands over his warm back. I've never been more sure of anything. My body is begging for him.

"I love you, Rubes," he says, as he enters me, setting of every single one of those slow-burning fireworks.

sorry for anyone who was hoping there'd be smut. i think we all know i'm terrible at writing it. there's not many chapters left in this story either which is sad but let's all get excited for my michael fic ;))