Mr Hood (Calum Hood AU)

Part Forty-Eight - All That Matters

I walk out behind Spencer and Summer, carrying all her stuff still. They stand still as Summer stops to take everything in, the smells and the breeze. She hadn't been outside in months. It must be weird for her. Spencer gently nudges her and she starts to walk towards Luke's car. I go to the trunk to put her stuff in, Spencer coming to help me out while Summer hops in the front seat. "How are you feeling?" I hear Luke ask her, being the nice guy he is. He and Summer have grown quite close from all the times he has been in with Spencer to visit her. "I'm terrified. But I will be fine." She tells him, it sounds like she is trying to convince herself, more than anyone else. "You ready to get back into reality?" He asks, trying to gauge her feelings on the whole thing. "Nope. But is anybody ever ready for that? Especially when 'reality' means school." She grins at him and he sends her a smirk. "You speak sense, young one." He laughs as he starts the car up.

I talk to Spencer quietly about everything. "Has she said anything about what has been going on with her for the past couple weeks?" I ask him curious and quiet. "Not really. She talks about the things she has remembered, but it is always a fake smile recently. You?" He replies, being equally as quiet. "Nothing. We only talk about random things and how work was. I know there is something else going on though. I am worried." I voice my thoughts. "I am too. But she will be alright. It will just be the shock of everything all happening now." He says with a small smile and I look at him sceptically. "Besides, if there was something wrong then Jacob would never have sent Summer home." "Yeah. I guess, he must think that she is ready." I agree. "I can't help but to think that there is something that she isn't telling us."

All of a sudden Summer turns around and looks me dead in the eye. "You need to work on your whispering skills." She whispers with a smirk and I grin back at her. She remembered that from when she called me a dick when I gave her detention. "Maybe I wanted you to hear me." I smirk back at her, quoting her own words. We stare at each other and then I break. "That's a lie. I actually didn't." I admit and she laughs at me. "Idiot." She scoffs as she turns back to face the front of the car. I smile at her for a while, even though she can't see me.

"See she will be fine. She is joking." Spencer tells me, being even quieter than before. "I really do hope you're right." I say. "In terms of school, what will be happening?" He asks me. I look at him confused. "Well you obviously can't be all buddy buddy can you? She is going back to being your student, and you can't make things so obvious if you want to keep your job." He says and I let out a sigh. "I know. I haven't worked it all out. I know that they will be watching me like a hawk, especially after the fact of what I have said and what they now know." I groan. "What have you said?" Spence asks curiously. "Before I left, I told them my girlfriend had gone missing. And then I was off for like over a month for depression because of this whole thing. They know that it all kicked off when Summer went missing. It might come back to bite me." I say, regretting the fact that all of this could seriously affect my livelihood. "I'm sure it will all be fine. Just treat her normally at school and keep your relationship out of school." He tells me and I nod.

I was about to ask about what was going to happen at school when the radio got turned up and Luke spoke out. "What? You not like it?" Luke asked out nervous. I listened to the music and groaned internally. This is the song we wrote. We sold it a few months ago and I had totally forgotten about it. "If she didn't like it then she wouldn't have turned it up." Spencer told Luke. I could tell Summer was trying to think hard about where she had heard the song. It was from that time in the basement when we listened to our old band videos. "Oh God. You recognise this, don't you?" I say, horror clear in my voice. It sounds bad but I really hoped she wouldn't remember that awkward memory.

Summer turns around in her seat to look at me. It was like everything clicked in her mind. "The basement! Your band! You sang this on one of the videos!" She says, sounding excited at the memory. "That was one thing I was hoping you wouldn't remember." I cover my face as my cheeks start to heat up. Summer lets out a little laugh and I smile at that. "5 Seconds of Summer. My dad was going to sign you." She says, starting to ramble out with the little things she remembered. I forgot to tell Luke about that. "Someone was going to sign us!?" Luke shouted, taking his eyes off the road in his mixed confusion and excitement. The car went to the side a bit. "Fuck! Watch the road!" I shouted. I could feel the nerves coming off of Spencer as he sat beside me, grabbing onto the door handle for dear life. This obviously brought back memories of his parents. "And yes. But we will talk about it back at the house." I add as I pat Spencer's shoulder to show that he was going to be fine.

The car quietened down and only the music was left as background noise in the car, that and Spencer's worried breaths. He was slowly starting to calm down as the atmosphere in the car did also. The song had changed now as well, to stop any more conversation about that. I watched between Spencer and Summer, making sure they were both alright. Summer looked exhausted and I could tell that she had fallen asleep after about five minutes. Spencer seemed to have calmed down and also started to drift off as the car moved through the streets.

Both the siblings were now asleep and Luke looked at me through his rear-view mirror. "Is his okay?" He asked softly. "Yeah. He will be alright. He calmed down a little while ago." I tell him, calming his own worries. "Summer asleep?" I asked and he nodded. "Like a baby. It is probably for the best." He tells me. "Yeah man, probably." I nod.

We sat quietly for a few minutes again before Luke piped up once more. "I need to have more concentration. Especially with Spencer in the car. They always freak him out when a tiny thing goes wrong. It's why he always drives." He tells me. "Why does he get nervous? Because of his parents?" I asked curious to know. Luke lets out a sigh. "Spencer was the one driving. They were heading to Summer's music show. His parents were laughing with Lucy, Spencer and Summer's sister. They all got so excited, but they were running late. So he was driving a bit fast so they could get there in time. But then some guy was pushed out onto the road as a joke by his friends and he swerved onto the other side of the road to avoid him and a truck smashed into them and the car rolled off down some grass banking."

"The truck driver was fine, but Spencer was the only one alive in the car. He got out and tried to get to his sister but she was gone, and their parents- their parents were gone too. Lucy hit the side window and her neck was broken, his mum had bled out in the back and his dad had hit the windscreen and his head was stuck outside, the glass cutting up his neck. Spencer had broken ribs, a punctured lung and a crack in his skull, but he was ultimately fine, compared to everyone else. His seatbelt, airbag and the steering wheel had saved him." Luke explained to me and I was silent. I didn't have any words to say, there was nothing I could say. "Spence has never gotten over it fully. He can drive in cars now, but he can't have any drama, and he hates speeding. That was also the last day Summer did music. She stopped after that, feeling guilty for being the reason that they were all in the car." He adds on.

I actually teared up after hearing what had happened. I thought it would have just been his parents, some drunk driver, but it wasn't. It was worse than I could ever imagine. And Spencer had to see it. "Oh my god." I breathed out finally. "Spencer told me one night when we were talking about everything. It isn't a secret, he just doesn't like talking about it." Luke says gently as we pull up to the Thompson house. "They have been through a lot of shit. They don't deserve any of it. It isn't fair." I say, watching the sleeping siblings. Now I can understand why Spencer was stressing out. Summer didn't seem too bothered, but she wasn't in the car. Spencer had experienced it. It isn't fair. "They don't deserve to go through any more pain. They are far too kind for this to have happened. They are still recovering after everything." "They seemed to have everything together before." I said just thinking about it all. "They try, but you don't ever really get over anything like that." Luke says. "Lucy was only 10." Luke adds on. I didn't even think it could get any worse.

Just then Luke got out and opened Spencer's door softly. "Spence. You gotta wake up. We're home now." He said softly to Spencer, waking him up. Spencer began to wake and his eyes blinked open. "I'm so sorry about before." Luke tells him as his eyes open fully. "It is fine. It was an accident. No big deal." Spencer yawns. You could tell he was forgiving Luke because he felt bad about making Luke think he was mad. But Luke just hugged him and kissed him on the forehead. "Let's get inside." He said grabbing Spencer's hand. I watched the full exchange and I smiled. The tears were still in my eyes but I blinked them away. I gently picked Summer up and carried her inside. Her sleeping body cuddling into me. She looked too perfect, so innocent and beautiful. Her face was calm and worry free. That is how she should be able to look all the time.

In that moment I vowed that I would be there for both of them, if they ever needed anything then I would give them it. I loved these people like my own family and I would hurt anyone that came close to hurting them ever again. If I ever see anybody try to hurt either of them, then they are in for a world of hurt. I will not hurt them, and I will definitely never hurt her. She can hurt me all she wants, as long as she is happy, I don't even care about myself. She is all that matters to me.