Naomi Valentine
I've spent spring break with Calum. The full two weeks. We never spend a day apart. Since all of my friends were basically gone, I could easily go out with my best friend without damaging my popularity. Sibyl's in Greece with her family for two weeks, Poppy is in Spain, and Luke is on the other side of the country with his family – which also means Maxime wouldn't even bother to come out of his house.
On Saturday, we spend our time at his house with Michael. We make music, jam a bit, but mostly; we have fun like old times. It literally feels like we're young again, and everything's alright. No one went away for a month to London, no one dumped the others just because she was scared to lose a loved one again. That someone obviously being me.
I'm not going to lie, I've missed this. I've missed hanging out with these guys, and I've missed the fun we used to have. But I think what I did was best for myself, to heal after what happened. To grief by myself. To pick myself up again.
On Sunday, we spend the day at Michael's for once, doing the exact same thing we did at Calum's, like we hadn't done anything else for years. A dozen songs were written and finished, and I somehow even let them help me finish Grace's song. I didn't tell them about what it was, just told them it was something I came up with.
"You're still amazing at songwriting, Nomi," says Michael with a wide smile.
"Thanks, Mike!" I say back, smiling equally as wide. It really does feel the same as it always has, which makes me truly, genuinely happy. And I think it makes them happy too.
On Monday, Michael had to go to a family party, so Calum and I decide to spend the day together. We debated for a really long time to either go to a theme park or the beach. We had decided on the theme park, and we'd go to the beach another day.
"Are you sure you want to pay?" I ask him when we're getting our tickets and he's already insisting on paying mine too. He smiles and nods his head, and that one smile somehow made my body tingle like it had never before.
That day, we go on rides together, yelling at the top of our lungs and me laughing at him screaming like a little girl who had seen a monster underneath her bed. I pay for ice creams and other snacks, he pays for drinks.
"Today was amazing," I tell him when we leave the park. The sun is already setting, which is my favourite time of the day as Calum's eyes would turn more golden than brown, his skin looking more glow-y than other times.
"Yeah, it really was," he says, and for a second, our hands touch. My finger tips graze the palm of his hand and I get the urge to hold his hand for a moment. But I don't. Instead, I shove my hands into the pocket of the jean jacket I'm wearing. I've never felt this way about Calum before. I thought I did when I was fourteen, but that was just because he was there, and I thought it was the right thing to do. I've always found him attractive, but never in that way. I never really, truly saw him in this light. But I feel like I'm slowly, but surely developing something for him. A crush, maybe. Or actual, true feelings. Maybe I'm infatuated. Either way, there is something there, and I know it.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we spend the day at my house. We're either sat in the garden with songs that needed to be finished, some milkshakes my mother made, or we're sat in my bedroom, both reading books. I'm sat at the foot of my bed on the floor, with my legs stretched out. He's sat on the small bench at my window, legs stretched out. He'd tease me, touch his foot against my leg, then giggle like a small child, peeking from above his book. I'd touch his foot back, giggle a little too as I look up from my book.
As the days go on, I start to feel more and more infatuated with Calum. Every time I see him, I get this weird, tingly feeling in the pit of my stomach. Every time he smiles, I smile and my heart smiles. Every time I hear him laugh, it's like I hear an angelic choir in my head. I know I got it bad, and I know I probably shouldn't. Calum's my best friend. I shouldn't feel this way about my best friend. I've known him for eleven years, and I have never felt this way about him before, why do I now all of a sudden?
