Tangled Strings (sequel to Red Strings)

Chapter 20

He laughs as he pushed back a strand of hair back.  We see that we've nearly finished our pizzas, the dough just needs to be rolled out, and the toppings and sauce and all the basic stuff.  "Alright boys let's get this rolled out!" I state as I grab a wooden rolling pin and I flour down the surface quickly smacking the dough onto it.  

"Don't kill the dough!" Michael yells as I roll my eyes and say "Relaxxxxx here this is what I'm gonna do.  I'm gonna roll this whole pizza out, and you boys can get out the cheese and tomato sauce." "Can we put pepperoni on it?" Ashton asked and I said "Sure." "What about pineapple?" Michael asks.

"I've got an idea.  Since Suke's out, we each get a quarter of the pizza.  So, you can put whatever you want on your quarter." I say and the boys glance at each other and I then raise my eyebrow and prod "So?  Do we have a deal?"  The boys then nod, as they get out the other ingredients while I'm busy trying to make this pizza look.....well....circular.

"Ugh what is it with this!" I groan as I angrily smack it with the rolling pin.  "Is that how you're supposed to roll out dough?" Calum asked and I looked at him and replied "Italians get angry all the time, and I figured it would add something."  I turned back to the pizza and sigh, as it stares at me, slightly out of shape, mocking me.  

"Hey....if it means that much to you I can try to help." Calum states and I pout before suddenly he comes from behind and says "Listen you just need to even it out a little over here...." He begins to guide my hands and I feel that familiar fluttering inside of me.  I suddenly realize that Calum has made the pizza.....well....perfectly circular.

"Thanks." I say as I look at him, and we quickly realize what we were doing and immediately pull away.  "DECORATING TIME!" Ashton says in his girly voice as we dump tomato sauce onto it, before we dumped the cheese on it too.  "Shit, the egg is still in my hair right?" I ask as I put a bit of pepperoni on my quarter.  

"Yeah actually." Michael laughs and I groan.  "What if I get salmonella though?" I ask as I begin to wash my hands.  "You can get salamanders from eggs?" Ashton asks and I shake my head.  "No....it's this bacteria." I say with a bit of a laugh.  "So Calum needs to get it out of his hair too." I say as I turn to Calum.  

"OH MY GOD WHAT IF I GET THIS SALAMANDER BACTERIA THING, COMMON MIKEY LET'S PUT THIS PIZZA IN THE OVEN AND SANITIZE!!!" Ashton yells as he puts the pizza in the oven, sets the timer, and drags Michael up the stairs.  "So I guess I have to wash egg out of my hair." I say as I walk up the stairs, walking into my room just to grab my sweats, before I headed to the bathroom.

Too bad Ashton cut in front of me.  "Sorry Natalie, we have to make sure these hands are squeaky clean!" he states shutting the door.  "But- ASHTON FLETCHER IRWIN I NEED TO WASH EGG OUT OF MY HAIR!" I say banging on the door.  "Oi don't knock the door down!" Michael yells from down the hall.  

I groan before suddenly Calum pops out of his room and says "Hey you can come use my shower." "Cal it's ok, I'll just go to the other bathroom...." "You realize that the other bathroom doesn't have a shower right?" "It doesn't?" "Nope.  I got the room with the shower.  Sometimes the boys use it, but mostly.....it's mine."

"Calum it's fine I mean, you have to wash your hair too and stuff-" "Natalie just get that flour out of your hair.  The white doesn't suit." he jokes as he opens his door and lets me into his room.

It's the first time I've seen his room since I've arrived.  It's got a couple bandposters all around, with a black duvet and pillows.  The room walls are a stark white, and I can see that he has his bass and an acoustic guitar propped up against a simple desk and wheely chair.  He also has a bean bag chair.  

"Funky." I joke as I plop down into the beanbag chair.  "I needed that little something." he said as sits down on the edge of his bed.  "I should probably get in the shower...." I say as I get up and I head into the bathroom.  My mouth nearly drops, because the bathroom is so....NICE.

It's clean.  SUPER clean.  The floor tiles are white, and the backsplash in the glass encased shower is a dark grey tile, while the rest of the bathroom has a simple white feeling.  I then turn to Calum and say " Calum if you need to shower first you can go ahead...." "It's alright.  I can see if I can coax Ashton out of there." he says as he leans against the doorway.  I nod, as the sunlight filters in from a sky light, and I take my hair out of its pony tail, as it tumbles down my back.

"You know you've always had gorgeous hair." Calum suddenly says.  He's still there.  I smile a little as I look down, embarrassed.  "Thanks." I say and Calum takes this as his cue to leave, and he does.  "You can lock the door if you want to!" he calls and I can hear the bedroom door shut.

I gently shut the bathroom door, but I trust that no one is going to burst in.  I get the water running, having it go hot.  Finally when the water is at the right temperature, I step in, letting it run off of me, letting it relax me.  That, and get the egg out of my hair.  

Finally, once I felt sufficient, I get out of the shower, and I grab a towel, drying myself off and changing into a pair of sweats and in a cropped tee.  I dried my hair a little with my towel before I scrunched my mousse into it.  The mousse helped my hair curl, but without going crazy frizzy or anything. 

I step out of the bathroom and I see that Calum's laid down sideways across on the bed.  I smile and I join him, our heads right beside each other.  "Hey." I say as I look at him.  "Hi." he whispers back and he looks at me.  We're literally inches apart now, and the silence between us is comforting, as we look at each other.  

"So we made pizza.  And this is what happens." I state as I stare at the ceiling.  "Well we are the 5sos boys.  We may do weird shit once in a while." he says shrugging before I giggle a little.  "So where did Luke and Skyler go?" "No idea actually.  Luke does that a lot with his relationship with Sky.  He's always trying to keep it low key around people.  He's so private about it, I mean, the fans barely even know too much about them." he says.

I bite my lip.  The fans.  The hate Skyler never got.  I don't say anything and I then say "You know, I found it pretty shocking you were working with Alex.  That's absolutely crazy."  Calum glances at me and says "Who do you want me to work with?" "No, I'm not saying there's anything with Alex.  But next thing I know, Kellin Quinn or Vic Fuentes is gonna come strolling through the door." I joke.

We both laugh a bit, and then we quiet down, and we're staring at the ceiling.  However, I feel Calum's gaze shift onto me, before I look at him too.  The light is hitting him so that I can clearly tell his pupils from his eye colour, the same chocolate brown I've loved since that day way back when.  Subtly, Calum begins to lean in closer.  I can sense it.  I look at his lips and bite my own.  God, I've wanted to do it for months.  So why am I backing out now?  

The timer on the oven goes off.  Calum freezes and I then say "Well looks like we gotta eat!" I sit up immediately and I feel myself getting a little hot, as I go down the stairs, my hair still wet.  I get into the kitchen as Michael gently takes the pizza and puts it onto the counter.  

"I did it!" he says and I laugh and say "Well that you did Michael!" "FOOOOOODDDD!" He yells and finally we all get our pizza quarters, and we sit down and begin to continue to watch "The Vampire Diaries" despite what Michael and Calum said.