RISKY BUSINESS

Chapter 16

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Ashton waved a hand in my face. "Brooklyn, did you hear me?"

I blinked and looked up at him. "Oh, sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if you needed a lift back home? When are you leaving?"

My eyes widened slightly, and I closed my book and put it down to grab my phone out from my jean pocket. When I saw the time, I almost gasped. I'd been here for three hours, just reading. Talk about getting lost in a dream.

I stood from the beanbag with my book in one hand and my phone in the other, and I sent Ashton a pained smile. "Would it trouble you to drop me off home?"

He shook his head and sent me a smile. "Not at all. I just thought that since Cal and I are going to hang at his, maybe you'd want me to take you too, since you live next door to him. Come, we'll go help him find his movie and then we can leave."

I nodded and let him lead the way over to Calum, who just looked plain angry now. I couldn't help but feel bad for him— but in a way that you'd feel bad for a little kid that just dropped their ice-cream in the dirt. Nevertheless, when we reached him I decided to help him out. Even if I still felt awkward around him.

"What movie are you looking for?" I asked softly as I stood beside him. He looked up at me with wide eyes as soon as he heard my voice, but calmed when he realised who I was. Then he looked back over to the six-layered shelf with that look of determination back in his eyes.

"Some lame nineties movie. I think it's, like, a high school romance film— which is even worse," he scoffed before looking back over at me. "It's called 10 Things I Hate About You."

My eyes widened and I gasped out of happiness. "I love that movie! It's really good, trust me."

He shook his head. "Nah, all of those high school romance movies are a load of bull."

I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling the urge to defend every high school romance movie out there. "That's not true. What about Luke and Morgan? Is their relationship a load of bull, too? My parents fell in love during high school, is their marriage bull as well? Just because you're incapable of loving anyone but yourself—"

"That's not nice."

I shut my mouth, and narrowed my eyes at him. Was he seriously trying to make me feel sorry for him?

I looked over at Ashton and saw him nervously looking between the two of us. Clearly he wouldn't step in and help out, I doubted anyone had the guts to call Calum out. Maybe there was a reason behind that, but when I looked back over at Calum and saw the hurt in his eyes, I realised something. I knew nothing about this boy. There was so much more to who he was than what I'd witnessed in a week. So what gave me the right to judge him and say hurtful things about him?

A sigh fell from my lips, and I uncrossed my arms and slipped my hands into my jacket pockets.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it. I just really like that movie— it deserves more credit than it gets." It was true. 10 Things I Hate About You was one of the best teenage drama/romance movies ever to be made in the nineties. Or even history.

He shrugged, acting like it didn't bother him. But I think it did. "It doesn't matter. Can we just find this movie and leave?"

He turned to Ashton when he spoke, and my heart dropped. He wanted to get away from me, that was obvious. But only God knew how he might react to hearing that he'd be stuck in Ashton's car with me for an extended time. I think Ashton was thinking that too, because he cleared his throat awkwardly and shot a nervous glance over at me.

"Uh, yeah man. I just wanna tell you now that we're taking Brooklyn home. She needed a lift, so I offered."

Calum shot him a look, then tried to discreetly send one my way too— but I saw it, and I frowned. I felt bad. All I wanted to do was help him, but I ended up making things worse. I wanted things to stop being so tense between us, so I cleared my throat and got his gaze on me once last time.

"How about I just lend you mine?"

He stared at me for a good minute before nodding, his jaw unclenching and his face calming back to his usual smug look. "Alright, sweet."

Later on, when Ashton parked half on Calum's curb and half on the grass of the landsrtip, I felt slightly relieved. Relieved, because I'd managed to not get on Calum's bad side once again. I always seemed to ruin his mood or say hurtful things to him when he was near, and I hated that about myself. I couldn't help it, I was naturally a judgemental person— all thanks to my mother. She put every ounce of judgemental and stereotypical nonsense in my head. And I didn't like that. I didn't want to be a bad person. So I stayed quiet and listened to Ashton and Calum's conversation about the upcoming soccer game, only speaking once when they asked if I'd be there. I said maybe, if my mum let me.

And something I noticed about Calum? He seemed to frown whenever I mentioned my mother, as if he knew the pressure she put on me. Maybe I just made it obvious that I didn't like a lot of the things she said or did. Or maybe he just knew me, but I doubted that. We'd only known each other for, like, a week.

When I dived headfirst into bed that night, I thought about that; how we only started talking a week ago, and yet so much had happened already, like our kiss. Then I thought about that night; our date, or whatever it was. I thought about how much I had learnt about him that night, and how good of a person he could be if you knew how to treat him, or what to say and what-not to say. He wasn't an easy person to befriend, or be around for that matter. But I would try.

I'd try to understand him.