10 Things We've Done (But Probably Shouldn't Have) | C.H

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"You coming? Who are you texting?" Ava and I begin walking down the hall.

"Calum. I invited him and the others." I respond.

"Ooh!" She says as she nudges me. "He likes you, Liv and I can tell you like him back."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever. I don't like him and he doesn't like me." He tried to kiss me though...

"Mhmm, sure." Ava grabs her keys off of the island and pushes open the back door.

"Aren't we in trouble?" I smirk.

"Yeah, but I find this more important. Hey! While we're heading to the beach and stuff, we should look for a job for you! If you don't want to be stuck working in my mom's store like I am." Ava says as she slips on her Coach sunglasses.

"Yeah. That's a good idea." We walk in silence and finally I have the balls to speak up again. "Why don't you just quit your mom's job and where's your dad?"

Ava looks down as we walk. "He's in a mental institution. He was placed there for seeing things that weren't there. Like he kept saying that he was seeing his dead wife and daughter -- the one before my mom -- and sometimes, he would set plates for them. My mom was scared shitless," she chuckled slightly. "So then, she called and they took him away."

She looked back at me. "And I can't quit because the store means a lot to my mom and she's hoping that one day, I'll stay here in Florida and keep her shop."

"Wow," I say. That's really all I can say. Ava's father is in a mental institution. It's going to take a lot for that to soak in. "I'm sorry that happened, Ava."

She shrugs. "It's alright. Things happen. I visit him every other week so he'll remember me and love me as much as he loved his other daughter and wife."

Ava and I walk in the dark silence again. I push my dark brown hair from my face and I notice the beach ahead. It was the same beach where we had the bonfire last night.

We reach the entrance and we see Ava's friends sitting on the sand with a blanket and a vintage boom box. I didn't even know that they still had those.

Ava walks over and takes a seat by Michael, whom kisses her cheek sweetly. I sit beside Lillian and I watch Calum tackle Luke. They were playing a game of soccer with Ashton.

"He hasn't stopped talking about you since last night," Lillian says. Those were the first words Lillian has ever said to me.

"Calum?" I ask dumbly.

Lillian nods. "He keeps talking about how beautiful you are and how deep and down-to-earth you are."

I smile a bit and she turns to look at me.

"Really?" I have to suppress the laughter that was bubbling up in my chest.

She nods and smiles back.

"You and Luke are cute together," I note.

I watch as Michael and Ava run up to join the boys' soccer game. Ava trips on air it seems and falls. Michael laughs, clutching his stomach as Ava gets up to slap him playfully, earning a sweet and passionate kiss.

"Thank you," Lillian says as she grabs a sandwich out of her orange fringe bag. "Tomorrow is our three year anniversary."

"Oh really? Congratulations!" I pipe for the first time I've been here.

Lillian smiles again and bites into her PB&J. She reaches over and turns on the boom box. Rock music fills the air and she suddenly jumps up. Luke stops what he's doing and she screams:

"This is our song! Luke, this is our mothereffing song!"

I recognize the band singing this song. Nirvana. It's Lithium written by Nirvana. Calum runs over to me, sweat glistening on his forehead.

He holds a hand out to me with a smile. "Wanna jam?"

I laugh and take his hand. He helps me up and places his right hand on my lower back and takes my right hand with his left.

We just kind of stand there staring into each other's eyes like creeps. But it feels good...to just stand there looking at him.

"So," I say clearing my throat. "I told you about myself last night. Tell me about you now."

Calum grins and laughs. "I'm not interesting and intriguing like you. My life is pretty normal. I have a sister and I'm obviously from Australia and my friends and I are in somewhat of a band."

My eyebrows raise. "Really? A band? Cool! That is so badass!"

He laughs again. God, how I love his laugh. "We consider ourselves punk rock but we had rubber duckies on the speaker for this one show we did."

It is my turn to laugh now. I haven't laughed this much in forever. Calum just brings that out. I wrap my arms around his neck and place my cheek on his shoulder.

This moment felt perfect. Everything a girl could've wanted. Dancing with a hot guy on the beach with Nirvana playing on a boom box.

Calum brings out another me.

♡ ☪ ♡

"What do you even want to do?" Ashton asks me as we all walked down the street towards the stores.

I shrug. "I don't know. Anything besides Cindy's dress store." I laugh and look at Ava who also laughs.

"You could deliver pizza," Michael suggests.

"No way. I am not giving up my nights to deliver pizza. That is for people who have zero social life." I shudder. I used to deliver pizzas because 1) I needed fast money and 2) I had no friends and no social life.

"So stereotypical!" Lillian says throwing her arms in the air.

"What?" I smile. "It's true!"

"Did you deliver pizzas?" Calum asks as he slips an arm around my waist.

"Yeah and it sucked balls." I reply with a grin.

"Ooh! Fabulous Fiona is hiring!" Ava shouts and points.

"What the eff?" I ask. "Is that where a bunch of eight-year-old girls get together for girly parties and get cheap make up and hair extensions?"

"Well if you say it like that, Liv," Ava rolls her big, blue eyes. "Lillian, Addison, and I used to go here for our birthdays and stuff."

"Ugh, don't bring me into this. I vowed that I would never accosiate myself with Prissy Bitches." Lillian sassily says, pushing away her honey brown hair.

"Don't insult Fabulous Fiona like that!" Ava says, clearly taken aback.

Lillian shrugs and reaches for Luke's hand. I scan the shops and restaurants. Forever 21, Delia's, rue21, Wet Seal, Sonic, Panda Express....OH MY GOD PANDA EXPRESS!

I squeal and run over to Panda Express. I push open the door, inhaling the amazing scent of Chinese food. Walking over to the 'Now Hiring' stand, I grab a forum. I walk back out with the paper in my back pocket. I got back to everyone and they just looked at me like I was weird.

"Panda Express is the shit," Michael says to me as we start walking again.

"Yes!"

We high five and my phone starts to ring playing Helena by My Chemical Romance. I look at the caller ID and groan. Cindy. I decline the call.

I shove my phone back into my pocket. "Cindy tried calling me." I say before anyone tried to ask me questions.

"What did she want?" Ava asks me, wrapping her arm around Michael's waist and smiling.

"I don't know. I declined it." I simply say.

A hand finds mine and I quickly look down. It was Calum's. I look up at him and he smiles. Reluctant about everything, I smile back.