chapter sixteen
three months later
Calum found Asia in a Mexican restaurant in a small town of the coast of New Jersy—a pair of washed out jeans hung loosely on her hips, she had a nose ring now (the kind where it was just a stud) and if you and I (who had promptly forgotten all of our knowledge of Asia Mills in the past months) had glanced at her, she would've seemed like a normal nineteen year old—with a funny sadness in her eyes.
He watched her from behind an upside down menu, tucked away in a corner booth—each time she breezed past him to the kitchen he sunk lower in his seat, pretending to be absorbed in the pictures that hung on the wall. (They were of naked women riding cows.) He watched as she laughed at something a customer said, how when no one was looking she straightened the stack of menus on the bar—and how her smile faltered a bit when she saw a young girl proudly wearing a shirt displaying his face on it.
"I love your shirt." Calum heard Asia say softly, turning to the right he manged to catch a glimpse of her on her knees; at the girls eye level, a smile across her face. "I once met Mister Calum Hood."
"Really?" The girl exclaimed, her lack of front teeth combined with the excitement she was feeling caused her to slur her words together (it sounded like whelryh?) "Oh my gosh—w-was he nice??"
"Oh he was very nice, he even kissed my cheek."
Although Mr. Calum Hood had done much more than kiss her cheek, Asia felt a familiar whisper of warmth trickling down her spine - the innocence of their conversation reminding Asia of her own youth.
The sounds of the small girls distressed comments filled his ears, before he heard Asia's hushed tone once again. "Hey, hey, hey! Relax hun—I can get you an autograph or something, I um—"
"I can do it right now." Calum found himself calling, his legs carrying him over to wear the voices were, Asia's face paled, the small girls grew red with excitment—and her parents silently celebrated never having to buy her Meet and Greet tickets.
After Calum had signed practically every inch of the child's body, Asia pulled him into the Staff's break room, her dark eyes narrowed in confusion.
"H-how did you find me?"
Calum shrugged—she had to admit it was a bit of a shock seeing him after three months, but she had grown to expect shock with him.
"I asked your mum, and she told me."
Asia frowned at the mention of her mother, disapproval evident on her face, "Cal, I—"
He ignored her protests and wrapped his arms around her, she eventually slithered her arms around his middle and laid her head against his chest.
Asia and Calum weren't soulmates, they were just two people that loved each other very, very, much. And as you grow older and wiser and your skin starts to get freckles in places it never got before, or you find yourself crying over episodes of How I Met Your mother that weren't REALLY that sad, you realize that simple truth. It is said that there are over seven people you could end up with in the world, seven individuals that hold the possibility of your future happiness in the palms of their hands. And that scared Asia, and that scared Calum, and as the two of them stood pressed against each other, ignoring the steady stream of faint conversation from the other room they both realized something.
"Did you ever love me?" Asia asked, her lips numb with cold, her eyes rimmed with red from the countless tears she had shed upon meeting Calum Hood so long ago.
