Why Won't You Love Me? | Calum Hood

two

Calum Hood was not an impulsive man; at least he hadn't been since his early teen years. But right in this moment, he was twenty-three years old, sitting in a café called "The Bean", while sitting across from one of the most stunning girls he had ever seen. He had not expected her to ask him to get lunch but hell, if she was going to take risks, he would too.

"Have you been here before?" Aurora asked, looking up from the cup of coffee in her hand. The small girl had taken Calum to her favorite coffee shop in California. She loved the atmosphere of the small place and it was probably the most genuine restaurant she had seen in Los Angeles. It reminded her of home.

Calum could not help but allow a grin to overtake his face. She was genuinely curious over something so small and her lower lip was pulled into her mouth as she waited his response. She was so nervous. "Can't say I have. I just moved to this part of Los Angeles. It was closer to the studio and closer to my friends."

Aurora could not help but question what he meant by studio. Was he in a band? Was he in the music industry too? This could end up messy if he was. She was constantly in the studio as well, but she had to keep her job a secret.

"Studio? Are you a musician?" Aurora questioned, not really sure if she had seen him before. He gave the vibes that he may have been a musician, but she did not want to assume. He could either be someone actually famous or he could be someone that was running-after-their-dreams-in-Los-Angeles-to-be-famous-but-actually-sucked-at-anything musical. Aurora was skeptical.

"I'm in a band called, 5 Seconds of Summer, you may have heard of us? I play bass. That is partially why I came up to talk to you. I saw you had a guitar in your hand. A Taylor? Classic guitar," Calum said, smiling as he realized that maybe, just maybe, he had found a woman that liked music as much as he did.

Aurora mentally and physically gulped. She liked his band. She had written a song for his band. She had written "Why Won't You Love Me?" for the band on their new album. She just did not know the faces of the members in the band. The small girl could probably point out the one that dyes, or used to dye, his hair a lot. That was it.

"Yes! I have heard of your band. I love the new album. 'Lie to Me' is actually in my brooding playlist on Spotify. I just did not know who is who in the band is. And my Taylor is my baby. It is my go-to always," Aurora admitted, shyly picking at her nails. Calum mentally cooed. She was adorable.

"Glad to know you are a fan," Calum mused, "And were you just casually playing or are you a musician as well?"

"What constitutes a musician, though? I can play five different instruments; guitar, piano, bass, piano, and the trumpet- from high school concert band- but I'm not necessarily in a band or anything like that," Aurora asked, watching as Calum furrowed his eyebrows at her question. He seemed to take her question to heart.

Aurora watched as he brought his coffee mug up to his lips, taking a quick sip, and she could not help but see how he licked his upper lip as he did so. Was it too soon to be whipped? Aurora also had to remind herself that it was just lust at the moment and not that she had fallen in love with him so quickly.

She had to admit that she felt a bit insecure under his very watchful and observant gaze, saying she was running on four hours of sleep from trying to write the song. Her hair was falling out of the bun it was in, she was wearing one of her brother's old t-shirts from high school, and she had the biggest bags under her eyes. She had not put on any make up to cover it up. Yet, the Adonis himself, Calum, was still sitting across from her.

"I've never thought of it like that. I just ask it that way because I feel like everyone I meet out here is a struggling artist, a SoundCloud musician, a trust fund baby or an instamodel," Calum answered, thinking of everyone he had met. He found it hard to meet genuine people out in Los Angeles. "What do you do for a living?"