Aftershocks | Calum Hood

2

"Cal, are you serious?" Mackenzie asked.

"I'm dead serious, Mack. Say the word and I'll get us out of here. We'll go somewhere, just us, until this all blows over. We'll figure it out."

"But Cal, everyone's already here, my parents have spent so much money. I can't just not show up to my own wedding. Can I?" She asked, sounding unsure.

"Can you look me in the eyes and tell me this is honestly what you want? This room full of people you don't know? This isn't what you've always told me you wanted, Mack. I'm giving you an out. But if you swear to me this is what you want, that this will make you happy then we can pretend like this never happened and I'll go take my seat and watch you marry him. I'll be happy for you."

He spoke through the lump in his throat that gathered as he spoke of his worst fears. That she would reject him, that he'd leave tonight alone.

"But Mack," he continued. "If you tell me he doesn't make you happy, that you want an out, like I think you do. I'll get us out of here, we'll run off and I'll repay your parents for every penny they spent on this wedding."

"Cal, this is crazy." She whispered.

"Not as crazy as you marrying the wrong man."

She was silent for a long time, staring out the small window of the bathroom.

"Why didn't you say anything?" She asked finally. "All this time."

"I just — I was going to once. But then you showed up excited about Tanner, and I just never got the nerve again."

"Fuck, I wish you would have told me."

"Would it have changed anything then? Does it change anything now?"

"I—I don't know." She said, her confused expression stung but he tried to keep his face unreadable. "Maybe? This is just a lot at once. You're my best friend, Cal. I mean, I've definitely thought about it, but I don't know."

"Come with me Mack. My car is waiting, we can run away and figure it out."

She bit her lip and stared back at him before replying with the smallest nod she could muster.

"Okay, lets go."

Holy shit. He couldn't believe she'd really agreed to it nor could he stop the immense grin that filled his face. She'd agreed. This was really happening.

"Fuck. Okay. I can't believe we're doing this. Um—."

"Breathe, Cal."

"Yeah, okay. Right. My car is downstairs waiting. I'm gonna walk out and find Harper and tell her to clear everyone out of the suite then we'll make a dash down and hopefully get out of the parking lot before anyone notices we're missing."

Mackenzie looked skeptical but none the less she nodded and agreed to go along with his plan.

Cal stepped towards her, her agreement to come with him fueling his courage as he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek.

"Cal!" She called after him as he turned to reach for the door.

"Yeah, Mack?"

"Everything's going to be okay, right? Everyone will be mad but they'll get over it, yeah?"

He sighed and stepped back to her, he cupped her cheeks with his hands and stared in her eyes. He'd always been fascinated by her eyes and the way they always seemed to shift color, today they were green, like emeralds, and he wanted to get lost in them. Time however, was of the essence, so he breathed and spoke to her.

"I could care less about them, Mack. Will this make you happy?"

She nodded.

"Then everything else will work itself out, it always does." He pulled her in for a kiss to her forehead and a tight hug before he departed.

The bridal suite was much less cramped than earlier, many of the guests having gone to take their seats in the room where the ceremony was to be held. Calum said a little thank you to a higher power for the nearly cleared room as he moved swiftly towards the mess of fiery red hair in the corner.

"Harp." He said firmly hoping to indicate with his inflection that this was a serious matter.

Harper turned around to face him and sucked in a breath. It was as if she seemed to already know. Was his face really that easy to read?

"I fucking knew it." She mumbled under her breath pulling him further into the corner she'd been finishing getting ready in and lowering her voice.

"Thank God you're here. Do you have a plan?"

"You know?" Calum asked just wanting clarification.

"I've always known you were in love with her. Never thought you would have the balls to ruin her wedding but I'll take it. Did she agree?"

"Agree to what?" Calum asked trying to play dumb and gauge exactly how much of his plan Harper had caught on to.

"Are you guys running off or not?" She asked, obviously growing annoyed with his game.

"Yes, we just need to get downstairs, hopefully unseen. Can you help with that?"

"I got you." She said pointing him back in the direction of the bathroom. In the direction of Mackenzie.

He crossed the floor quickly and turned the knob for the bathroom just as Harper asked the other bridesmaids to head down for the lineup, leaving the room empty, except for the three of them.

Calum took Mack's hand in his squeezing it reassuringly as they both looked to Harp.

She practically beamed at the sight of their intertwined hands.

"I've been waiting for this, for literally ever. I love you both. There's a rear stairwell just through here." She pointed to a door that had gone unnoticed in the midst of the chaos of the morning. She opened the door and gestured for them to step through.

"At the bottom of the stairs, take a left and you'll be in the parking lot. I love you both immensely and I'm so happy for you. Don't worry about a thing here. I'll take care of it!"

Kenzie leaned over and pressed a kiss to her oldest friends cheek before allowing Calum to pull her behind him down the stairs.

They ran quickly towards the car, ignoring the looks they got from a few stragglers in the parking lot. They couldn't be bothered with whether their onlookers were guests or strangers, they were solely focused on making their getaway.

"Holy shit." Mackenzie said as the car roared to life and Calum pulled out of the parking lot.

"Did we really just do that?" Calum yelled, excitedly.

"Oh my God I can't believe we're doing this." Mack cried. She let out a laugh, melodic and sweet as they furthered the distance between the wedding that would never be, and the life of possibilities they had just uncovered.

An: ahhhhh they really did it

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Sav 🖤