04 | Handkerchief
Calum | POV
I wake up from the soft buzz from my phone. I stretched my arm, reaching for the bedside table feeling for the object.
"Hey, did I wake you?" I smile hearing Sophia's gentle voice. I shuffled underneath the sheets. "You did." I admit. I hear her gasp on the other line. "Oh, i'm sorry, Cal. Go back to bed." She tells me.
I got off the bed and walked towards the closet. Apparently Mali says it's inappropriate to eat breakfast in just my boxers."It's alright, hey, I was wondering if—"
I was cut off mid sentence when I hear a bone jerking scream. "AAAAH!"
"Mali." I whispered, dropping the phone instantly and running through the door. "CALUM!" She screams. "Calum!"
"Mali!" I yelled. "Shit." The door was jammed. I hurriedly ran to the drawer and pull out a gun, shooting the knob twice before I kick it open.
I jerk up from my bed, beads of cold sweat forming on my forehead. I was panting, leaning on the headboard with my eyes closed. I heaved a sigh. "Mali." I whispered, opening my eyes and looking at the tattoo on my arm.
I ran my thumb across the ink, "I miss you, Mali." My heart skipped a beat when the Music Box plays. I smiled. It was Mali's, it was her favorite thing in the world. The clock our mother gave her when she was six. It plays the music and the ballerina turns around every three hours, it was her most priced possession.
I got off the bed and head downstairs, even in boxers. Without Mali reprimanding me about eating in my boxers, I don't bother putting on some other clothes. Because doing it will remind me of my sister, doing what she used to tell me to do would always remind me of her, and it depresses me every single time.
When I came down for breakfast, the maids have already set up the table and the meal was already prepared. "Young Master." One of them bows as she pours me a cup of tea. I waved her off afterwards.
I sat there in silence for a while, looking at the empty chairs and the amount of food prepared for me, just for me. I frowned, realizing how alone I was. I shook my head and began picking from the variety of viands.
After breakfast, I got ready for school and drove to Sophia's place. I was trying to phone her in to tell her I was already on my way, but she doesn't pick up.
From: Calum Hood
Soph, i'm on my way to pick you up. :)
From: Calum Hood
You there?
From: Calum Hood
Hey Soph, why aren't you answering my calls?
From: Calum Hood
Why won't you pick up? :(
Finally, my phone buzzes.
From: Sophia Lawson
I'm already in school, Cal.
I cursed under my breath and tossed my phone on the shotgun seat. Is she mad? Did she, by chance, see me bring Mia to the clinic? I shook my head. "Women." I whispered to my self as I signaled to make a u-turn.
Mia | POV
"Where? Take me to her!" Luke talks to the imaginary dwarves and I try to hold my laughter.
He then motions as if he was jumping to ride on a horse. "Ya!" he slashes his imaginary whip on his inexistent horse and I put my hand over my mouth.
"She's over here!" He says, pinching his nose to create a tiny voice. "Oh my god" I whispered-laughed. "Luke, is this supposed to be an us-thing or a one man drama?" I burst into hysterics. He rolls his eyes, "That's not in the script, Snow White." He laughs and I raise my hands in surrender.
"And then," he pauses and opens an imaginary door. "You can be a mime, just saying." I said and he shuts me off by holding up his index finger.
"I open the door, then I see you lying there." He says, pointing to what I think an imaginary bed. He takes steps closer to his imaginary bed. "Oh! Luke Charming! Kiss me!" He says, raising one hand to his forehead as he tries to mimic my voice. I rolled my my script and smack his head with it. "That's not even in the script! God have you even seen Snow White? How does a half dead girl talk?!" I burst out laughing again.
"You two look like you're having so much fun." Luke and I turn around and saw Sophia standing there. "That's because we are." Luke says, draping his arm around my shoulders, giving me a side hug. "He's crazy." I comment and Sophia laughs.
"Where's your partner?" I ask, we're supposed to be practicing by pairs. She shrugs. "Nah, I'm not really a pair kind of person, I like practicing alone." She says and I nod.
"Continue your one man drama, Luke. I'm off to practice my lines." She says, holding her script up. I turned to Luke and stuck my tongue out, "told you, it wasn't an us-thing. It was a one man drama." I shook my head and smiled.
The instructor claps her hand. The whole class turns their attention to her. "I want you all to memorize all of the drills that I handed out to you, from the start to this meeting. You, along with your partner, will be graded next week." She says. "For now, you are all dismissed." And in a span of five seconds, every seemed to have left the room.
"See you tomorrow, Mia." Luke says and I waved him off. Camille waits for me outside the theater. "I find it really difficult to work with my partner." The smell of cherry escapes her lips as she chews on her gum. "Yea? Why?"
"He's so hot! His eyes were blue, he had cute little freckles, his accent is sexy, did I mention he's half Russian? Oh and..." Her voice trails off as my mind flies away. Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something? "Ah! Right!" I blurted out of nowhere.
"I know! He's such a good kisser!—" She squeals excitedly. I was quick to interject. "No! No! I wasn't talking about—wait, what? how did you know he was a good kiss—YOU KISSED HIM?" I gasped. She bites her lip and nods excitedly. "Oh my god, Camille, you're in the AIDS waiting list." I look at her weirdly.
"Nah-uh." She says, blowing the gum as it pops. "Cam, will you come with me to the university clinic? I have to return something." I asked her. "Oh hell no, girl. I hate that place." She says and I roll my eyes. "Diva. See you tomorrow!" I said while I walked the other side.
The automatic doors open as I neared the entrance. The nurse gleams as she sees me. "How are you feeling, honey?" She asks and I smile at her enthusiasm. "Good. Uhm, I just came here to return these." I say as I unzip my bag and pull out an oversized (at least for me) soccer jersey and a jogger pants.
"Oh, I see." She says and takes the jogger pants. "That jersey belongs to your friend, would you mind returning it to him?" She asks. I hesitated. "I would, ma'am, but I don't remember who brought me in here." I apologized.
She tilts her head, then answers. "Mr. Hood did. You're friends, right?" I thought for a while, I don't have his number or anything, but maybe I can hand it to Sophia. "Uuuh, kinda." I shrug. "Alright, have a good day, ma'am!" I bid and left.
My phone rings. "Gus gus."
"I'm already out here, where are you?" He asks. Holy crap he's already outside the Psychology department! "I uh, I had to pee." Mentally facepalming myself, that was really lame.
"Be quick." He says, ending the call. I brisk-walked to the back exit of the building so Angus doesn't see me, but as I do, I spot Calum.
"Calum!" I called, still holding the jersey in my hand. He doesn't turn, instead he kept walking. "Caaaaaluuuuuuum!" I call again, he doesn't hear. I let out a grunt and paced myself.
He turns to a corner, as I was about to turn to the same corner, I hurriedly took a few steps back.
"Hey." I hear Calum and some shuffling, they probably hugged. I moved a little to take a peek. Yup, definitely a hug.
So wrong, very very wrong. None of my business. I'm not supposed to be eavesdropping! I thought as I tried to convince myself.
I turned around and started to take easy, quiet steps away from the danger zone.
"Calum, i'm breaking up with you." I stopped walking and put my hand over my mouth.
Holy shit I just witnessed a break up, well kinda.
There was a long pause before Calum spoke. "Sophia, I don't under—" but Sophia cuts him off. "I've been receiving text messages, Cal." She starts.
"Threats." She continues. "Give me your phone." Calum instructs, his voice dark. I hear Sophia sigh. "It doesn't matter anymore, Cal. Dating you was the best thing that happened to me, but also the worst. Everyone is jealous, Cal. Too jealous. They all want to hurt me. I can't handle it." She says, her voice sounding like she was about to cry.
"Sophia, please don't do this." Am I hearing this right? Calum is crying. I can hear it. "Sophie, you're the only one I got left... you know that." his voice weak and my heart sank. I feel bad for him.
"You're strong, you and I both know that.. I'm sorry Cal." She says and I hear her walk away. Seconds later, I moved to take a peek on Calum.
She was seated cross legged, his head down and he was sniffing. Should I go talk to him? No, he'll know you heard it all. But he looks so miserable. You aren't even friends. But a friend was once a stranger, right?
I ignored my brain, putting the jersey back into my bag. Maybe i'll return it some other time. I took a deep breath and walked towards him. When I was close enough, I also sat on the floor and leaned on the wall like he does.
He doesn't seem to care of my presence, which was totally fine.
My phone was buzzing again. I rejected the call from Angus and sent him a quick text message. "10 minutes, tell you later dada." I replied.
He sends me a reply right away. "Ten minutes. Call me dada again i'll leave you."
I look at Calum. He doesn't acknowledge my presence. His tears just rolled down again and again, sniffing in between. I observed him, he has a few tattoos, and i'm not even gonna lie, I love his taste in tattoos, and it really looks good on his tan skin. What the hell. I shook my head.
I retrieved a handkerchief from my pocket and handed it to him. He looks at the cloth and ignores it. I sighed.
I took his hand, touching his fingers and moving them away gently to show his palms. I put the hanky on his palm and I moved his fingers closed. I don't even know what to say to comfort him. I told you this was bad idea. My brain scolds.
I reached out for his hand again, this time I held it with both hands.
I gave it a soft squeeze before speaking, "Don't do anything crazy." I tell him and his head snaps to my direction, catching me by surprise. We were both staring wide-eyed at each other, my hands were still wrapped around his.
I cleared my throat and let go of his hand. "Keep it." I say as I stood up and nodded towards the handkerchief. I didn't wait for him to say anything else, I needed to go.
I made my way to the Psychology building through the back exit, and when I got out of the department, I spot the car right away. I opened the door and slipped in the passenger seat, heaving a sigh.
"With two minutes to spare." Angus says before driving off.
When we arrived in the pet shop, I couldn't help but run inside without waiting for my supposed dad.
I looked around for the pups. The bell dings as Gus gus enters. "So, have you decided on what dog you wanted to get?" He asks and I shook my head, bending a little to get a good view on some puppies.
"This one's adorable." Angus says, pointing at the beagle. I looked at it, tilted my head. "Nah." And went looking for other pups. "Is this a great dane?" Angus asks the shop owner and he nods. "It is, it's 5 months old." He smiles.
"Gus gus! I want this!" I say, pointing at the baby Rottweiler. "Hiya little thing!" I say, touching its wet nose. "It's a 5 month old Rottweiler." The shop owner informs. "I'll take it!" I grin. He hesitates.
"Are you sure? Rottweilers are famous for being aggressive." He informs and I shrug it off. "He's still a pup, i'll raise him well." I tell him.
"By saying 'I' you mean actually YOU, right?" Angus tries to emphasize and I gave him sheepish smile. "....Maybe when i'm not in school." He tries to protest but I pat his shoulder, "It's okay Dada, you're a brave man." I grin.
The shop owner put the cage at the back seat, I chose to hold the pup in my arms. "I'm naming you Rocky."