Imagine 49: Calum Thomas Hood (Notebook)
He wouldn't admit it, Calum was beyond nervous the first time he let you read his notebook.
He felt as if his heartbeat was the prominent bass drop in EDM tracks, the beat coursing though his body, almost making him jump.
A wave of anxiousness had hit you when you'd opened his notebook and saw his messy sentences.
It was like being given an x-ray of his innermost thoughts and feelings; like you were seeing him raw and untouched, and you were afraid that you'd tarnish it.
Calum tried not to stare as you read his stories. your eyes paying attention to every detail he wrote in pen, a part of you wondering what was behind every erasure he tried hiding in his work.
Simply watching you sat with his notebook in your hands, Calum could feel his chest tightening, scenes to write on paper already forming in his head as he messed his mini afro up with his hand.
He seemed so casual on the outside, but he was terrified. He couldn't stress how close to his heart those pages were. Everything he'd felt and thought of was right there at your fingertips.
Would you treat him differently because of the side of him you saw in his notebook? Would something change between the two of you?
Somewhere in the mess of thoughts in Calum's head, he felt your hand tug at his softly, urgently, as you intertwined your fingers with his, squeezing his hand in reassurance as if you'd sensed his uneasiness.
Calum took a swig of beer and sighed quietly, putting his feet up on the low table, trying to block everything out and focus on the football game on the TV screen.