The sound of Michael shuffling around the shared space of their room was what finally woke Calum from his twelve hour 'nap'.
He checked his phone and saw that it was just past one in the morning, all he could do was sigh. Calum hated that now he wasn't tired so he'd be up all night. He decided to get out of bed, going to see what Michael was doing.
As soon as Michael sees Calum standing in his bedroom doorway, he looks up from the table.
"Did I wake you? Fuck, I'm so sorry." Michael mutters, giving him an apologetic look.
Calum shakes his head, "No, you're good. I needed to get up. At least I'll be up for my class at nine."
"Obviously you missed the class you had last night." Michael replies, nervously smiling at Calum. He had no idea if Calum would be mad if he made jokes. He had no idea what mood Calum was in.
"I don't want to go. I want to stay in bed for the next week." Calum groans, sitting across from Michael at the table.
"You know you can't do that. You... you can't hide." Michael says, still not trying to offend Calum.
He sighs, "I know. I don't even know what to say. God, I'm so fucked."
Michael didn't say anything. He was so nervous. The two just sat in silence as Calum was rubbing at his eyes and Michael did homework.
"She has an appointment tomorrow. Today technically, I guess." Calum says, making Michael's head snap up from his notebook.
"Really? Are you going?" Michael questions, moving his work to the side.
Danielle had her appointment today, but it was when Calum was in class. She said she was okay to go alone, and that Calum shouldn't miss class for this.
"No. I think she wants to go alone. She said I shouldn't miss class." He replies, staring down at his hands folded on the table.
"Oh. Well, if you need to talk about it... I'll listen." Michael quietly says.
"I don't want to bother you with this. I'm so sorry. I feel like I've ruined all the fun you should be having because you feel bad for me. Please don't worry about me, I'll be okay." Calum tells him, his voice soft.
He felt awful for putting Michael through all his relationship drama, even though he offered. Calum didn't know who else he could talk to.
"Calum, I keep telling you it's okay." Michael replies, pulling his work closer to him again.
"I don't think I can tell Ashton. I have to wait. I really can't do it." Calum says.
"And that's okay. You were told yesterday. You have a lot of time. Just focus on school for now." Michael tells him.
"I'm having a baby, Michael. A baby. My girlfriend is pregnant. Oh my god." Calum says, the shock quickly coming back.
It hasn't sunk in completely yet. He didn't know why, it just didn't seem real to him. Maybe he wasn't because she wasn't showing, she seemed like normal, non-pregnant Danielle to him.
"Calum, stop. You're fine. It's fine. Kurtis and Cody just started a movie in the common room, you should go hang out with them." Michael replies, a small smile stretching across his lips.
Calum shrugs, "You know what, I might. I have to do something else, something that's not thinking about the baby."
"Okay, get distracted. I think they're watching The Breakfast Club." Michael tells him.
Michael gets a nod in response from Calum, "Michael?"
"Yeah?" Michael asks, picking up his pencil again to focus on his homework.
"Thanks again." Calum weakly smiles as he gets up, walking towards the door so he can go see Cody and Kurtis.
Michael just smiles, "Again, it's no problem."
//
All Calum could think about while sitting in the back of the class was Danielle at her appointment. She was there alone. Nobody was there to support her.
He knew all this, but he couldn't bring himself to get out of his chair to rush to her appointment. It was as if he was glued to his chair and couldn't get up.
Calum couldn't help but glance over to Alyssa on the other side of the room. He felt like an asshole when he didn't sit with her, and he could tell she was offended.
He wasn't trying to hurt Alyssa, or upset her. He just had no idea how to talk to her. Every time he thought of talking to her he felt like he was going to throw up. Calum didn't know what to say.
Alyssa was so important to Calum. He hasn't known her for long, and there were people in his life who were closer to him than Alyssa was. But having to tell her was giving him nightmares.
The second class was dismissed, Calum practically ran. He couldn't face Alyssa. He had no idea how to avoid her, but he was certain he was going to do it.
But things don't always go well for Calum, for Michael stopped him in the lobby of the residence building.
"Calum, hey-"
"Not now, Michael." Calum quickly replies, just wanting to continue to their room.
Michael rolls his eyes, "Dude, wait-"
Calum groans, grabbing Michael's arm and dragging him into the men's bathroom.
"What is going on?" Michael asks, shaking his arm to make Calum let go of him.
"I'm avoiding Alyssa. What did you want?" Calum replies, growing frustrated.
"Oh, well anyways... I was just checking if you were going to dinner soon, I'll join you. But it seems like you'll be hiding in our room for awhile. Now, I'm gonna go, this is weird." Michael says, leaving the bathroom.
Calum sighs before heading up to his room, thankfully without seeing Alyssa.
As soon as he puts his school stuff down, his phone goes off a couple times. When he sees Danielle's name on the screen he could feel his heart beat faster out of pure stress.
'hey, Cal. I wanted to let you know that the appointment went well and that baby is okay.'
'I wanted to let you know my next appointment is in about three weeks but it's during one of your classes again so if you can't make it, it's okay'
Calum felt like he couldn't breathe, he didn't know what to say. How was he supposed to respond to that?
'I want to talk to you about it, FaceTime me when you can.'
Calum sets himself up in his room at his desk, and moments later he gets the call from Danielle.
"Hey, Cal." She quietly says, weakly smiling.
"Hey, babe. How are you doing? Are you okay?" Calum asks, forcing a smile back.
"Yeah, I'm good. The baby is good, it's, yeah, the baby is doing well." Danielle stammers, not knowing what to say.
"That's great, babe. I- I'm happy the baby's doing okay." Calum replies with a now somewhat real smile on his face.
He couldn't help but letting a small smile cross his face when hearing the baby was okay, and even that Danielle was okay.
She takes a deep breath before speaking, "If you can't make it to the next appointment it's okay. I'm good to go alone, I don't want you missing class."
"Dani, I'll be there. I want to be there. I'm not going to be one of those... dads." Calum replies, having to pause before saying the word.
It made him feel sick to his stomach to say that word. He knew he should've been happier, though this definitely wasn't anything he wanted for another ten years, with somebody he was so unconditionally in love with.
"Calum, I'm telling you it's okay. I know it's weird to say this but you have to put your education first. I- I don't know if I'll be able to stay in school with this baby. I'm not letting you ruin your future too." She replies.
She wasn't trying to test him. She truly just wanted him to go to school and get the education he paid for.
"I'm coming to this one. I get where you're coming from, but I'm going to go to the appointment." Calum tells her.
She nods, giving him a small smile, "Okay. Okay, I'll send you the information."
Shortly after the two end their call and Calum just climbed into his bed. He could only handle so much of this every day.
So he texted Michael saying to wake him up to go to dinner, before almost immediately falling asleep.
__________
hey guys I'm visiting this college this is set at for a whole week and all of our profs across the province are on strike rn so it's gonna be party central all week pray for me