Chapter 37
**Valerie's POV**
"What are you doing here?" I stand up quickly, rushing over to Adam.
"I was heading back to school, and I remembered that your house was along the way. I was going to come to surprise you, but then I come to see you throwing this huge party. And now I find you in bed with some random kid." He looks past me, his eyes squinting and he points a finger in his direction, once he realizes it's Calum, "You." He snaps.
"Adam stop," I bring my hand to his chest keeping him from lunging at Calum, "He was just wasted. I was helping him, okay?"
"Whatever," He rolls his eyes. Calum shifts his weight, looking extremely uncomfortable as he watches the situation that is folding out in front of him. Adam takes my hand off his chest, clutching tightly to it as he yanks me in the other direction, "C'mon I'm taking you back to campus with me."
"Semester break isn't over yet, I don't want to go back." I snap back, trying to remove my wrist from his grasp, but it's no use, I'm too weak. I really need to join a gym or something because this is starting to get really pathetic.
"But Valerie I haven't seen you all weak, I miss you," He pouts, loosening his forceful grip to a much lighter and gentle one. As much as I wanted to stay and spend the last two days with Calum, Adam is right. Lately I've been a terrible girlfriend. I cheated on him, I lied to him, and I've been ignoring him. My friends always make it seem like Adam is the bad guy in the relationship, but maybe it's me.
"Fine," I oblige, sliding my hand down to Adam's, letting him intertwine our fingers.
"What?!" Calum jumps up from the bed, inching towards us.
"I'm gonna go back to school with Adam," I shrug, gripping tighter to his hand,
"B-but you can't go," He stalls, glancing around the room, "All your stuff is at my house."
"I'll have Adam stop in front of your house on our way out, and I'll run in and get my stuff," I sigh, shifting my weight to the opposite foot, "It's no big deal."
"Valerie," Calum whines. He reaches out to grab my hand, but then retreats.
"Calum." I roll my eyes. The quicker Adam and I got out of here the better, because I know if Calum keeps us here any longer Adam will cause a scene, "I'll see you Sunday."
Calum opens his mouth to speak again but before I could hear what he said, Adam yanked me out the door and down the hall. Adam leads the way down the stairs, his hand still clutched to mine as I follow shortly behind him. He pulls me along so quickly, that I bump shoulders with a girl heading up the stairs, both of us stumbling back.
"Watch where you're going, bitch." She hisses at me, before regaining her balance.
I open my mouth to say something back, but Adam cuts me off, "Valerie, ignore her," He says blankly, looking to the girl briefly and than back to me, "Let's just go."
✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ ✴
Friday soon turned into Saturday and Saturday into Sunday, and before I knew it semester break was over and everyone was returning back to campus. Adam and I spent the whole day yesterday doing absolutely nothing. He didn't pressure me or bring up the whole sex topic because he knew that it was a touchy subject for me. It seemed as if the fact that I wasn't ready didn't bother him anymore, and that made me feel a lot more comfortable.
A light drizzle hits my cheek, as I stroll out of my dorm and through the crowd of parading young adults with bags upon bags held in their bags as they head back to their own dorms. I had already unpacked, since I got back yesterday. I watch as everyone scrambles around to get inside and out of the rain as quickly as possible. I looked at my watch to see that it's 3:15. I was supposed to be at Adam's at 4:00, but by the looks of the storm clouds up above this rain was only going to get worse and I did not want to sit at the bus stop in pouring rain.
"Hey." A voice speaks quietly from behind me. Not positive if they were talking to me or not, I turn around to see Calum wearing a shy smile and raindrops scattered all throughout his scruffy head of hair.
"Hi." I return a wider smile than his, pulling him in for a hug. His hands find the small of my back, pushing gently against it, he holds me close to his chest. His ear falls lightly against my shoulder, his eyes shut tightly. We hug as if we hadn't seen each other in years, even though it's only been two days. We hug as if we both needed comfort and sympathy, even thought neither of us do. It's a nice hug.
"I was just going to help Luke." He sighs, both of us pulling away cautiously, "He needs help bringing his bags up to his room, do you wanna come with?"
"I actually, I was gonna go a-" I mumble, awkwardly motioning towards the bus stop.
"Oh, uh yeah cool, cool." He nods his head, as if he knew exactly what I meant without me having to tell him, "I'll catch you later."
"Of course," I let out an uneasy giggle, backing away from Calum, him backing away from me as well.
When I arrive at Adam's frat house, it's 3:50. It's not raining cats and dogs yet, but the rain has progressively gotten worse. I run to the door to keep my head from getting any damper than it already is. I knock briefly, pulling the sleeves of my saturated shirt over my hands, attempting to keep myself as covered as possible.
A minute later the door opens, revealing Adam's roommate Aidan who I had faintly remembered from the last time I saw him, "Valerie?" He furrows his eyebrows clearly not expecting to see me, "I didn't know you were coming over."
"I'm here a little early," I look down at my watch as he opens the door further, allowing me to enter, "I hope that's not a problem."
"Well it's not a problem for me. It's just weird that you're here." He shrugs, picking up a few pieces of clothes that are scattered around the floor,
"Why is it weird? I was here yesterday." I cross my arms over my chest, shifting my weight to the opposite foot.
"It's just-," He looks up at me for a second with a smirk, before looking back down at the clothes on the floor, "Never mind. I think Adam's in his room."
"Okay thanks." I speak shortly, before heading upstairs. Why couldn't he just start with Adam being in his room, that whole conversation was absolutely pointless.
I slowly make my way down the hall. Once I get closer to Adam's room, I notice the door is opened a crack. I here scrambling behind the door, and muffled voices. I knock lightly, "Adam?" I whisper, my hand accidently pushing the door open a little too much.
My eyes widen when they meet the view of Adam going down on some girl, "Oh my god!" I yell, turning away from the site that is too overwhelming for my virgin eyes.
"Fuck" Adam swears, under his breath immediately getting off the bed and throwing his shirt over his head, "Damn it Valerie you weren't supposed to be here till 4."
I look down at my watch, "It's 3:58! Sorry I'm two minutes early, you asshole," I shove his chest hard, pushing him away from me as he tries to approach me. I turn to the girl, who clutches the covers tightly over her body. I recognize her from the party on Friday, it was the girl that shoved pass me on the stairs.
"Adam, were you even at my house on friday because you actually wanted to see me?" I ask, motioning to the girl, a bright red color painting over my cheeks.
"Valerie," He holds his head in his hands, "I am so, so sorry."
"I'm not mad, I guess I deserved this." I sigh, running my hands through my hair, "I cheated on you too, so I'm not really in the position to be making a big deal about this."
"So we can move past this? We can make things work between us?" He asks, giving me a hopeful glance.
"Absolutely not." I speak shortly, walking out the door of his bedroom and slamming it behind me. The bricks that were weighing me down, have finally fallen off my chest. I feel no more guilt. Most people usually don't feel this way after a break up, but I feel great.
I make my way out of the house and onto the porch, the pouring rain soaking my hair and my clothes. I sit down on the top step. I have absolutely no idea of what to do with myself. I have never felt so clueless in my life.
I pull out my phone, using my hand to block it from the rain, so I can dial Luke. I sit through seven rings. No answer. I dial Michael and sit through another seven rings till it hits voicemail. Then I decide to call Calum. Even though we had a really awkward encounter before, he's always there for me whenever I need him, even if I don't know what I need him for. I bring the phone to my ear and he picks up on the second ring.
"Valerie?" His voice comes out muffled.
"Can you come pick me up?" I speak softly, playing with ends of my drenched hair.
"Of course, I'll be there as soon as I can." He mumbles, before I hang up and slide my phone back into my pocket.
Roughly twenty minutes later Calum pulls up. I jump off the porch and run to the car. There was no point in running considering I was already soaked, but I was just extremely eager to get out of this place.
I climb into the car and buckle myself in, both of us remain silent our eyes glued ahead of us.
"Are you okay?" He finally breaks the silence.
I nod, keeping my eyes on the road as he begins to drive.
"Have you been crying," He asks, his gaze falling from the road to me and back to the road.
"No, that's just from the rain." I let out an awkward laugh, pointing to the makeup running down my face.
"Oh okay." He holds a small, toothless grin, keeping his eyes completely focused on the road.
"I broke up with Adam." I blurt, after an awkward silence fills the car.
"Really? I m-mean I'm so sorry, do y-you need to talk about it." He beams at first before playing it off.
"Not really. I'm just glad I did, it felt like the right thing to do." I speak simply, resting my cheek against my own shoulder.
He opens his mouth to say something, but then closes it, unable to make words come out. I keep my arm rested on the center console, Calum's hand brushing against mine as it reaches for the gears and pulls the car into park.
"Calum what ar-" I begin to ask but am cut off by the door slamming behind Calum after he jumps out of the car and onto the side walk.
I mimic his actions, closing the door and running around the other side of the car where Calum stands, with his hands running through his now saturated hair.
"Calum what are you doing?" I finish my question that I was in the middle of asking before Calum cut me off with the slamming door.
"I really needed to get out of the car." He smiles like an idiot, as he begins pacing forth, "I'm just in one of those moods, ya know?"
"Not really," I chuckle, folding my arms over my chest, as I look around the road, no people or houses in sight, just trees. "I've never been in a mood where I just felt like parking my car in the middle of a deserted street and then just started walking around in the rain."
"No I'm just in one of those moods where I'm exploding with happiness on the inside but don't know how to let it all out." He explains, flailing his hands around for emphasis, "I wanna do something really spontaneous.
"Okay then, go for it." I state simply, and without warning Calum pushes past me and flings open the car door, reaching in and putting the radio on. The familiar tune of All I Want by Kodaline fills my ears, a song I had been in love with for weeks and had gotten Calum pretty hooked on it as well, only after making him listen to it a thousand times. He rolls down the window, before shutting the door so the music can be clearly heard.
I send him a glare, when he makes his way back over to me. Playing music wasn't exactly what I thought he had in mind when he said he wanted to do something spontaneous.
He gulps, his eyes flicking down to my hands, rested at my sides. Slowly and cautiously he reaches forward, taking my hands in his, watching intently as he laces each of my fingers with his one by one. He looks behind him, backing steadily onto the sidewalk, gently pulling me off the curb and along with him. He leads me into him, until the space between our bodies is nonexistent. He brings my hands to his sides, clutching tightly onto them with his own.
"There was a question I was in the middle of asking you a few months ago, at our prom, but we were interrupted." He speaks softly, his lips holding a cheeky smirk
"Oh really?" I raise a brow at him, wiggling my fingers that are interlocked with his.
"Mhm." He nods, his arms swaying a long with the beat of the song, "Would you maybe want to...." He pauses for a moment, bringing my hands around his neck, "dance with me?"
"I would love to," I giggle softly, clasping my hands together. One of his hands finds my waist pulling me tighter into him, the other gently bringing my head into his chest, his chin resting against it.
"Valerie?" He whispers, his chest vibrating as he speaks. The rain that had been pouring down has come to a stop all together.
"Yes?" I ask, my own voice coming out barely a whisper.
"Is it..." He pauses, his chin lifting from it's comfortable position atop my head, his grip around my waist loosening, "Is it too soon?"
I pull my head off his chest, sending him a confused glance, "Too soon for what?"
"I just..." He inhales deeply, his chest heaving as he lets his breath out.
"Fuck it." He leans in, and with uttermost force and passion his lips fall on to mine. I let my own lips move along with his. As each second passes, the more breathtaking it gets, my heart setting ablaze with every touch. It took me till now to realize how much we've been through. It took me till now to realize that he's still here. This whole time he's been right here, chasing me, just like the way I used to chase him.