Calum Hood
One more day until spring break. One more day of all this shit. One more day.
Ashton had just dropped me and Michael off at school, and we're now walking towards our lockers in silence. I can definitely tell he's annoyed at me. He hasn't said anything the whole way here, and he's still not saying anything. I don't want to push him though, I'll wait until he talks about it, or when I feel it's the right time. But right now, isn't the right time.
We split up and I walk to my first class of the day, having a shitty feeling in the pit of my stomach about the whole thig with Michael. I don't feel great about it, but I don't really know what to do about it either.
I sit down in the back of the class and take out my calculus book when I get a text. Surprised, I take my phone from my pocket to check. My heart flutters a little when her name appears on my screen, her beautiful smile on my lockscreen peeking from underneath the notification. It's an old picture from when we were fifteen, but I love it too much to change.
Nomi
Are we on for our music sesh today?
Nomi
I wanna show u a new song 😊
I smile at the text, getting chills all over my body as I try my hardest to contain my excitement as I'm still in class and there are people around me.
Me
Yeah, of course! V excited to hear ur song! 🤩
For the rest of the class, I try my hardest to concentrate on the problems we have to solve in our calculus class but fail miserably. I can't help but think about Naomi and her beautiful song she sang after the game. I only heard a couple words and the melody. But it was beautiful, and I can't wait to hear it completely.
After that class, I rush towards the music hall as fast as I can, not being able to wait any longer to hear Naomi's song. I push through the big doors to find Naomi already behind the piano, touching the keys to form a beautiful melody.
"Hi," she greets with a big smile and signals for me to come over. I do so and sit down next to her, putting my backpack next to the stool. "How was calculus?" she asks me, putting her hands in her lap. I sigh.
"I don't know, I didn't really pay attention," I tell her, making her laugh a little.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" she laughs, making me laugh too.
"Because you know me very well," I say. She nods her head in agreement, "Now, let me hear this song," I encourage her, nudging her ribs with my elbow. She takes a deep breath before reaching into her handbag for a bunch of papers.
"Could—eh, could you play it, maybe?" she asks me, showing me the papers. I take them from her and look at them, seeing the notes scribbled on them and the words... The words sound beautiful and heart-wrenching, so I get why she'd want me to sing it.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," I say and put the sheets on the stand of the piano. I cough and start playing the keys very carefully, as if I'm scared I might break them.
"Here I am waking up, still can't sleep on your side
There's your coffee cup, the lipstick stain fades with time
If I can dream long enough, you'd tell me I'd be just fine
I'll be just fine,"
I take a deep breath and look at Naomi beside me. She has a tear rolling down her cheek, and her eyes closed tight. I bite my lip before continuing to sing the chorus.
"So, I drown it out, like I always do
Dancing through our house with the ghost of you
And I chase it down with this shot of truth,
dancing through our house with the ghost of you,"
I want to continue to the next verse, but Naomi stops me by putting a hand on my arm. I look up at her, seeing her tearstained face and her smudged makeup makes my heart drop.
"I can't hear the rest yet, I'm sorry," she whispers, then sniffles.
"That's okay, whatever you want to," I tell her and give her a reassuring smile. "It's a beautiful song, Nomi. You've done amazing," I say as I wrap an arm around her shoulders and press her closer to my body, kissing her temple.
"Thank you, Cal," she whispers and wipes at her tears, "It's a very special song to me," she tells me, and it makes me curious to hear what it's actually about. But I don't push it.
"If you're ever ready, you should tell it to the world," I try, but she shakes her head.
"No, the world doesn't need to know my sappy story," she explains, chuckling a bit.
"It might like your story," I say, carefully as I don't want to push her into telling me.
"No, Cal, I don't think I'm ready for that. I'll tell you someday, I promise," she says and smiles up at me. I nod in response.
For the rest of free period, we sing some covers of songs we really like, and finish some songs we started creating ourselves. I'm glad we're still doing this, even though she only wants to be with me behind closed door.
During lunch, I go to sit with Michael, who was already sat at our usual spot. I sigh and sit down opposite of him. He looks at me for a second, but then looks away again.
"Look, Michael, I get that you're upset, but can we please talk about it?" I ask, trying to keep my voice down as best as I can.
"Yeah, okay, fine," he mumbles, "I guess I just kind of feel left out. I mean, I'm happy you and Naomi are friends again, because I know how much you actually love her. But I guess I just wanted you to tell me. I thought I was your best friend, and I wish I knew. I wish you wouldn't had forgotten about me coming to your place. I wish The Three Musketeers of Riverstone would be three again rather than only two, you know?" he explains, and I guess that makes sense. I take a deep breath, nodding my head.
"I understand, Mike. And I'm honestly so sorry. I wanted to tell you, I just didn't know how. Plus, Naomi doesn't really want to be friends outside of our houses as she cares too much about her popularity and Hemmings and stuff. I also don't really know why she suddenly wants to be friends again," I tell him honestly, glad I finally can.
"Mmh, I guess that is strange," says Michael, "Have you tried asking her?" I shake my head.
"I don't dare to. I'm scared it might drive her away again," I reply in all honesty. We stay silent for a while as he doesn't know what to reply to that, "You want to hang out with us some time? You know, reunite the Three Musketeers of Riverstone?" I ask, causing a smile to tug at his lips. I smile too as he nods his head excitedly.
"I would love that," he says, "But hey, can we hang out tonight with Ash?" Now I nod in response. It's been a while since we hung out together, just the three of us.
Just as promised, the three of us hang out that night at Michael's place. We're sat in his 'man cave', playing videogames most of the night, but we also chat about girls. Ashton tells us about Bryana and how amazing she is. Michael tells us about this girl in Ashton's class. Her name is Crystal and she's older than Michael, but he tells us how sweet and amazing he is. And about how hot she is.
Around midnight, when I'm still with Michael and Ashton, drinking beers and still talking about girls and whatnot, I get a text message.
Nomi
Can u come over? I have a surprise for u 😁
I try my hardest not to smile at the text, so Michael and Ashton don't think I'm ditching them for a girl. I subtly cough and get up from the chair I'm sitting on.
"I'm going to get home, guys," I say, grabbing my stuff.
"Right, okay!" exclaims Ashton, already a little tipsy after his third beer.
"We'll meet at some point during spring break, right?" asks Michael, and I nod.
"Of course, yeah!" I tell him. We bid our goodbyes and I leave Michael's house. I cross the road and walk up the driveway of my neighbour's house, grabbing my phone.
Me
Here! Open the door pls! 😁
The door opens a few seconds later, and Naomi appears in the doorway. She already has her pyjama's on, the ones I've always loved the most; The Little Mermaid on her pants and an old Led Zeppelin shirt. She's had those pants for years, but the shirt has made it to her collection since somewhere last year, I think. I've seen her with it quite a few times.
"Come in!" she says excitedly but keeps her voice low as her parents are probably asleep. She grabs my hand and pulls me inside. We run up the stairs and up to the attic. For a second, I thought we were going to the music room and play some tunes, but instead, she takes me to what once was her playroom. The room where we used to play with all her and Nathan's toys, where we used to play pretend, where we used to build dens and hang out in.
I thought they used this room for storage, and I'm right. There are boxes piled up in big towers, adorning the walls, but right in the middle is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. A white sheet is pinned up to the ceiling and walls to form some sort of a tent. With fairy lights decorating the sheet, lighting up the entire room. On the inside, there are pillows and blankets piled up, and her laptop is propped up on a small table.
"Naomi, what the hell?" I whisper-shout, looking at the girl next to me. She has a wide smile on her face, one as bright as the fairy lights around the den.
"I remembered how we used to spend so much time building dens when we were younger, so I thought; why not do it again? We could watch some movies and just hang out," she explains to me with a smile and a sparkle in her eyes.
"This is amazing!" I tell her, smiling too.
We both settle in the den, trying to be as quiet as possible as her parents were still asleep just a level below us. We started watching Ratatouille, but that quickly changed as we were constantly just talking, mostly just reminiscing about the early days. It started with how many times we had watched Ratatouille and how underrated the movie is. Then, we proceeded to talk about other things we used to do when we were younger, telling old stories we were both part of, like the Pocahontas Vegemite story and how we always played either mommy and daddy or band. 'Band' was our favourite play pretend game. It's where we – including Michael – used to pretend to play instruments and sing. We talked about the first time we met, and how we almost killed her with our football and how she didn't throw us under the bus, not telling her mom we did it.
At the end, we were softly singing the songs we used to sing and listen to. Her head is resting on my shoulder, and I'm pretty certain she'll fall asleep soon. We're currently humming landslide, as both of us are too tired to actually sing it.
It's been a while since I've felt this happy, since I've felt any true, genuine happiness at all. I feel like a child again, building dens with my best friend and having the most fun one can have. Feeling like I've found my place at home. Like I've found the place I truly feel myself, a place where I don't need to feel afraid of being me, where I don't need to worry about people judging me. A place I feel free, happy, at home.