A/N: New cover brought to you by the one and only, the perfect quantum-fags. xx
Calum was no where to be seen by the time I got off stage. His guitar discarded carelessly on one of the backstage lounge couches. The bright orange duct tape smiley face teasing me, looking as if it knew exactly where Calum ran off to.
I turned around and started walking down a random hall, whipping around corners at random. Suddenly my phone was ringing, I fished it out of my pocket and answered quickly.Hoping to hear his unique speech and unmistakable voice. A usually cheery voice began talking as soon as I hit answer.
"Hey Michael? Do me a favour and stay off of Twitter for a while." Ashton said, sounding a bit off.
"Yeah, alright." I mutter in a flat voice, saying a quick goodbye.
What a stupid thing to say, now I have to go on Twitter.
I quickly click the app, scrolling through my feed to see every inch talking about mine and Calum's kiss. Pictures flooding in from all different angles, in all you couldn't even tell Calum was holding me in place. Most--if not all, were exploding about how I forced him to kiss me.
I have to admit we look damn cute together though.
I checked my messages to see a large amount of hate coming in, from overprotective Calum fans to homophobes to people flipping out at me because 'Calum's straight.'
Why in the hell am I mutuals with homophobes? I respect their opinion and I'm glad their into our band but we don't mix, like balloons and cacti.
A word caught my eye in one of the posts, I enlarged it to make sure I had read it correctly.
@Michael5sos Started out with a kiss, next thing you know you'll be caught sexually assaulting the poor boy.
The ground collapsed, it felt like the floor had caved underneath me. In reality my knees gave out, sending me plummeting onto my bum with my back pressed against the cool eggshell wall.
From far away one would assume that I was in this position for comfort, long legs sprawled out in front of me, probably waiting for someone. Completely relaxed.
A closer look would revel a red faced teenage boy who was having trouble standing after what felt like several blows to the gut.
The destroyed feeling stayed when I did manage to stand, my breathing rate escalated drastically when I moved down the hall.
A little awkward at first, like a baby learning to walk, my pace quickened with every beat of my heart. The still air whipped my hair back as I cut through it, stumbling around corners like a confused thief trying to get away from the cops.
The stadium network was bigger and more confusing than anyone gave it credit for. Every hall looked the same, almost like turning around a corner only brought you back into the previous hall. I could be running in a circle without even realizing.
The only thing that didn't seem to repeat itself were the plain paper signs taped at intervals, I guessed they were directions although I couldn't decipher the Spanish words typed in super lame Comic Sans.
My lungs were lit up in flames, burning at an unbearable pace but the pain wasn't enough to stop my legs. My heart was pounding a million times a second, making the need for oxygen intensify only to be sadly mistaken when the lungs began to feel like they had shriveled up the size of raisins.
Let me tell you, wheezing with lungs the size of almonds isn't fun. I honestly thought my next breath would turn them inside out. My lungs deflated faster than my mood when Ashton goes out and forgets to pick up the pizza, only to arrive at the pizza place after closing time.
Idiot still owes me.
I don't stop running until my legs give out, slamming my body onto the ground. I have to flip over onto my back, the lack of air finally getting to me. My hair was flat against my forehead with sweat, with no Calum to fluff it back up.
I can feel the leg muscles that I wanted when I was fifteen finally coming in. Why did I even want them? They sting and shoot needles up and down my legs.
Its Calum's fault, fifteen year old Calum wanted to date the ninth grade track star.
I wanted to get fit so Calum would shut up about her legs. In the end, I bought a pizza and told the track star Calum had some kind of disease that stayed consistent with Asian people.
She may have been the track star but she was definitely not the brightest bulb.
Calum went in to do his signature flirting technique at the time and the next day she moved towns. He was so depressed for three days until he returned to his usual hyperactive puppy dog self.
Middle school crushes were great, thinking you're in love, break up or rejection, small phase of minor depression, back in the game. The small chance of you making it out with your hand linked with your long term partner, a real scare.
I went through middle school and a bit of high school with my hip glued to Calum's, just figuring out bits and pieces of the jumbled mess that was my emotions. We were invited to prom because of the lack of twelfth graders. I wasn't even going to show up, I had my whole night planned out from my pizza toppings to the order I would play my video games.
I still remember.... FIFA 9, Fable, one of the Halo games--whichever one caught my attention, and finally Pokemon until dawn.
Calum begged me to go. Insisting he'd find me a date--whoever I wanted--and buy me pizza the next day. I quickly rejected, not having been attracted to any girls weeks previous.
The night of prom he showed up in a dull blue dress shirt and black dress pants, with matching bow tie and suspenders. A flashy bouquet had my mother enchanted, she rattled off the names of each flower to me the day after, talking about how unique each one was and how they aren't usually all used in the same arrangement. She pressed one of each flower into a book, intent on saving the flowers for reminisce.
"...Michael dear, the bouquet brought is beautiful. Look at these yellow and white Carnations... The lilac smells amazing! The red, white and pink roses look absolutely gorgeous... Yellow and purple tulips are a great match... And oh! The single daffodil simply pulls the whole thing together..."
Calum trudged his way up to my room and all but dragged me out of bed. He didn't talk to me until we had arrived at the dance. "You look great."
I was wearing a Metallica shirt, plaid pyjama pants and mismatch socks with crazed bed head, my mum made sure to get a picture of it before I was swept out the door. Going to prom that nigh was like going to yell at your neighbours for being to loud only to find yourself stranded in the middle of a cocktail party.
Luke had a great laugh at my sprucing up skills, I nearly smacked him in his hand-me-down tailored suit jacket and black skinny jeans.
Calum didn't even blink when desperate girls came to ask him for a dance, explaining that he would be leaving his date if he did.
Now that I think of it, I never even got to meet his date...
He spent three minutes trying to coax me into dancing with him, the dance ended up being something in between a waltz and the macarena with a few improvised moves along the way. We laughed the entire time and I was practically rolling on the ground when he started to try doing the hokey pokey with his arms tangled loosely around me, his grip tight enough to keep me upright.
[A/N: I spell checked on hokey pokey (I originally put hokipoki) and one of the suggested words was 'hoecake.' I had to take a break...]
"Holy fuck!" I wheeze, thrown out of my flashback by a foot making contact with my side. It felt like I'd suddenly been drenched in ice water.
As it turns out someone had managed to make it into the creepy lower levels of the stadium's labyrinth of halls. Too distracted by the peeling pastel blue painted walls to notice me laying half dead on the ground.
Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, I felt half dead though.
Judging by the large amount of pain in my side they were running, probably from something because let's be real; who runs? My guess is they're running from what's her face... Jane?
"Way to kick me while I'm down, literally." I cough, hoping no one ever does that again. The douche bag that tripped over me groans.
"You tool!" I sound like someone on spitting hateful word on their deathbed while coughing and wheezing. "Dear god, that hurt like a bitch." I whine, clutching my side like an over-dramatic actor.
My accidental attacker sits up one foot still sprawled over my stomach, he flips over. I pay no mind to him, continuing my rambled whining.
"I could really go for some Chinese food right now." I felt like I needed to vomit, the impact to my side was brutal. I wanted to spill my stomach's contents but at the same time food sounded great.
A laugh echoes through the hall, coming from the asshole next to me.
"You've got to be kidding me." Calum laughs, every other laugh coming out silent. "I'm running around worried about you and you're lying on the ground thinking about food? Unbelievable." He chucked, shaking his mini curls at me.
Suddenly, I feel the need to retract my earlier name calling... Not because its Calum or anything.
"Believe it you tool belt, you just fucking kicked me in the side." I whine again.
Then again, maybe not...
"You're the tool belt! You had me worried sick, ditching your phone like that." Overbearing mother Calum has reared her ugly face. He tosses my phone at me, I don't remember dropping it.
Just kidding, everything about Calum is flawless.
We had both gotten up at this point.
"You were worried?! You basically ran offstage, disappearing before I was off! How do you think I feel? You can't just demand that I kiss you and then run off like some kind of second grade girl!" I shout angrily, lip quivering, causing overbearing mother Calum to retract immediately.
I bite my lip, hoping the trembling will halt when my teeth clamp down on it.
Calum looks down at his scuffed black converse, dragging one slowly along the old tiles work. "You left your Twitter open." He mumbles in a small voice, looking up to give me overly sad puppy dog eyes with a hint of wetness in each.
"Did I do that?" He asks, eyes turning red.
"No, no, no, no, no." I quickly move forward to envelope him in a hug,
I really can't let Calum blame himself for anything, he becomes dreary and the sun seems to disappear when his smile is gone. Its not his fault that I'm getting hate, I'm the one that initiated the kiss.
Its my fault.
Its my fault for kissing him.
Its my fault for allowing him to break me.
Its my fault for allowing him to know so much about me.
Its my fault for falling in love.
"Its not your fault, don't worry." I whisper with my lips pressed to his forehead.
"Its never been your fault."
A/N: Brilliant idea Kayla! Update at one in the morning! Excellent! I don't know if its just me but this chapter seems hella deep. . . Once again, thanks quantum-fags for the beautiful cover! xx
If you get the movie reference in the title for this chapter, you're cool. If you didn't, I guess you can still be cool. (Its from Vampire's Suck)
FUN FACT: Dimples are caused when the skin of your cheek is attached to a muscle. I have one dimple.
ANOTHER FUN FACT: I like to screech random lyrics in songs. Its nice one second and the next I'm belting the lyrics in a higher pitch and it sounds like a flock of baby pterodactyls.
LAST FUN FACT: Shrek is love, Shrek is life.
Have a lovely day! Until next time. xx