calumhood, teagantidwell, aabarnes, lukehemmings, & 24,903 others liked this photo
haydena: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BITCH
teagantidwell: this pic is only kinda cute, def not worth the effort it took to set the phone up
calumhood: ?????
teagantidwell: sry babe forgot to tell you we got a new pool float!! @calumhood
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From: Calpal
excuse me??
hello?
it's your birthday and you didn't tell me?
I'm about to go into an interview or we'd be talking about this on the phone
To: Calpal
I knew I should've but hear me out!!
I didn't want you to feel bad about not being here even though you'll be home in a few days
so I just figured we could celebrate when you got here
it's not that big of a deal, cal
From: Calpal
except for it is??
I'm your boyfriend and I feel like an idiot that I had no clue when your birthday was
To: Calpal
with everything that's been going on I didn't want to add something else
you're not an idiot
From: Calpal
it doesn't matter what else I have going on and you know that
it feels like we keep having conversations about communication
To: Calpal
I know I know I've preached it to you I guess I just thought a birthday was small
From: Calpal
I've got to go but happy birthday princess
you deserve all the love in the world
I wish I could be there with you but just a few more days!!
talk to you soon, T
"See, he's kind of mad but it's my birthday so he can't be really mad." I show Hayden the phone and she rolls her eyes.
"You should've told me that you hadn't told him and I wouldn't have posted it." Hayden shakes her head and I shrug.
"Oh well, can we make more daiquiri's?" I show her my empty cup and she laughs but nods. We both wade out of the pool and make our way to the outside bar that I had officially stocked and opened for the summer. It's cool knowing that instead of Calum hosting the summer parties that normally take place, we'll both be the hosts.
Hayden says that it won't be as fun as I think, it means I'm in charge of a lot more but I know that Calum's done this a time or two so he's got it covered and I just get to say I helped. He likes to give me the 'sit there and look pretty' job, and I'm pretty damn good at it too.
After I fire up the blender I check Dukes water and take a picture of him laying under his own shaded area to post on my Instagram story. I tried to get Calum to let me run Duke's Instagram page but he forgot the password and locked himself out trying to get into it. I debate making another one but then I decided against it. My attention is turned back to Hayden when she screams, followed by a loud electronic buzzing and whirring. The red slush like liquid is covering the bar and the countertops.
"Oh my god, what did you do? I turned my back for like, two seconds." I giggle, covering my mouth with my hand.
"I tried to stop it but it only went faster and I didn't have my hand on the lid." She starts laughing too and I realize it's all over her as well.
"Guess we're just going to have to hose you off." I wander down to the basketball court where the hose is rolled up on a wheel against the stone wall. As I unwind it, I turn it on and feel that it's ice cold. Despite the heat today, Hayden wasn't going to like this very much.
I walk back up the concrete stairs with the hose in my hand and stick my finger over part of the nozzle to make it shoot further, soaking Hayden without any warning. She shrieks again and puts her arm out to try and stop the water from hitting her. "What the hell! That's freezing!"
"Well, you can't jump in the pool to get it off so what's our other option?" I laugh as she continues to squirm. Duke has moved further away to avoid getting wet and eventually all that's left to do is wash off the concrete so we don't attract bugs.
We both layout on the lounge chairs to tan and I'm about to fall asleep when Hayden says, "How long do you think it'll be until the boys hit the road again?"
"I don't know, Calum said something about switching record labels and that sounds like something that doesn't happen overnight. Plus they'd have to write an album before they toured. I feel selfish when I wish it would take them at least four or five months, but I just like having him here and I'm ready to see what's next for us." I sigh and Hayden looks over at me.
"What's next? Like a kid or marriage or... You have to specify!"
"Oh, definitely not a kid. I don't get him to myself nearly as much as I want, so I don't want to share him yet. I just meant like finally settling into the house together and being close to him every day again and things like that. He probably has some weird habits I don't know about. Oh god, like the Oreos! I swear if he starts hoarding more food I'm going to lose it." My giggles consume me while Hayden looks at me like I'm crazy.
"Oreos?"
"He was ordering the same amount every month even when he didn't live here. A whole section of our pantry is loaded with Oreos. I finally put an end to his order and he's mad about it." I contain my laughter and roll my eyes.
"Hey, Calum is smart. He may be preparing for the apocalypse and we're all going to be sorry one day." She makes a hand gesture to prove her point and I shake my head.
"Oreos aren't going to save us from the apocalypse."
+++
After a long day of laying out in the sun, Hayden and I had both come inside and crashed when the sun started to set. I'm woken up by the gate panel beeping, meaning someone wants inside. It was dark out and I couldn't think of anyone we invited over. We were both tangled together on the couch, still in our swimsuits. I free myself, gently waking her, "Someones at the gate. Come with me."
It takes her a second to stand up but she stumbles behind me into the kitchen. I press the call button and then speak. "Hello?"
"Hi, I have a delivery for Teagan." An unfamiliar man's voice comes through.
"What is it? I didn't think deliveries came after 8 pm." Hayden speaks up, her voice slurring a little bit, indicating she's still half asleep.
"We had special instructions to deliver this today, and not to tell you what it was until you see it."
I take my finger off the call button so he can't hear me anymore. "Should we go get it or let him in?"
"I mean, don't you think it's a little sketchy that theyre delivering it at what... 10:30? Two hours after all the routes are finished? Maybe we should just tell him to come back in the daylight." Hayden shrugs and I sigh.
"I'm not telling him to leave and come back. We'll go get it. There's a bat by the gate anyway, I can hit him in the head if we're in danger."
Hayden rolls her eyes at me but I take her hand and drag her outside anyway. There are two gates, one to drive through and one you can walk through, so we go through the second. A man in a UPS uniform is standing there with a large, wide rectangular box, and he looks like he's struggling to hold it.
"Hi, sorry about that. We'll take it inside." I smile sheepishly at him and nudge Hayden to help me take it from him. I notice it has a big red bow on the box so it must be a birthday present of some kind.
"No problem. Sorry for the late delivery, we got it here as fast as possible. Happy birthday."
I do a double take as he tips his hat at us and walks back to his truck. He's pulling away before I can say thank you so we head inside. Something in the box slides as we turn it to make it fit through the gate and I hope I haven't broken anything.
"Calum learns about your birthday at 10 am and twelve hours later he has a present shipped to you. Where can I get a partner like this?" Hayden groans as we finally get it inside. It's pretty heavy, and about the width of a doorway but a little less than half as tall.
"How do you know it's from him?" I question, we slide it onto the high top table and I grab a knife to open it.
"Who else has your address beside me and him? Your parents sent a card with me." Hayden walks down the hall into her bedroom and emerges again with a card in hand.
"Oh, then I guess it would be from him." I shrug, using the knife to slit the tape and then pulling the tab so the box opens.
Inside are two picture frames, just slightly smaller than the box but they're still big. We opened the box the wrong way so I can't see what's in them yet, but a note falls out as we slide them out to set them on top.
"Wait don't turn them over yet, this note says read first." I hold my hand out to stop Hayden and she halts what she's doing.
"It says, 'hey T, here is your birthday present. I hope they get it to you on your birthday, but if not, I tried. Anyway, it's the first two parts of a set, and we'll get the other parts eventually. You'll see. I hope you love it. Stop reading here and then pick up after this once you see it.' Oh my god, I'm scared. What if he bought some kind of really fancy artwork and I hate it?"
Hayden laughs, no doubt at my bewildered facial expression. "I think we both know that he knows you well enough to get something you like. Even when it comes to fancy artwork if that's the case."
"Okay okay, turn it over." I cover my eyes so I don't see it right away but I hear her set it back down and she gasps. I hear her turn over the other one. When I open my eyes my jaw drops.
There are two of them. The first picture frame has a heart cut out and inside of the heart is a map of the stretch of beach that is so familiar to me. Outside of the heart in cursive lettering, it says, "Where we met," and at the bottom it has coordinates.
The second one is pretty much the same except the shape is a house and inside of it is a map with a heart around the spot where our house would be on the street. The top of that one says, "Where we live," with coordinates also at the bottom. I feel a wave of emotion hit me and I almost don't want to keep reading his letter. I already feel the tears brimming my eyes. I take a deep breath and read it out loud again.
"So I know you've been living there but I feel like we can actually establish it as our home because I'm coming home. The other parts in the series would be where we get married, where we honeymoon, and anywhere else you want to document. I know we're not quite ready or those steps yet, but I wanted you to know that you are my home. You don't know how excited I am to be home. I can't wait to see where we go. I'll be home soon, I love you so so much, T."
The fact that he hand wrote this letter makes my heart swell even more and I have to move it out of my reach before my tears fall onto it and spread the ink. Sometimes I can't even fathom the fact that someone loves me as much as he does, but I love him just as much.
"Fuck, if this isn't ready for marriage I don't know what would be." I look up at Hayden who is also red-eyed and crying. We both let out a small laugh.
"I have to call him right now."
Making my way to our bedroom where my phone is on its charger, I try to calm my tears. He's going to think something is wrong if he hears that I'm crying. Hayden stays in the kitchen and she makes a comment about finding a wall to clear so these can be hung up. Calum didn't have that many decorations to begin with, so I didn't think it would be hard.
The phone rings a couple of times before the line clicks and I hear a, "Hello?"
"Luke? What are you doing?" I ask while wiping my tears from my face.
"Calum is taking a shower and his phone was ringing so I assumed that meant you got his present. Do you like it?" I can pretty much hear Luke's smile.
"Oh, I love it. He told you guys about it?" I sit back against the headboard and cross my legs beneath me.
"Duh. He was pissed about not knowing it was your birthday and then he ran around all day talking about presents and weird shit before he finally got the idea. Happy birthday, by the way." Luke chuckles and I can't help but smile.
"Thanks, Luke. How long has he been in the shower for? I don't want to keep bugging you."
"I wouldn't have answered if I hadn't wanted to talk to you, but the water just stopped so he should be out soon. Cal! Your girlfriend is on the phone." Luke yells and I pull the phone away from my hear because of his volume.
"Damn it, Luke, don't fucking yell it's almost midnight and we don't need a noise complaint." I hear Calum grumble in the background and I smile. What a grumpy old man.
"Why'd you even answer my phone anyway?" His voice is louder this time so I know he's getting closer.
"Because I wanted to tell her happy birthday. I could've just texted her but she was already calling so why not?"
"Oh, I don't know because she called to talk to me and not you." Calum teases and I shake my head.
"Stop it, I like talking to Luke too. Leave him alone Calum." I warn.
"See! She said it. Leave me alone." I can imagine the smirk on his face which means I can also imagine the annoyed look on Calums face.
"Give me that. Hey, T."
I can hear Calum clearly now and I know I've been taken off of speakerphone.
"Hi babe, I know it's late but I wanted you to know how much I appreciated the gifts you got me. I was a crying mess and so was Hayden. You really know how to pull at the heartstrings." I sniffle again, my nose running a little because that always happens after I've cried.
"You deserve so much more, baby. I just wanted you to really feel like it's your home. I've got another surprise I'm bringing back with me though, so it's not over yet." Something about his tone feels mischevous.
"Oh god, please don't make me cry again. I'm such a cry baby." I giggle and I hear him chuckle.
"I know you are. I can't wait to be there, I bet you've already found a place to hang them up." Calum sounds a little bit sad now, but if he is it's probably only because he misses being home.
"Actually, I immediately came to call you but I bet by the time I go back in there Hayden will already have them hung up. Probably in the area by the table and the doors that go out to the pool so everyone who comes over will see them." I sigh. Maybe I could wait until he gets here and we could hang them together. That's a good idea.
"I love that idea. I've got some more custom wall signs and things coming soon that I think you'll love. We can make it ours together."
My eyes go wide and I want to wallow in the giddy feeling I get forever and ever. "You need to send them to me so I can find room for them and start taking other things down! Oh, I love decorating, I can't wait."
"Me too, T. I think Luke is ready for bed so I'm gonna go but I will be home with you within four days. I love you!"
"I love you too, Cal."
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hey hi hello!!
So as you can see (probably) I deleted the announcement I made and I'm just going to reiterate what I said in this authors note so you'll know what's going on in case you missed the announcement.
I kind of got ahead of myself and in my head, I've known what the end of this story was going to be like since... March/April ish? So since then, it's been a little bit of a struggle to come up with things to fill the middle until we got to the ending that I had already planned. I was going to continue this until we got to chapter 35 but I realized I can't force myself to continue to write something that I kind of already closed off in my mind.
With that being said, we have one more chapter that will be posted within 24 hours of right now. I'm leaving at 4 am for vacation, so it'll be posted before then which is less than 24 hours but I'm giving myself a 24 hour period just in case something doesn't work out.
Thanks for reading!! Don't forget to comment and vote :)
ily
kristen