"Well, that was... unexpected," Mali-Koa said after a few minutes.
"He's so much hotter in person," I blurted out.
Mali-Koa glared at me, her hands on her hips. "That's the first thing you say?!" she scolded.
"Well, yeah—"
"No, it's not!" Mali-Koa said in an exasperated tone. "I don't know what's crawled up his pants and died, but he's obviously not happy. Oh, my gosh, he better act rationally and come back down here. You have no place to stay! There's no way in hell I'm leaving you on your own. You can stay in my room, if you want—I'm not sure if Calum wants to see anyone at the moment—"
"Y-you're going to take me in?" I asked, astounded.
Mali-Koa scoffed. "Of course!" she said. "You're new and obviously don't know your way around and there is no way I'm leaving you on your own so you're going to stay here."
"What about your mother—?"
"Oh, she won't even care," Mali-Koa said casually. "My room is upstairs, all the way at the end of the hall, to the left."
"What about you—?"
"Well, I'm almost an hour late to work, so I have to go. Bye, Luke!"
Mali-Koa hugged me quickly, and she ran down the small set of steps and started jogging to the corner until I couldn't see her. Her hugs felt nice. If her hugs were this nice, I couldn't even imagine how amazing Calum's were.
I walked into the house. I was nice. Simple. Homey. The floors were wooden, and the first thing I saw was a nice little island in the kitchen. There was no separation between the living room and the kitchen. It actually looked really nice. There were a few photographs on the wall. One of them was unmistakably a picture of Mali-Koa and Calum when they were kids, but I didn't have time to see any other pictures. I made my way upstairs in the house I have never been to, quietly walking to the room at the end of the hall.
I passed by a room was I made my way. I could hear Fall Out Boy playing through the door. This was obviously Calum's room, but I couldn't bring myself to knock.
I walked to the room at the end of the hall, and turned left. I expect nothing more from a girl's room. It was purple. Well, more lavender than purple, but you know, it's a shade of. It reminded me of a previous hair color of Michael's. Now I feel bad. I didn't even get to say goodbye to Michael or Ashton. Well, not get to. I just didn't.
I set my duffel bag down on the floor. It felt very weird to me. Suddenly, I'm in Australia, in my boyfriend's house, but he doesn't want to see me, and now I'm sleeping in his sister's bed. Yeah, that's pretty weird. I was very uncomfortable using another person's bed. I felt as if I was invading their personal space.
I fell to my knees and unzipped my duffel bag. I grabbed a random grey t-shirt that I had. I grabbed my high school PE shorts—they were actually very comfortable to sleep in. I hastily pulled off my skinny jeans and took off my current t-shirt, exchanging them for the other clothes. I untied the laces of my Chuck Taylor's, kicked them off, took off my socks, and let my feet breathe. It felt nice to be in comfy clothes. I wanted nothing more than to sleep right now, but I couldn't.
Calum was literally right across the hall and I couldn't talk to him.
That wasn't even true. I could talk to Calum. I made no effort to talk to Calum, and that's a huge difference. Maybe it's because he doesn't want to talk to me. I don't even know what's up with him. Maybe something happened. I should talk to him about it. But, seeing as he slammed the door in front of my face and Mali-Koa's, I don't think that's the best idea right now.
But I couldn't help myself.
I quietly opened the door and crept out into the hallway. I tiptoed down the hall in case Calum could hear me. Fall Out Boy music was still playing very loudly. I could easily identify the song as Centuries. I carefully turned the doorknob so that it wouldn't make a sound, and I opened the door.
His iPhone was plugged into a jack that was connected to a radio. I walked the the radio and lowered the volume, because I couldn't afford him having dead eardrums. Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying started to play, and I softly hummed along.
I looked to my left, where a bed was located.
Calum was sleeping.
He was still properly dressed, and his hair dyed blonde at some parts. It looked like he didn't change after he came home from work. He was still wearing a sweater (he wears a sweater almost all the time) and black skinny jeans. I was almost surprised that he wasn't wearing his shoes. They were, however, clad with socks. His body was sprawled all over his bed, the blanket covering on of his legs and his other leg on top of the blanket. The tight jeans let me see how muscly his legs were.
His left hand was tucked under his pillow. His right arm was draped over his body. He was facing me. Carefully and quietly, I bent down and sat in a crisscross position so that I was looking straight at his face. His lips were slightly parted as soft snores came out. He looked so fucking adorable, and I wanted to kiss him.
I didn't kiss his lips, mostly because that would be my first kiss and I don't want it to happen while my boyfriend was asleep. But I got up and leaned over his body so that I could kiss his cheek. I quickly moved away from Calum, just to see if I woke him up, but I didn't. His breathing became a little steadier, so I kissed his cheek again. I liked kissing his cheek.
I grabbed the blanket and arranged it so that it was covering his body, excluding his face. Not being able to help myself, I kissed his cheek one last time. I turned the light off, walked out of the room, and closed the door. Afraid that he would wake up, I quickly dashed to Mali-Koa's room and closed the door.
I don't know how I was so calm about this. I was acting as if I do this all the time. It's not like I always kiss my boyfriend's cheek when he's asleep. It's not like I always move things around so that he's comfortable. I don't know how I didn't freak out at seeing him in person. But it's not like I didn't have a reaction. Seeing him in person was very... satisfying.
✘✘✘
I woke up at around four in the morning, and I couldn't go back to sleep. I blamed the jetlag. It was always a habit of mine, though, back in America. I would go to sleep extremely late and wake up incredibly early. I was tired, but I couldn't get my eyes to close, so there was no use now.
I slipped on my Chuck Taylor's lazily. I slowly made my way downstairs and I walked outside. I sat on the swing where Mali-Koa and I had talked the night before, and I slowly rocked myself back and forth.
The sun hadn't come up yet. I was waiting for it to do so.
I stared at the dark sky, watching nothing move at all. A slight breeze hit me as I swung in the darkness. It almost made me wish I had worn my pullover, but I knew that I would be able to brush it off. I could keep warm if I wanted to.
I saw a dim light on the ground. I got off the swing and looked up. There was a light on coming through the window. I was guessing that it was Calum's room. A part of me was absolutely dying to go up and talk to him, but another part wanted me to let him be.
I was getting cold.
I walked back inside the house, climbing up the stairs and making my way to Mali-Koa's room again. It felt so much warmer, so much nicer in here. I liked it in here. I wish it could be just this temperature at all times.
I started imagining how cuddling with Calum would be like, and I felt the heartache. I walked out of the room again, walked towards Calum's, opened the door, and stepped inside. I felt a little bit bad that I was invading his personal space, but I felt as if I needed him at the moment.
The room was really dark. He had turned his light off again. I could still see well enough that I could see a bed. My needs getting the best of me, I walked towards the bed and saw the figure there, chest raising and dropping slowly, still facing the same way as before.
I sat on the edge of the bed, turning so that I could stare at him. I couldn't really get a good look, but the tiniest amount of moonlight coming through the window let me see his silhouette. He looked so beautiful under the moonlight.
I ended up crawling under the blanket with him. I don't even know why I was doing that, but I guess my instincts were taking over. Soon enough, we were under the same blanket and my arm was draped around his waist. I felt him move, and I knew I had made a mistake.
Calum turned. He flipped over completely so that he was facing me. I couldn't see his face clearly, but I could feel him looking at me.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, "for whatever I did."
Calum didn't reply. He just moved a little bit closer to me. Calum placed the softest, tiniest kiss on my neck, and started breathing steadily. And I lied there, my arm still around his waist, eventually falling back asleep with the sound of his steady breathing.
✘✘✘
In the later morning, he was gone.
It was just me on the one side of the bed. The other side was completely empty, and it felt a little bit cold. I quickly climbed out of the bed and walked out of the room, flinching at the bright light.
The first thing I saw was Mali-Koa passed out on the couch, still dressed in the same clothes as she was last night. I was upset that she didn't sleep in her bed. I wanted to carry her and take her to her bedroom, but I was a guest, and it wasn't my place to do so.
I started looking around the house a little bit more. On the counter in the kitchen, there was a coffee maker. Next to it was a bag of French Roast from Starbucks. It was opened, and some of it was spilling out of the bag, leading me to conclude that it was used very often. There was also a bag of filters on the other side of the coffee maker. I walked to the kitchen, put in a new filter, put in the powered coffee beans, and started to brew coffee. Mali-Koa would need it later, that's for sure.
"Guests aren't supposed to make things for their hosts."
I turned, and Calum was leaning against the island. He looked tired. His hair was messy—the blonde parts were practically everywhere. I liked his hair. He had bags under his eyes, too. Whether or not they overcame my own, I did not know.
"I'm returning the favor," I replied to him.
Calum shook his head. "We're supposed to be comforting you, not the other way around."
We stood there in silence for a little bit.
"You slammed the door in my face last night," I suddenly blurted out.
"You thought it would be a good idea to cuddle at four in the morning," he retorted.
"So you did enjoy my cuddling."
"Who says I did?"
"The kiss on my neck that you gave me."
"I really don't like you."
"Oh, but you do," I said with a smirk.
I didn't realize how close we were until now.
He was still leaning against the island. I don't know when I put it there, but my hand was on his waist. He was leaning back a little bit, the upper half of his body over the counter. I noticed that we were practically the same height. There were merely a few inches between our faces. If I just moved a little bit more, I could kiss him. But I didn't.
I moved away from Calum, dropping my hand from his waist. "Where are your mugs?" I asked.
"Coffee makes you short."
"I don't think I need to gain any more height."
"It's bad for your health."
"You still haven't told me why you slammed the door in my face."
"You're pushy."
"I like having answers."
"I freaked out last night."
"Why'd you freak out?"
"Oh, I don't know," Calum said sarcastically, "maybe it's because my boyfriend from another country suddenly ends up on my doorstep? How'd you even know where I live, anyway?"
"I ran into Mali-Koa," I told him. "Funny how things work, huh?"
Calum frowned at me. "I thought I was imagining you," he whispered. "I thought I was insane. I was just about to call a hospital..."
"I'm sorry I made you feel that way," I said honestly.
Calum shook his head. "I've got to get to work," he said, changing the subject. "Just make yourself comfortable, yeah?"
Calum jogged to the hat stand and pulled a sweatshirt over his head. "Bye, Luke," he said. With that, he was out the door.
He didn't even kiss me goodbye.