— Calum's POV —
"You're never going to believe who I ran into today." I said the second I walked through the door. I kicked off my shoes and walked over to the music room where Roy was seated with a guitar on his lap.
"I'm waiting until you tell me who you ran into." He said impatiently while I sat down on the couch beside him.
"Valerie moved back to LA." I replied without looking at him, I leaned back and closed my eyes, a smile forming on my lips as I thought back of today's encounter.
"Dude are you high or something?" He asked and I let out a laugh before shaking my head. "Wait are you serious?"
"Yeah, she moved here 3 days ago. I ran into her at that old bookshop and we had coffee until Luke called me to say I was late at the meeting. I got her phone number and she said we could go for dinner sometime, as a date."
"I'd say you're high and seeing ghosts but I know you haven't used since she left." He replied with a small smile, I finally turned my head to look at him and he looked happy for me.
"I hadn't seen her in 4 years but I heard her laugh and my heart started to flutter and I felt like I finally found my last missing puzzle piece. I thought I had moved on but I saw her and I was ready to give her my all again in a matter of seconds."
"Didn't she have a boyfriend?" He asked, suddenly remembering it.
"They broke up 6 months ago, she still wanted to see the world, he wanted to settle down." I explained and his smile became brighter. "I finally found her."
"I didn't expect her to ever move back to LA, you said she finally found herself in San Diego."
"Her mom died, about a year ago. Her dad moved to LA for her stepmom's job and she followed to be closer to her family." I explained and he gave me a nod before leaning back on the couch too. "She's back."
"She is and you're going to take her on a date."
"Would it be okay to already call her to arrange a date? Or is it too soon?"
"Just call her up Calum, what's the worst that could happen?" He asked and we both laughed softly.
She could disappear again.
I reached in my pocket to get my phone and quickly went to her contact name. It had been standing there -empty- for years but finally it had a number again, a way for me to reach her. I pressed down on the number and brought the phone up to my ear, I waited 3 rings until the phone got picked up.
"Hello, who is this?" A girl on the other side of the line asked. This was not her, this was not Valerie. "Hello?" She asked again when it took me a while to say something.
"I'm sorry, someone gave me the wrong number." I said before ending the call quickly, I didn't want to hear another word from the girl on the phone. This wasn't the first time. "She could have given me the wrong number." I said to Roy to reply to his earlier question. This was the worst that could have happened.
My whole world was crashing down.
— Valerie's POV —
"I ran into someone today." I said to my friend, she paused the movie we were watching before turning to look at me.
"Someone that knew past-Valerie?" She asked and I gave her a nod, a grin forming on her face as she got ready to guess who it was. "It wasn't Luke right? You would have said it differently if it was Luke." She guessed first and I shook my head. "Calum?" She asked and when I gave her a nod, she looked so excited. "Oh my god, tell me everything."
"I laughed at that text you send me, he said he recognised my laugh immediately and approached me. We talked in the store for a few minutes before going to the coffee shop across the street. We didn't stay to talk for that long but it was great, he made me blush and laugh and I gave him my number. His girlfriend cheated on him so he has been single for a while too. Said he was just waiting for the right one, just like me. What if he's the one I'm supposed to be with? Or is the universe just playing a sick joke on us by letting us meet again at this time in our lives?"
"I think you just have to go for it, either you fall in love or you fall face first to the ground. It's not going to be easy because even if it has been 4 years, you still dated his best friend. But there must be a reason why you're meeting him again now. I believe in faith and I know you do too." She said and I gave her a soft nod.
"I suggested we should go for dinner sometime as he had to go for a meeting, he asked if it would be a date because he wanted it to be. I told him it could be a date because it just felt right with him. It has been years but I just felt home around him right away."
"How did it feel when he visited you in San Diego years ago?" She asked and I let out a sigh.
"It felt goddamn good." I admitted and she smiled softly. "Even before I left, I could talk to him about anything. He was the only one that knew about my mom and the only one that didn't judge me for my past when he heard it. The other guys were great too but it was different. Calum saw the real me from the start, I always got along well with him and when I got together with Luke, we disconnected a bit until a few months before we broke up. When he saw me again, he wanted to listen when everyone else pretended not to see. Calum was my safe space, he always was."
"Sounds like you should go on a date with him." She said with a smile and I chuckled before getting up.
"I'm getting a new beer, do you want anything?"
"Another beer and a bag of chips sounds nice." She said with a laugh and I gave her a nod with a big smile on my face. We've known each other for three years, started college together and just became best friends. We didn't tell each other about our idea of moving to LA, we didn't want to say anything until everything was sure. We both ended up getting a job here at different schools and we planned to tell each other on the same night. We just blurted it out and then laughed about it for days. She got a place 10minutes away from me to be closer to the school she works at but it's great to have someone I know around. It made the move back to LA less scary.
"We ran out of beer so I'm gonna run down to the store quickly." I said to her and she shouted an okay before I took my wallet and slipped on my shoes. My apartment was above a night store and that has proven to be very useful already. I walked into the store and grabbed a 6-pack of beers before going over to the register.
"Having friends over again?" The man asked while he gave me the change.
"Yeah, can't have a party without beer." I replied and he laughed softly. "Have a good night Rick."
"You too Valerie." He replied before I made my way back out of the store.
"Please don't get mad at me." Amelia said the second I walked through the door.
"What did you do? You didn't kill Taco right?" I asked and she shook her head while Taco meowed beside her on the couch. "Then what did you do?"
"Your phone went off so I answered, the other person didn't reply right away but after I said hello another time, he said 'I'm sorry, someone gave me the wrong number.'. After he ended the call I called back to say it's your phone but it went to voicemail and then it said 'hey, it's Calum here.' So I might have fucked this up." She said rushed as she held onto my phone. It wasn't unusual for us to answer each other's phone when the other is not around. So I didn't blame her for picking up, but I definitely panicked.
"Fuck." I replied while running over to her and taking my phone from her hands. I called back the number right away but it went to voicemail again. So I tried three more times until the phone was finally answered again.
"Can you please stop fucking calling me? A girl gave me the wrong number so I don't need you to make it even worse." He yelled into the phone.
"Hey Calum." I said and it got silent on the other side, "I didn't give you the wrong number, I went to grab beers and my friend answered my phone."
"You scared me there Valerie." He finally said and he sounded relieved, "Just the thought of losing you again was crushing me."
"I'm not going anywhere." I reassured him, a smile played on my lips while I walked to the bedroom and closed the door behind me. I heard a door close on his side a few seconds later.
"Do you think we'd be making a mistake if we went on a date?" He asked softly.
"No." I replied quickly, "I don't think trying to find love is ever a mistake. Even if we fail to find it, we learn from it. So no, I don't going on a date with you would be a mistake. Either we fall in love or we fall face first to the ground."
"Tomorrow, at 7:30pm. Text me your address and I'll pick you up." He suggested after a few seconds.
"You're not even asking anymore." I replied with a grin on my face before laying back on my bed, my phone still pressed against my face.
"It can be another night too, if you still want to go." He said so rushed that I let out a laugh. "Oh. You're just joking?"
"Tomorrow at 7:30, may I ask where we are going?"
"You may but I still have to figure out where we are going. I have a place in mind but I'd have to call in the morning."
"Okay, I guess I will see you tomorrow." I said before we both became silent, neither of us said goodbye, neither of us ended the call. I just laid there in bed listening to his soft breathing on the other side of the line.
"I don't want to end the call. I'm scared that if I do and go to bed, you'll be gone by the morning. I'm scared this was all just a dream and I'm about to wake up." He admitted and a soft smile formed on my lips. For the very first time, I felt sorry and regret of leaving him so sudden and without a warning. The way he spoke made me realise how much more it had hurt him than he would like to admit.
"I'm not leaving, I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to stay." I said after a few seconds. "I'm sorry for hurting you, I'm sorry for leaving."
"You had to. You had to leave to find yourself." He replied instantly, "You would have been dead if you didn't leave. So I'm scared, I'm scared that the second I say or do something I shouldn't, that you will pack your bags and disappear again."
"I won't Calum, I won't leave again. Don't walk on your tip toes around me, don't be scared, please."
"It's hard to believe it, it's hard to believe any of this is real. This is what I hoped and wished for when you just disappeared, that you'd come back and we'd have a chance. But then you told me you were never coming back but three years later you're here again. And it's hard to believe you won't disappear again tomorrow or next week and leave me heartbroken again."
"I signed a three year contract with the school." I said while I thought of something better to say, "A three year contract means that I am not planning on leaving, it says that I want a future here. I can't promise that I won't hurt you, I can't promise that but I can promise that I won't leave. I can promise that if you say or do something that hurts me, I'll be pissed off at you but I won't pack my bags."
"You know that if we go on a date, you'd have to face everyone else too after a while?"
"I know Calum and it will hurt to see Luke again but I'll be okay, I've moved on and I've grown. I can face Luke and everyone else again, I can do that for you."
"You won't just have to face them, they're my best friends. I'm around them pretty often."
"It'll be awkward as fuck at the start because I haven't spoken to any of them after I left but I'll be okay. I miss them too." I tried to reassure him but he still sounded unsure, "If the date goes well tomorrow and you still go out on Friday's, I'll stop by to see everyone again. I'll show you that I am okay with it, because actions speak louder than words."
"Okay." He breathed out, finally seeming to accept my reply and believe that it's different now.
"I'll still be here tomorrow Calum, and next week too."
"Okay." He repeated and I smiled softly again, it felt good to say his name again, it felt great to hear his voice again.
"Tomorrow, 7:30 at my place."
"It's a date." He replied and I could just hear the smile on his face and the happiness in his voice.
"It's a date, Calum Hood."
"I'd say goodbye but that feels too permanent so I'll see you tomorrow?"
"I will see you tomorrow, at 7:30." I repeated again and he let out a soft chuckle before ending the call. I didn't move, I stayed on my bed and closed my eyes again, smiling because I got a date with Calum Hood.
————————————————
So that full phone conversation was not meant to happen but I just went with it.