January 21, 2015
A S P E N
I look at Calum, a baggy hoodie on his torso and baggy sweatpants on his legs. I know he's probably groggy because its late and didn't feel like changing because I didn't change either. I'm in red plaid pajama bottoms that used to be my dad's and a grey hoodie.
"You look like a fucking hobo." I laugh, insulting him within five seconds of seeing his face.
"You're wearing pajama pants. You look like an old mom." He chuckles and I shake my head at his remark.
"Let's just go." I say, my tone amused with his inability to come up with an insult that actually hurts my feelings a tiny bit. He could easily just call me fat, but he's a nice person and would never do that, by what I know.
"You look asian. Seriously asian." He sighs frustratingly and steps out into the corridor with me. I wait as he locks the door from the outside with his key and then we head out to the parking lot, me being happy that I can joke with Calum and not have him be so offended like most people.
"You're so white. You're, like blinding." He throws a boring insult at me that doesn't even hurt my feelings.
"As if I didn't know that already. Lame." I chuckle.
"Still an insult."
Once we get in my car and once I turn the key, music from the radio starts blaring loudly. Calum quickly plugs his ears, leaving me to turn the volume down. I just laugh while the annoyed boy next to me scoffs.
"Sorry. Lithium came on the radio, its a like a rule, you have to listen to Lithium at a loud volume." I chuckle.
"You nearly killed me." A glare is shot at me from his eyes and I just shrug it off. He won't be mad at me for long. We're going to go get ice cream, ice cream will cure anyone's upsetness, if upsetness is a word.
Driving to McDonald's took longer than expected, but that's probably because Calum doesn't speak to me at all, being a stubborn child stuck in an eighteen year old's body.
"I'm just going to go through the drive through, Kay? We can park somewhere and eat." I say, getting a nod in response.
If I was with Raff, I'd eat inside with him. Hell, we wouldn't be at McDonald's, we'd be at a nicer place. But, Calum's just my mate- my chummy- so I don't have to care. And since he's a boy that will eat anything, he probably doesn't care either. He probably prefers McDonald's over a fancy place anyways.
"You know what day is coming up?" He finally talks after a bit. We're already in the drive through, but I guess a lot of other people had the idea of a late night ice cream run since the line is so long.
"No, what?" I ask, letting my hands drop to my lap, having no need to steer because we're not moving.
"My birthday."
I snap my head to look at him and furrow my eyebrows together. I don't remember his birthday being so early in the year. So he's either lying or I'm just not remembering things correctly. I'm pretty sure the second thought is correct.
"For real?"
"Yeah, for real. January 25." He smiles proudly, as if turning nineteen was the biggest accomplishment ever.
"Jesus, that's in like four days! Thanks for the warning." I chuckle and push my foot a little on the gas, being able to move up a bit.
"You're very welcome." He says, his tone sarcastic.
"What are you doing for it? You having a party or something?" I ask. I look out the windshield so that my facail features aren't noticeable by him. I'm sure I look a little bit sad because I haven't gotten an invitation and probably won't. If there even is a party.
"No. I'm just turning nineteen, nothing special. But I'd like it if we could hang out. The guys are taking me to a water park, we could do something after?" He asks.
"Of course. I have a date on Friday, so it ties in perfectly." I say.
"You have a date? With who?" He asks. I can sense a very small amount of something in his voice that he's trying to hide. Maybe hurt?
"His name's Raff. I really like him and I can feel that spark between us, you know? I just hope he feels the same about me." I chuckle.
"Yeah. Tell me more about him."
I move up a little again. Then I give Calum a weird look. He doesn't want to know about the guy I've been dating.
"You serious?"
"Yeah. Oh, but we're at the thing. Tell them I want an Oreo McFlurry."
I roll down the window, and tell the person's voice that seems trapped inside the box outside of my car our orders. One Oreo McFlurry and one Reese's McFlurry. Once we get our ice cream and funky looking spoons, I find a parking space in the dark lot and stop the car. Calum's already began digging into his ice cream and I'm just taking off the lid on the top that has no use.
"Lemme have a bite of yours." Calum says, looking at me even though it's so dark, I can hardly see his eyes. I turn on the little light that's on the ceiling of my car and hold out my ice cream for him to take a bite out of, which he does. And then he holds out his own for me to try and I smile and accept the offer.
"Eh. I like peanut butter." I shrug.
"I like Oreos." Calum defends his McFlurry.
"Ooh, have you ever had Oreos dipped in peanut butter?" I ask.
"No. Ew." A grimace scrunches up his squishy face. It amazes me how he can have a jawline that could cut my hand off and cheeks that are so chubby and squishy.
"It's amazing, I learned it from The Parent Trap. When you come to my apartment, I'm forcing you to try it." I laugh.
"Hell no. I'll stick with milk." He shakes his head.
"Fine..." I laugh and take another bite of the creamy frozen desert that is the reason for my fatness. "So what do you want for your birthday? And don't say nothing because I'm getting you something either way."
He laughs and responds. "I dunno. I like music and stuff. I like to play bass. I like dogs."
"So I'll get you a bass playing dog then." I laugh at my own joke at the same time as Calum.
"That would be pretty cool, but no. Just figure something out." He lifts his shoulders up into a shrug and sets his empty ice cream cup into the cup holder between us.
"Oh, I'll get you something. You wait and see." I say, a mysterious yet silly tone in my voice.
"I'm sure I'll like anything."
I nod and look inside the cup that's a little more than halfway empty. I really don't feel like finishing it though. .
"You want the rest of this?" I ask, tipping my cup to him.
"You don't want it?"
"No, not really." I shake my head.
"Yeah, sure."
He smiles at me and I smile back, handing him the cup that made my hands cold. After rubbing my hands against my pants for a few seconds to warm them up, I start the car again.
Calum turns up the volume of the radio to his liking. He gasps when he hears a Rolling Stones song that is the soundtrack of our trip back to his apartment building.
When I pull up in the parking lot, he looks over at me and smiles.
"You don't have to walk me up, just stay in the warm car." He says.
"You sure?"
"I said stay in the car, woman." He opens the door, the cool air entering my car. He shuts the door and I roll down the window on his side so I can keep talking to him. His head pops into my view when he bends down in frontof the window.
"Well, thanks for taking me to go get ice cream." He smiles.
"You got it, dude." I mock Michelle Tanner from my favorite TV show as a child. He laughs at my idiotic humor.
"Hey. Happy early birthday. Go get some sleep." I demand him in a playful way.
"I will... Aspen, I'm really glad we're like this again. You know... Friends and all."
"I am too, Cal."
[an]
Dear Calum Hood,
Will you go on a late night ice cream run with me?
Thx,
Audrey