drivers licence || calum hood

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙒𝙊

As soon as Richie walks inside the apartment she is sharing with her older cousin, Monica, she is bombarded with a bunch of questions; some of which she doesn't even have the answer to.

"Monica...MONICA! Slow down, Please. I can hardly comprehend anything you are saying." Richie breathes out and turns to lock the door behind her.

"What were you thinking? Going out with them afterward? Do you want to look like a slut?" Monica asks, the language her cousin was using didn't surprise her but that didn't stop the dumbfounded scoff to escape her lips.

"Are you kidding me, Monica? Just because I was hanging out with them after doesn't immediately mean anything! It was innocent!"

"They're teenage boys! and I know what teenage boys think when they see a pretty girl like you!" Monica responds in a harshly and folds her arms over her chest.

"Oh my GOD, MONICA!" Richie exclaims and lets out a groan, hating how her older cousin is behaving; even if it's just because the woman is protective over her.

"Have you seen what people are saying about you, Richie? They think you're a groupie!"

"A groupie? Oh you can't be serious, Monica." Richie scoffs and turns towards her with an exasperated expression.

"Oh I'm dead serious, look it up." Monica retorts while watching Richie carefully.

"I'm not trying to be the 'bad guy', Rich. I'm just trying to protect you...and I wish that you could understand that." The woman sighs and runs a hand through her hair.

"Monica, I'm not stupid; I get that you are trying to protect me but you don't need to. I can take care of myself." She retorts wanting to make her strength clear to Monica.

"It's not that I don't think you're strong, Richie, because I do think that. You have been through so much and I just don't want to see you getting hurt when it can be prevented." Monica sighs and looks at her with a sad smile.

All of what Monica is telling her is either things Richie has heard before or simply doesn't want to hear; especially right now when she is supposed to be having the time of her life in Los Angeles.

"You can't keep me wrapped in bubble wrap, Monica." Richie finally responds and swallows hard, then began walking to her bedroom without anymore interruptions from her older cousin.

The brunette shuts the door quietly and turns to lean her back against the white door, "What have you gotten yourself into?" Richie murmurs to herself.

With some hesitance she pulls her phone out from the back pocket of her jeans to do some 'research' on what Monica had told her, due to having no idea what she had been ranting about for the past ten minutes. As soon as she typed in 5SOS into the search bar a flood of articles appeared with the photos taken of her and the boys at the Hot Dog Stand, "Jesus."

Everything Monica had been saying was true and Richie hates that, "A groupie? I'm not a groupie...I'm not hanging around them just because they're famous--UGH!" The brunette groans out of frustration while tilting her head back toward the ceiling.

With some hesitance Richie clicks on the Instagram icon on her phone to deep dive into the comments people were saying about her; which is exactly when a notification comes in from no one other than Calum Thomas Hood.

Richie's heart began to race and her stomach began to twist into knots as much as she dislikes it, "No. NO! I'm not going to answer it. Nope! He's just some loser from a lame ass boyband that I don't even like!" She tells herself as she tosses her phone onto her bed and turns away from it to distract herself.

The attempts to distract herself only lasted about two minutes before she turns around to grab her phone off the mattress, "I have to see what he texted me...Who can blame me though it's Calum Hood!" She mutters.

The anticipation was killing her but was also making her a bundle of nerves, which she also hates because she considers herself to be a "laidback" individual.

"It's just a boy, Richie!...A very cute boy...God his eyes--NO!" She cuts her daydreaming off in exclamation which also causes her to abruptly click on the message, "Shit. No going back now, Idiot. Fuck."

Richie swallows hard and bites down on her bottom lip beginning to read what he wrote, "Oh my God! Why was I so fucking nervous? He's like every other boy doing the classic 'U up?' " She mocks in a low tone.

"Like of course I'm up! I just left from hanging out with you!" She says and takes a look in the mirror with an unimpressed expression. Despite saying all of this and mocking him while in front of the mirror it didn't change the pace of her heart or her stomach twisting into knots.

"What do I even say to this? I don't want to seem like a complete bitch..." Richie stares at her phone and chews on her bottom lip, before muttering 'screw it' beneath her breath. She quickly begins typing and clicks send without any hesitation:

@calumhood: U up?

@richiechase: Oh no, I'm not...But I'm taking messages for later--No guarantee that I'll answer though.

@calumhood: The guys and I liked hanging with you today...So I was wondering if you wanted to do it again?

@richiechase: Hmmm, I'll have to check my schedule...Cause I'm a busy girl, Hood.

Though Richie is once again behaving nonchalantly towards the bassist, on the inside she is freaking out; None of this seemed real to her. "Calm down." She whispers to herself and nervously begins to chew on her bottom lip while waiting for Calum to answer.

All the brunette wants to do is throw the nonchalant 'act' out the window and hang out with the famous boy band again but she's resisting due to everything that just happened.

As the minutes tick by, Richie begins getting extremely impatient by the fact that Calum's not responding quick enough and decided to turn her phone off in pure spite. "There! He won't be getting a text from me until...Tomorrow!"

As soon as Richie shuts off her cellphone Calum coincidentally messages her, which is no surprise because it's just Richie's luck for something like this to happen.

Due to all of this, it's Calum's turn to become annoyed at how long it's taking her to respond and clearly he's not doing a good job of hiding it because Ashton happened to notice right away.

"Who shit on your vegemite lathered toast, Hood?" Ashton asks once he notices Calum's sour expression.

"Oh shut up, Ash. Y'know what?...do you guys wanna play FIFA?" He asks and gets up to go grab the video game from the closet.

"I don't like FIFA, Cal. You know that." Ashton breathes out and flicks his hair out of his eyes while watching Calum carefully.

"I question how we are friends everyday, Ashton Irwin." Calum's response earned him a snort from Michael; who immediately gets a light slap on his chest from Luke.

"What? He's got a point. He doesn't like FIFA!" Michael laughs and decides to order them a pizza from the local parlor while waiting for Calum to set up the game.

"Does your sour ass mood have to do with Richie?" Ashton asks, causing Calum to choke on air and begin having a coughing fit.

"What? Why would it have anything to do with her, Ash?" Calum asks once he got ahold of himself.

"You've been checking your phone every five seconds and have been stalking her Instagram since we've gotten back from the shoot." He retorts and narrows his eyes suspiciously at the bassist.

"Ha. You're really funny, dude." Calum clears his throat and grabs the controllers from the cabinet; deciding to just brush everything Ashton's saying under the rug.

Even though he's well aware that this won't be the last time he hears about Richie from his bandmates; especially because everything Ashton just said happened, though he 'subtly' denied it.