Somebody I Don't Know : Book 1 of the Teeth Series

3

"We've got ourselves a tour boys." Luke, the blonde haired singer of the band said as he entered the Five Seconds of Summer practice space fanning himself with the pages of what Calum assumed was the tour contract.

"They all agreed?" He heard himself ask even though he knew it had to be true if Luke was right and the tour with Revelry was official. Sealed with ink from his ex's pen.

"Yeah, Wesley just dropped these off." Luke's response was softer this time and Calum hated the way that all of the boys felt the need to walk on eggshells around him where matters of he and Fallon were concerned. He understood it of course, the three of them had watched him completely fall apart when he and Fallon had ended. He had never been able to bring himself to explain to them what had happened and he doubted if he ever would.

Fallon and his relationship had been storybook stuff. A complete and total fairytale. He'd fallen in love with her the day he had met her and if he was honest with himself he wasn't over her, not really, but there was nothing he could do about it. She hated him and that was all his own damn fault.

He was the one who had broken them, and he had regretted it every day since.

He nodded at Luke who was still looking in his direction, like he was looking for cracks in the facade that Calum had concocted. He wouldn't find any though, Calum had built his defenses rock solid and he knew this tour with the girls would test them to their limits.

The idea of seeing her everyday, of living through circumstances so similar to how things had been when they had been at their best together, was daunting. He wasn't sure that he could truly handle it, even seeing her to ask her to consider it had sent him spiraling down the bottle and filling his bed with another brunette that he could pretend was her for a night.

He wasn't proud of himself, he felt like a complete asshole sleeping with other women when he knew there was only one woman that he wanted. It didn't matter what he wanted though. That ship had sailed and because of his own decisions he was left marooned on an island filled with nothing but the memories leftover from what he was certain was the greatest love he would ever know.

Michael, the band's lead guitarist, touched his shoulder and Calum startled, blinking furiously and focusing on the tattoos across Micheal's arm as he came out of his thoughts. He hadn't realized how distracted by them he had been.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm good."

"You sure mate?" Ashton, the currently red haired drummer and Calum's best friend of the group asked, his face making it obvious that he was concerned.

"Just got trapped in some memories is all. I'll be 'ight."

"You don't have to pretend that this is all going to be just fine and dandy, Cal. We all know that it wasn't easy to ask them to come on the tour with us."

"I'll be fine guys, just drop it."

He didn't miss the shared looks between his friends but he didn't want to address it. He didn't want to talk about her anymore.

"What do you want to start with first?" He asked, hoping that he could distract them with work and in turn distract himself with work.

*

"Are we really doing this again?" Ashton asked as he slid into the booth in the VIP Section of a bar in the heart of Los Angeles.

"I could use a little more of your support and a little less of your judgment, Ash." Calum replied.

"Sorry, I want to be supportive but I just don't know if this is healthy."

"I need to move on, Ashton. Preferably I need to move on quickly since I'm about to be constantly surrounded by her." He said, his voice exasperated as his dark eyes dragged the room from left to right looking for someone to occupy his time and distract his mind.

Ashton took a sip of his bourbon, the drink he had chosen after they had done three shots at the bar, and then turned to face Calum. "I just don't know if you can call it getting over her when you're just looking for someone you can pretend is her."

Calum's head whipped towards him and Ashton stared back at him in challenge, practically daring Calum to say he was wrong. The vein in the Maori man's forehead throbbed and his shoulders raised and lowered as he tried to even out his breathing and reduce his anger.

"You have no fucking clue what you're talking about." Calum finally said, swiping his glass of Jack and coke off the table and downing what remained, slamming it back against the wood of the booth table with so much force that Ashton jumped slightly and he himself was surprised that the glass didn't shatter, before storming off back to the bar.

The whole time he walked, the task was made more difficult by the swarm of people that seemed to linger in every possible open space, his eyes searched. He knew what he was looking for, dark hair, brown eyes. He was looking for someone who looked like Fallon and he hated himself for it and hated even more that Ashton had called him out on it.

He made it to the bar, he could have simply ordered his drink from the VIP section but he had needed the space to calm down. There was a reason he didn't usually entertain conversations about his former relationship and this was one reason why.

Now everywhere he looked he saw Fallon, not in the ways he wanted too though. Not in the leggy blonde making eyes at him on the dance floor. No, she was obscured from his vision by the memory that had been replaying in his mind for days. The sight of Fallon, looking at him with eyes filled with pain and sadness when he had showed up on her doorstep.

Fuck. He needed to be drunk and fast. He downed his drink in one long gulp when the bartender gave it to him and signaled for another. For just a little while he wanted to be able to pretend that things hadn't fallen apart, that he and Fallon had dealt with their issues together and that he hadn't been the complete and utter fool he was when he left her.

Drink after drink, shot after shot, Calum downed the alcohol that was poured out for him. He knew he had come to the bar with someone but which of his friends had been recruited for the task had been forgotten along with the petty argument that had sent him over to the bar in the first place. His eyes were half shaded, his lids lowered with inebriation as  he once again scanned the dance floor for someone he could take home.

His eyes landed on a brunette on the outskirts of the masses, moving in time to the rhythm of the pulsing bass, ignoring the world around her. She wasn't Fallon, but she was fine for the night. He'd been through this drill countless times: Introduce himself and let her hear his accent, flash his money around, turn on his charm, and in two hours or less he could have her screaming his name.

He finished off the last of the shots he had ordered and moved in her direction.

An: So obviously Cal is doing swell.

What do you think happened between he and Fallon?

Other thoughts?

Let me know,
Ily,
Sav 🖤