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

9

Calum had always loved New York City. Something about the hustle and bustle made him feel important. Everyone always had somewhere to be, something to do, and that pace excited him. He understood why they called it the "city that never sleeps", who had time to sleep when there were so many things to see and do.

New York also held a special place in his heart because it was the city in which he had first finally managed to take Fallon on a date.

They had met at an award show, he couldn't even recall which one because he had forgotten everything about that night apart from everything to do with Fallon. He'd seen the girls of Revelry from across the room, watched them be escorted to their seats and then felt like the guy with a winning lottery ticket when they were seated directly in front of him and the rest of the boys. Ashton, always the outgoing one, introduced them and from the moment Fallon's brown eyes landed on his, he was gone.

Revelry had been fresh off the release of their first album and so his band had taken them out to dinner after and offered their insight into the music industry, what little insight they had at the time anyways. The boys had seen the chemistry between them before Calum had even registered in his brain that he was attracted to her and so, thanks to his meddling friends, he had found himself next to her in the back booth of some diner laughing it up over burgers and fries while they looked at him like proud dad's.

Before the night ended he and Fallon had swapped numbers and he had promised to call her later, a promise he kept the next day, and every day after that for a month. She'd filled in all the blank spaces and holes that had been open in his life and when she finally agreed to let him take her out properly he'd been on cloud nine. It had taken a few weeks for their schedules to line up but his band had been recording in New York when hers passed through on a promotional tour and they'd worked it all out.

He had been so nervous beforehand, he hadn't dated since before the band and that had felt like a different lifetime. The hours before he met up with her had felt endless and he had gone through every worst case scenario in his head multiple times but then she showed up, and all of the worry and doubt he had disappeared as soon as she smiled at him.

She had a way of doing that, of making things feel right. Of putting him at ease. It wasn't something that could be taught or learned it was just something that existed between them and it had proven so key to their relationship for such a long time.

Fallon had helped him find himself in a world that for a long time hadn't felt like home. She knew how to build him up while simultaneously helping him remain humble. All of the parts of himself that he was happy with were traits she had brought out of him. His love for his friends and family, his patience and rationality, his ability to compromise. Her fingerprint was on every facet of his life and he had been a cruel, heartless, asshole to leave her like he had.

The busy streets of New York surrounded him, his body moving instinctively to keep pace with the other people who surrounded him and his body's internal GPS leading the way until he saw the sign in the distance. He hadn't realized where he was headed but given the thoughts that had been running rampant in his mind he wasn't surprised to find himself in front of the restaurant he had taken Fallon to on that night that seemed so long ago. He wondered for a minute if going in alone might be ill-advised, masochistic even. His stomach growled in reply, and he took that as his sign to enter through the darkly tinted double doors.

The family owned Thai place had been one of his favorites since the first time he had tried it with the other boys, the familiarity had been comforting to him on that first date and it still was, even in the current moment as he entered alone.

As soon as he stepped through the door he knew. It was the same feeling that always came over him. He hadn't been lying to Ashton two nights before, even with the time that had passed, he could always tell when Fallon was around. He did a quick sweep of the dining room until his eyes settled on a hooded figure in the back corner. If the hoodie hadn't once belonged to him then perhaps he wouldn't have given it a second glance, but it had, and so he knew that her pink hair was hidden beneath the large black hood.