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

41

Thanksgiving snuck up on Fallon. She hadn't even thought about the holiday until the day before, when Crystal had invited the entire band to her and Michael's house for dinner. The tour was in Los Angeles and so everyone was getting to spend two nights at home. As great as a big dinner with everyone sounded, a quiet night in her own apartment just sounded so much better. So while the rest of her band accepted the invitation, she thanked Crystal for the offer but decided to spend her Thanksgiving alone, enjoying the space and peace she had missed for a few months while they had been on the road.

Her apartment hadn't changed. The walls were still the same crisp shade of white, the hardwood floors still creaked when she walked, the hot water in her shower still ran cold much too soon. And yet everything felt different.

When she had last left her apartment the memories of the night she and Cal had broken up had still lingered around every corner hitting her when she least expected like a car crash of sadness and longing. The curtains were the same ones that had framed the window when she had stared out it as he devastated her heart. The couch was where he had sat when he had first walked through the door and decided they needed some space. The door knob was the one she had pulled to open the door for him the day she told him about the miscarriage.

Now when she looked around the apartment the memories were still there but they were softened by time and healing. Her budding relationship-rebuild with Calum she was sure had a lot to do with that and she was eternally grateful. For the first time in what felt like forever she could breathe in her own home again.

Just as she was getting out of the shower, she heard a knock on her door. She had ordered take out from her favorite chinese place down the road so she grabbed the cash off her counter for the delivery guy and threw open her door only to find Calum on the other side instead.

"Cal."

"Hey, sorry to just drop by on you like this but, someone wanted to see you."

Fallon was confused for a moment until she felt a gentle pawing at her foot. She looked down and couldn't contain the squeal she let loose as she bent down to greet Calum's dog, Duke.

"Aw, buddy. Hi—hi! I missed you so much bubs. Oh my goodness." She cooed as the dog tried to jump into her arms. Finally, she obliged him, cradling him in her arms as she stood back up and kicked the door further open so that Calum could follow her back into the apartment.

She replaced the money back on the counter for when the actual delivery guy showed and then led Calum to the couch as Duke happily yipped and licked her face. "I think he missed me."

"I'll say. I'm trying not to be offended that he didn't even greet me this warmly." He said with a teasing glint in his eyes.

"Sorry I look so shit." She apologized, gesturing to her still shower soaked hair and the lounge set she wore.

"You look fine, doll." He promised as he bent forward at the waist and kissed her forehead.

"What brings you by? I figured you guys would be out tonight since we're home."

"The others went but Crys told me you turned down Friendsgiving tomorrow. I just wanted to check on you."

"It's the twenty-first century, you know?" She ragged. "You didn't have to come all the way over, we have phones."

"Yeah but like I said, Duke wanted to see you."

"Told you that himself did he?" She questioned, holding back a laugh.

"He did actually." Calum went along with her joke. "Said he was glad his parents stopped being idiots."

"I'm pretty glad we stopped being idiots too." Fallon told the dog as she held him in front of her face.

"But seriously, I just wanted to check on you and make sure everything was good. I can get out of your hair if you like."

"No, no stay. I'd rather be with you, just wasn't feeling up to the whole group. Couple months in close quarters has me craving some quiet I guess." She shrugged.

"I can understand that."

A second knock signaled the arrival of her food and she held up a finger to ask for Cal's patience as she stepped away to get her food.

"So come on." Fallon said as she returned with a bag of takeout containers. "I was just about to veg out on TV and Chinese. I have more than enough." She spun on her heel and led him back to the living room. He entered slowly and she observed him carefully as he took in the space. She never had gotten around to clearing their pictures off the shelves and now she supposed that was just as well. The tension was practically radiating off of him and she hated that he felt uncomfortable in her home now.

"It's all different." She said softly, hoping he understood he meant the stuff between them. She was already seated on the couch and the sound of her voice had his eyes connecting with hers.

"I know...it just—" "All came rushing back?" She finished the sentence when he seemed unable to get the words out.

"Something like that, yeah."

"I had the same reaction when I got home today but I just had to keep reminding myself that things with us are good now." Her smile was thin and perhaps if Calum had been paying more attention he would have noticed but he was still partially distracted by the setting he hadn't been sure he would ever find himself in again.

Fallon used the silence to flip on the TV, settling on a sitcom and stretching herself out on the couch, her food in her hands, while she waited for Calum to join her. It only took him a few minutes and he moved her feet to sit before replacing them in his lap. Duke made himself comfortable on the floor near his father's boots.

"Are we?—good now, I mean."

Calum didn't look at her as he asked the questions, his eyes trained on the soles of her feet as he mindlessly rubbed them.

She sighed, relaxed from his massaging motions and lost again in the depths of her mind for a while before she answered him. "I'd like to think we're at least getting there. I'd like to just flat out say yes but I know that you and I are a lot alike and our ability to trust one another has been shaken."

Fallon felt the tense bubble in her throat as she forced herself to swallow.

"Yeah, but we're on the same page right? Both willing to put in the work?"

"I am if you are, Cal."

Their conversation turned to things of less importance. Calum filled her in on all the updates Roy had given him upon his return while they ate their fill and watched mindless TV for a few hours before Calum stood and declared that it was time for him to get back to his own place. Fallon offered to let him stay but he told her that he didn't want to take away the private time that she had mentioned being in need of. She didn't say it out loud, but she could tell that there was some kind of internal battle being fought within him and so she didn't press the issue.

When he was gone she wondered if there had been an opportunity within their time together that she should have heeded to finally get off of her chest the things that had been weighing there for quite some time.

Calum wasn't the only one waging a war all his own.

An: duke 🥺

Enjoy this fluffy little filler chapter.

Thanks for reading!

Ily!
Sav 🖤