ariana could hardly sleep that night. once calum left, she soaked in the hot tub for only five more minutes afterwards then went to her room and sat in bed. maddy was knocked out and snoring louder than a siren, so ariana could hardly sleep anyway. she decided to get up and walk around for a bit to try and make herself tired.
when she got downstairs, she saw calum with his down on the counter in the kitchen and with the tall bottle of vodka next to him. she'd never seen him drink before, and was a little bit convinced he never drank at all. "calum, are you okay." he swore under his breath and sighed. "i'm fine, go back to bed." he said.
"i...i couldn't sleep. i was gonna walk around a bit, see if that would help." she said. ariana made it to the kitchen after hesitating, but kept her distance, she could sense something was wrong. "i didn't know you drank." she said. "i'm an adult, i'm allowed to." he said.
"how did the date go? i'm surprised to see you home."
"look, i'm going to say this in the nicest way possible. please, go away." he said. "did i do something wrong?" she asked. "just go back to bed ariana." calum said in annoyance. ariana just scoffed and shook her head. "i'm just trying to talk to you, why are you trying to shut me out."
"because you don't need to know anything. you're just a kid so stay in a kid's place and go back to bed." calum raised his voice now. "i am not a fucking kid, what kid do you know is being used as a pawn in her father's gang related shit. i'm sorry if you had a shitty night but i'm not the reason it's shitty."
calum let out a laugh before finally lifting his head up to take another drink. ariana noticed the scars on his cheek and the blood on his shirt and immediately got concerned. "what...what happened to your face?" she asked. "me, that's what happened. i fucked up, and this what happens when i fuck up." he said.
"did she do that to you?" ariana walked towards him slowly and began reaching up to touch him, but he grabbed her wrist to stop her. "don't." he said softly. "she hurt you...how can you be mad at me, yell at me for god's sake for caring about you when she hurt you."
"because you shouldn't care about me. i've got you stuck here in this house, away from your family with no intention of letting you go back. i've been yelling at you for months and made you want to die at one point. i'm a terrible person." calum said.
"well i do. i care about you a lot, and i know you care about me too." calum let her go and backed away from her as he finished off the bottle and threw it on the ground to shatter. ariana didn't flinch. "i don't want you to care about me. it'll be the worst thing you could ever do."
"worse than having feelings for you?" she admitted. when she looked up at him, calum could see every ounce of innocence in her eyes, and he knew that if he acted on his emotions, he'd take it all away.
but in this moment, she was all he wanted. "i'll ruin you." he said. "i'm already ruined." calum quickly approached her once more, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. ariana wrapped her arms around his neck and gladly kissed him back.
kissing calum was way different than kissing hunter. even though calum was drunk, he was still gentle and didn't force anything. hunter was always so aggressive to the point where ariana could hardly breathe sometimes. "you have no idea how long i've wanted to kiss you." calum said.
"was it worth the wait?" ariana asked. calum just chuckled through the kiss before picking her up and carrying her upstairs, their lips never coming apart. when they made it to his room, he locked the door behind them before he carried her to bed.
ariana laid back on the pillows as calum pulled away to take his shirt off. ariana was always in awe at how he looked. his large biceps, his abs, not to mention his chest and arms were covered in tattoos. he was physically way bigger than hunter, and she loved how she felt in his arms, she fit perfectly.
calum's lips attached to her neck, kissing her sweet skin softly as his hand trailed her body. her eyes rolled into the back of her head as small moans left her lips. he used his free hand to move her legs apart. "you have no idea, how bad i want you right now." he said. as much ariana wanted to let him in, as much as she wanted to give herself fully, she was scared.
"i-i'm still a virgin." she blurted out. calum immediately pulled away and instantly sobered up. "shit, i'm so sorry. i didn't want to make you uncomfortable love, i shouldn't have—"
"no no, you didn't. i shouldn't have said anything, let's just keep going." she said reaching out for him. calum just stroked her cheek with his thumb like always before pecking her lips softly.
"it's been a long day, let's just get some sleep." he said. "are you mad?" ariana asked. "of course not. i'd never push you to do anything like that if you weren't ready, it's fine." he reassured. "can i sleep in here, with you?" she asked. "yeah, i'd like that. i'm just gonna go shower real quick." calum said.
ariana crawled under the covers and got herself comfortable as she waited for calum who was having a moment of panic in the shower. he thought kissing her was the best feeling in the world. he thought this was exactly what he wanted, but he also felt so guilty for everything after. her kissing him back, taking her to his room, almost having sex with her, nothing felt right.
he didn't know if was because she was young, because of the situation they were in, what michelle said, or a combination of all three. when he got out, he slipped into some sweats and left his shirt off before heading back to his room. ariana was almost fast asleep but tried to keep her eyes open to wait for calum to climb in bed next to her.
she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into his side. "goodnight." she mumbled. calum kissed her forehead before turning off the lights and sitting in silence, knowing everything was going to change.
