Push Me Away : Book 2 of the Teeth Series

3

Valentine's day had always been at least a little stressful for Fallon. Before Calum, when she was in school, she had always been scared that she would be left out of the classroom treats and then as she got older she had feared that no one would send her a heart-o-gram, even if the tradition was stupid she had always wanted to be included. That fear had nothing on the pain she had experienced the year before, when on what was supposed to be one of the most romantic days of the year, her romantic life had been completely demolished and the bits of her heart burned seemingly beyond repair. This year the fear had nothing to do with the holiday itself really. She couldn't be bothered with red and pink flowers and hearts. Not when she woke up to approximately a million social media notifications featuring the picture of her and Calum at the ice cream shop.

She didn't normally have her notifications on but given the circumstances she had wanted to gauge the reaction and so once she managed to pry her eyes open she began to scroll through the posts. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the posts were full of varying degrees of shock. As far as the world of social media had been aware, Fallon and Calum hadn't spoken since before Christmas.

The negative responses weren't exactly shocking but it still hurt to see such vile things written about herself. She did her best to scroll past the negativity but she had no doubt the mental images of the comments would resurface in her brain in moments of self-deprecation.

As she felt her mood begin to dip she switched over to her contacts list and did something she hadn't in over a month: she called Calum.

It took him a few minutes to answer but when he did her breath caught in her throat. Honestly she was a little startled at how comforting and familiar it was to hear him on the other end of the line.

"Guess we were right about that one, weren't we?" She asked when she found her voice.

"What?" He said, his voice was deeper, more husky than usual and she realized she had probably woken him up.

"Fuck, were you asleep?"

"Yeah, but it's fine. Call whenever."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing. Now, what was it we were right about?"

"That picture. It's everywhere." She sighed into the phone.

Fallon could hear the sounds of his fumbling for something through the speaker. "Ah, shit. I see it now."

"Yep. So that'll be fun."

"I'm sure they'll run wild with it, especially given the timing."

"The most wonderful day of the year." She told him sarcastically.

"C'mon now, it's not so bad. You love flowers and love and dates and all that sappy shit." He argued.

"No, Calum. I loved when you bought me flowers and when you took me on dates and when you loved me. Before you this day was nothing but stress and then I had you and you made our Valentine's day together magical. But that was like everyday for you and I. No one had ever gone so out of their way to make me happy and so yes, I loved all of those things, but it was only because of how much I loved the man doing them for me."

"And then you ruined that."

His voice came out so cold and harsh that Fallon's head snapped away from the phone. Her mouth hung slightly open as she tried to process his sudden shift in mood and formulate a response.

"Look, I gotta go. If anyone contacts you just say 'no comment.' I think that's probably what's best for both of us."

The phone clicked dead and Fallon sat too shell shocked and stunned to even move. Calum's shift in mood had been so sudden that she felt the aftershocks of the surprise for a while afterwards as she moved through her morning as if she was stuck in a haze.

The first thing she heard or saw clearly afterwards was the sound of her phone ringing, Chayse's contact on the screen.

"What's up?" She answered, slipping the phone in between her shoulder and chin so she could talk and make herself something for lunch.

"Hey Fallon. I was just wondering if you're coming over tonight?" A glance into her refrigerator revealed leftovers from the night before and so she popped them in the microwave as she answered Chayse.

"Coming over? For what?"

"The Anti-V-Day bash."

"Oh shit. I had forgotten about that." The microwave beeped and she pulled her take out from the appliance and stepped over towards the couch slumping down and settling in with Chayse on speaker.

"Yeah, I know last year you were dealing with things and the year before..."

"I was dating Cal." Fallon finished when Chayse trailed off.

"Yeah, so it's been a few years but I thought this time you might wanna come."

"Is E gonna be there?"

"I texted Erin this morning but she hasn't replied. Last week she told me she was in though."

"I don't know then. We haven't really been speaking." Fallon confided.

"What better way to rekindle the sibling bond than over a night of female empowerment?"

"Uh-huh and what exactly does this year's 'night of female empowerment' include?" She asked pointedly.

"We're getting wine drunk and making fun of bad rom-coms."

Fallon tsked. It really did sound like fun. It sounded like exactly what she needed to take her mind off Calum but the thought of having to play nice with Erin when her sister hadn't bothered to pick up the phone or at the very least respond to Fallon's texts and voicemails, was daunting.

"Listen Chayse, I'll come but if Erin acts out I'm going to bail. Calum already blew up at me this morning and I just can't take another hit today. Okay?"

"That's fine but since you brought him up, is there anything you want to clue me in on? Like perhaps why the two of you were getting ice cream yesterday?"

"Do I have to?"

"You don't have to do anything, Fallon." There was obvious disapproval in Chayse's words, but Fallon just wasn't sure what there was to say about the picture. "All I'm saying is, haven't you had enough of keeping secrets for one lifetime?"

"We'll talk tonight. Okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll see you later, Fal. Bring a bottle of wine and dress up we're taking thirst trap pics."

"I don't know about all of that."

"Well I do. I'll see you at seven."

An: thoughts on everything?

Erin?

Calum's snappy comment?

Fallon?

What happens at the anti-V day bash?

What's Cal up to?

Let me know!

I love you,
Sav 🖤