Push Me Away : Book 2 of the Teeth Series

24

Calum woke up with a smile on his face. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and everything in his world felt right.

That feeling of contentment and ease lasted only a few minutes. Just long enough for him to rollover—his body immediately missing the heat that lying next to Fallon had created—and grab his phone from the night stand. The six missed calls from the band's manager had his stomach sinking and sent his blood pressure skyrocketing.

He stood quickly, his vision blacking out for a second as his body struggled to adjust to the sudden change in position. When he gained his bearings he slid into a pair of sweatpants and headed for the door, doing his best not to disturb the sleeping beauty still buried beneath the heap of bedding that resembled a jumbled mess on his bed.

Working faster than his sleepy mind could process, his fingers flew over the glass screen as he dialed for Ashton, trusting his band mate and best friend to fill him in on whatever it was their management seemed desperate to tell him. The phone rang only once before a disheveled and forlorn sounding Ash answered.

"Hey Cal..." His words tapered off like he didn't know how to continue and if Calum wasn't worried before now he was distraught, panic filling him as all the possibilities of what he was about to hear raced through his mind.

"What's wrong?" His question has a staccato rhythm, the two words of his question short and punctuated by his unease.

"There's a bit of an issue with the album."

"What kind of an issue?" There was an obvious edge in his voice.

Ashton sighed and cleared his throat. "I'm not one hundred percent sure really. Something about ticketmaster and the way they handle all the albums that went with tour tickets. We'll probably find out more later today. They want us all on Zoom at two."

"Fuck."

"Yeah mate, I know. The last damn thing we all want to hear but I guess it is what it is. I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing, sorry to ruin your day."

Calum ended the call and slipped his phone into his sweatpants pocket, padding down the hallway and towards his back yard. Duke appeared at his feet, clambering out the sliding door in front of him. A pack of cigarettes and a lighter was still on the patio table where he had left them the day before. He'd been working on quitting, or at least cutting back but if ever there was a time he needed a cigarette, now seemed like the moment.

It was a foggy morning, it seemed fitting for his melancholy mood. Why did it seem like everytime something good happened to him it was immediately followed by something bad. Wasn't he owed a true win every once in a while? He felt guilty as soon as the thought crossed his mind. He was a very fortunate individual and he recognized that. There were very few people in the world who were able to truly do what they loved in the capacity that he did and be successful as he was. He wasn't ungrateful he was just... bummed.

CALM was something that he and the rest of his band had spent well over a year pouring their hearts and souls into. Everything the album was so deeply intertwined into his life and hearing that because of a simple mistake there might be an impact on its success. Well, that damn near broke his heart.

Knee deep in self-pity and nicotine he barely lifted his head at the sound of the glass door sliding open and Fallon stepping out onto the concrete patio. Duke greeted her warmly and even with his mood lingering near foul he found the corners of his lips lifting ever so slightly into a smile. Because if there was anyone on the planet with the power to put whatever this turned out to be into perspective, it was Fallon Elise Harding.

"Uh-oh. Up early and already a cancer stick in your hand. What's wrong?" Her eyes narrowed as she studied him, taking a step closer and running her hand across his shoulder until their eyes connected.

"Just some shit with the band. Some kind of mix up with the album. I woke up to a bunch of calls from management and Ash said we're all supposed to have a virtual meeting in a few hours." He shrugged, not sure he wanted her to know how concerned he was.

"Well, maybe it's not as big of a deal as you're thinking." She tried, her fingers squeezing into his shoulderblade and rubbing as she tried to release the obvious tension there.

"I dunno, it sounded pretty bad. Ash sounded upset." "-but he didn't have much to go on either though, right?"

Calum considered that for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"So it's highly possible that you're making a mountain out of a molehill before you even have all the facts. Right?" She said and he sighed again, stuffing out his cigarette on the ashtray and turning to face her.

"You're right."

"Besides, what's truly the worst that could happen? Not as many presales? Okay, so you and the boys promote the fuck out of it this week. You trust yourselves and your fans to ensure that this album finds the same success your others have." She lightly shoved at his shoulder and he closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close so that his chin rested in the crook of her neck.

"You always know just what to say."

"Nah, I just know you and what I would want you to say to me if it were Revelry in the same situation. Not that it would be, my band seems keen to just spend this whole quarantine on our asses twiddling our thumbs."

"Still not able to get them motivated?" His head tilted to give him a better view of her face.

"Nope." She replied, clear frustration showing on her face. "It's like I'm the only one seeing this as an opportunity for us to get things done without having to find the time in a hectic schedule. We could take our time, we could do things the way we want to. There's so much opportunity here, especially since it's looking like this is going to go on for a while. I don't know I thought if Erin and I patched things up they'd realize we need to take advantage of this but they seem content to view it as a prolonged vacation."

Calum swallowed thickly as an idea occurred to him. He was hesitant to say anything because he wasn't sure how she'd react. "Do you think you'd consider doing something on your own?"

"What?" Fallon broke free of his embrace and turned to face him. "What are you talking about? Revelry is my everything."

Calum pulled his lower lip back with his teeth. "Hear me out." He asked, lifting his eyebrows in question and waiting for her permission to continue. She folded her arms across her chest defensively but after a long pause lifted her chin to tell him to continue. "You want to make music and your band is enjoying the break. I don't think you can really fault them for that when it's been years really since you guys had that. That's the opportunity they see here and I think that's fine." "—But!" She tried to interrupt but Calum held his hands up asking her to let him finish. "Ashton's already been talking about doing a solo project during all of this and I think Luke's thrown the idea around too. You and I are here...we always talked about wanting to do something together. What if we..." He let his words drift off and her to fill in the rest.

"I'm not saying it has to be a full album or anything. Hell, it might not even turn into a single. I'm just saying that we always wanted to do something together and now we have this chance and—"

"Yes," Fallon said. Calum didn't seem to hear her though and continued on with his adorable pitch until finally, Fallon let loose a little laugh, stepping towards him and successfully shutting him up with a kiss. "I said yes, you idiot. Let's do it."

An: sorry this took so long!

What do you think about their collab?

Will their bands take that well? What about their fans?

Life is crazy! We find out if we're having a boy or girl this week! Anyone have guesses?

Hopefully my next update doesn't take two weeks 🤦🏻‍♀️ idk how I used to do this everyday.

I love you!
Sav 🖤