Push Me Away : Book 2 of the Teeth Series

25

There was no simple way to phrase it. The stuff that happened with CALM was above all, disappointing, and incredibly frustrating. For a few hours, Calum had resigned to grieve the loss of the successful expectations he and the boys had of what their fourth album could be. He felt frustrated and cheated and honestly he had figured that he would feel like that for quite some time. But then, Fallon had burst into the room, her words coming out of her mouth faster than he was able to process them and so much excitement on her face that he was flung right out of his melancholy mood.

Now they sat in his junk room, surrounded by what seemed like endless pages of sheet music. Chords and lyrics were interwoven with scribbled lines and rewrites that represented how Fallon and Calum had occupied themselves for the previous six days. If it weren't for the tally marks they had become keeping on the whiteboard where they kept their ideas organized. Everything outside of their little hideaway had blurred together. The day, nights, frustration, along with their confusion with the world around them in shut down. It all seemed to fade into irrelevant oblivion while all of their efforts were hyperfocused on turning all of the pain and suffering they had endured in the past two years into something beautiful and therapeutic.

Calum's head was a whirling machine of chord progressions and sonic melodies that were interrupted when Fallon heaved a heavy sigh and allowed herself to fall back, laying amongst the crumpled papers filled with rejected lyrics.

"You giving up already?" He asked, glazing over in her direction until their brown eyes met.

"Already?" She replied incredulously. "Cal we've been in here for hours with hardly any breaks in days."

"Well yeah, but look what we've accomplished." He opened his hands and gestured to the room around them and its current state.

"Destroying your bonus room?"

"Be serious." He chuckled, playfully shoving her shoulder.

"I am."

Calum leaned back, his hands spread out behind him so that he was propped up, a happy and relaxed smile on his face.

"What's that look for?" Fallon questioned, her eyebrows bunching together and forming the smallest wrinkle between them that had Calum pressing his weight against his hands so that he wouldn't reach over and smooth the line away.

"I don't know." He mumbled finally, remembering after a brief interlude that she had asked him a question. "I just feel so at peace. That might seem a bit heedless given that the world outside is literally in a raging shitstorm and everything is so unknown but I don't know...there's something so calming and right about you and me, locked away from the world, finding our way through it the best way we know how."

"So you're not having any kind of crisis about potentially being holed up here longer than a few weeks?"

He rolled his neck to study her as he shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. Why, are you?"

"Not yet, but it hasn't really been that long either. I haven't been forced to miss any major events. I mean so far this could basically be any other downtime at home in between tours."

"I get what you're saying. Guess I hadn't thought about the fact that it might go on for that long." Calum reached behind his head and scratched at the base of his neck where his hair had grown just long enough to curl up.

"Not that I really have any clue but given what's happened in other countries I just don't see this all blowing over by next week like they were hoping it would. Hopefully, they'll at least let some people get back to their jobs soon though. I hate that I'm stuck here putting you out because of my water."

Calum's shoulders slumped and his head dropped forward. Somewhere in the midst of all the recent happenings he had forgotten that their current arrangement was supposed to only be temporary. All caused by a water leak and flooding at her own apartment. How he had let the conception of their living situation slip past him he couldn't recall. If he had to guess he would have bet on the fact that they had slipped so comfortably back into such a natural state that it had been easily forgotten.

"You're not putting me out, Fallon." He argued. Figuring that was as good a place as any to broach the subject. "If anything you've significantly improved my quality of life by being here. If it was just me and Roy cooped up here the place would be a wreck and I wouldn't have found the passing time near as enjoyable."

"I'm going to tell Roy you said that." She smirked, a teasing glint in her eye.

"Maybe that's something best kept between just you and me. Besides, I couldn't participate in our particular recent interests with Roy. Might make things a bit awkward."

His innuendo wasn't lost on her and she immediately was lost in a sea of memories of their bare skin and panted breaths as they made love. They hadn't added any sort of label to their status as of yet but their minds seemed to agree that things were quickly headed back to the way they once had been.

"You don't have to leave you know," he started. "When your water is fixed and all." There was a scratch in his voice and a hesitation to his words telling of his apprehension.

Fallon thought seriously about immediately accepting his offer but there was so much to consider. Moving in with Calum was supposed to be a temporary thing. A weird but necessary move where her hand had been forced by a string of bad luck and a global pandemic. Staying after her apartment was fixed would require more thought as well as a deeper conversation about the implications.

"Don't go getting all in your head, Fal. It's just a suggestion. I'm not trying to pressure you into anything. It's just... we seem to have a good thing going and I don't see any need to change that when they fix your apartment. I'm not asking you to jump off a bridge or marry me. I just wanted you to know that I'm not looking to throw you out just because life starts to get back to normal. Just think of it as an offer to not try to fix something that isn't broken. You and I have been good. We've been inspired and busy and not falling down a rabbit hole of doom and gloom due to the world outside like so many others are. If you're worried about encroaching on Roy and I, I swear he's fine with it and if it'll make you feel better you're more than welcome to have a discussion with him yourself about it I just...I like how things have been going. I don't want to ruin it now."

An: I am SO sorry this took so long!

Should Fallon stay with Cal when it's no longer necessary?

Would Roy be okay with it?

What kind of song do you think they're working on?

When do you think they'll tell their bands?

Will they take it well?

Ily,
Sav 🖤