WRONG NUMBER / CH

chptr 50

The apartment was dark and quiet when Calum opened the door. Luke must've gone out without telling him. He allowed Leia to go in before him into the cold, empty space of their living room. Before he followed her he stood by the door, watching her tread softly around the room, nervously wringing her hands, and he felt the sadness claw at his chest madly.

It was like looking at art that needed to be preserved; that one last look at the one thing you want to save.

He finally shut the door behind him and turned one of the lights on, creating a dull glow of white that seemed to make everything look faded. Leia turned towards him and shivered slightly.

"Are you cold?" Calum asked with a concerned tone.

"No," she answered. And it was the truth.

They stood silently facing each other for almost ten minutes, both too confused or torn to say anything to break the ice that seemed to have formed between them in the span of an hour. It was the kind of silence that made you think you were going deaf. Calum's mind was flitting over every single detail of the day, wondering why he ever had to bring up the texts in the first place, cursing himself for being so unlucky that his first real love would turn out like this. Leia was too busy noticing how hard her heart was beating right now, looking at Calum who had the most heartbreaking expression written on his face.

But after a good ten minutes of painful curiosity and terror, she spoke softly. "What do you need to show me, Calum?"

His expression turned to fear. He opened his mouth- then closed it again. There was so much doubt crossing his tongue and making its way back to his brain. Soon all he could think of was how wrong he was for making the decision to do the right thing.

"Calum." She was serious now. "Tell me."

He nodded. He took one good look at her again before quietly making his way to his room, where his phone was. All he kept thinking was that it was odd, how things would end up. Not because she found out, but because he wanted her to. He unlocked his phone with a quick swipe and stared at it for a while. His wallpaper was a recent picture of him and Leia, taken by Luke. They were both fast asleep on the couch: Leia's head on his shoulder, both their hands sort of intertwined. They looked peaceful together. Luke took it without them knowing (because he thought they looked cute), and the moment Calum saw it in his camera roll, he fell in love all over again.

It was these moments he treasured the most with her. The ones spent in silence and with each other. He would miss this.

He heard her slow, even breathing before he saw her. "It was weird being alone outside," she explained, walking over to him and sitting on the edge of his bed. She stared up at him with curious eyes.

Calum sat beside her and showed her the picture of them. "Look at this," he said softly.

Her eyes lit up in delight. "Oh my God. We look cute as hell," she gushed happily. "Send that to me, okay?" Calum nodded, a small smile spreading on his face. Even in the darkest of moments, she always managed to pull a smile out of him. Leia piped up again. "Is this what you wanted to show me? Geez, Calum, for a minute there I thought you were going to show me a room full of dead bodies. I'm serious! You looked-" She stopped midsentence, noticing how quiet Calum was, and the way he looked at the phone at his hand. The atmosphere suddenly grew intense and awkward. Leia followed his gaze to his phone and was mildly startled at a realization. "Hey, whose phone is that? It's not Luke's."