Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU

5.

This house makes Joss's look like a dollhouse.

I can't tell you much about Ashton Irwin other than that he - or his parents, I guess - has six bathrooms and an indoor pool. The latter, currently has at least half a dozen topless girls in it who are pretending to play volleyball, but they're mostly pushing their chests out further for the audience of boys sitting on the edge of the pool.

I recognise some of the boys but I'm surprised not to see Luke there. We've been here for at least two hours so my next guess would be that he is already upstairs with a girl. Calum isn't in the line up of perving teenagers either, but that doesn't surprise me at all.

I don't know a lot about Calum, really, aside from the fact that he likes soccer and despite being loved by everyone, he doesn't say much. He's sort of mysterious, I guess, which is part of his charm. Imagine being the girl who one day manages to put together the puzzle that is Calum Hood, knowing all of the secrets and inner thoughts behind those deep brown eyes.

Given that I'm not drunk enough to take off my clothes and get in the pool, I walk back into the kitchen where liquor fills most of the available bench space, aside from the corner where a cupcake tower of iced-brownies are sitting. There's a few spills already on the floor and I do not envy whoever is going to clean this up tomorrow.

With a refilled cup of vodka in one hand and one of the chocolate brownies in my other, I squeeze through the crowded living room, looking for Joss or Michael or anyone that I actually might know, until giving up entirely and sitting on a floral antique-looking chair.

I only take one bite of the brownie before I recognise the weird, earthy taste and realise that they're not the kind I made to bribe Finn yesterday afternoon. They're marijuana brownies. I abandon it entirely, and lift my cup to my mouth to wash it down but stop when I see Calum.

He's standing across the room, against the wall with a beer in one hand and the other resting in the back pocket of his skinny jeans. He's wearing a white t-shirt with a black vest, and frowning into space like he's got more important things to do than be hanging out at some lame party.

Once, about a year ago, my dad took us out for breakfast at this cafe. It was coming up to Mum's birthday and I think he felt bad, like maybe we'd be sad or something, and even though I didn't care there was no way I'd turn down someone else paying for breakfast. 

Anyway, just as we were leaving (I ended up ordering Eggs Benedict in case you're wondering) Calum walked in with a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird in his hand. Ever since, I've had this strange sense that maybe there's this whole other side to Calum that no one knows, and maybe that's made me fall for him even more.

Even though I'm not drunk yet, I'm starting to wave at him. The forgotten brownie is next to my shoe, and my left hand holding onto my red cup tighter while my right waves all on it's own accord. Maybe I'm panicking because of what Joss said - about this year being the last chance I have at telling him that I like him - but I'm lifting my hand higher now, trying to capture his attention.

He notices me and smiles. It's a ghost smile, but a smile. And now, oh my god, he's coming this way. At first, I instinctively look behind me even though the floral chair is against the wall and there is no other explanation than he's on his way over here to speak to me. And now I'm trying to decide what to do with my hands. They feel so awkward in my lap, like they aren't usually attached to my arms or something.

It would be too obvious to brush my hair out of my face so I sort of shake my head slightly, while smiling, hoping it looks okay and also hoping that the giant pimple that's been living on my face all week has at least had the decency to shrink a little.

"Hey Cal," I say as soon as he's within reach of hearing my voice over the music. I stop myself from saying anything else because I hear Luke's voice saying lust grows when you keep them on their toes or whatever it was, because that's all I've got to work with right now.

Calum doesn't say anything. He leans down and his knees brush up against mine. It's the most physical contact we've ever had, and it sends shivers down my spine. He's staring at my face, concentrating, and it feels like one of those love movies that I always make fun of. The ones that Joss always cries in.

But maybe I was wrong. To make fun of those movies, I mean.

Calum's reaching up and touching my cheek with his thumb. My entire body feels like it's made of a deck of cards, one move too sudden and I'll come crashing down. He's still silent and I wonder if maybe we have this deep-seeded connection where we don't have to say anything because of some unspoken understanding where we just get one another.

His thumb is running down to the corner of my mouth, his skin softer than I imagined it to be. I've always thought that his fingertips would be calloused from hours of playing guitar or something. Stopping his thumb at the corner of my lip, his smile grows and I breathe in deeply, shutting my eyes and I'm thinking: forget keeping him on his toes, this is it. Calum Hood is going to kiss me.

But as my eyes shut, he says my name and it's not the whispered sort of tone that one might use just before they kiss someone. It's a louder, trying-to-get-your-attention sound and when my eyes open, he's licking chocolate frosting from his thumb which awakens other parts of my body briefly, his tongue swirling around and taking every bit of frosting with it.

"You're welcome," he smiles, standing up and leaving, but my eyes can't follow where he goes because all of a sudden, it's glaringly obvious that while I was shutting my eyes and thinking that Calum Hood was about to kiss me, he was actually trying not to laugh at the girl sitting by herself with chocolate frosting on her face.

hope you guys are liking hoodwinked so far :))