At school on Monday, I spend a lot of the morning trying to find a reason to talk to Calum. The smile leftover from Friday night is still stuck on my face and I've replayed our conversation over in my head at least one hundred times.
Unfortunately, the only solid, not entirely ridiculous idea excuse I can come up with is to him about school work - except we aren't in any of the same classes.
"Just go and talk to him," Luke hisses into my ear, quiet enough for no one else to hear.
"Talk to him about what?"
"Whatever comes to your head first."
"Because that worked so well last time," I mutter, still thinking about how it took one stupid second to spill my three year secret crush. Not that Luke knew about that.
"What are we talking about?" Joss appears, holding a tray that contains two kale smoothies, an orange juice and a sushi box. She hands the juice to me and one of the smoothies to Luke.
"Nothing," Luke and I say in unison, which makes Joss look at us suspiciously. Only for a second, until I ask her where Michael is.
"How would I know?" she answers cooly, all of her attention of the plastic sushi box. I guess she's still mad about Saturday night.
"Are you really still mad at him? I ask.
"Of course I am."
"He wasn't even that drunk. He was entertaining," I'm nudging Luke with my elbow so that he'll step in and say something. Michael is his friend too.
"He knows how I feel about him getting blind drunk . We have our future to think about."
By future, she probably means Michael finding a fancy executive job while she stays at home, bearing and raising their future three kids. Of course, there'll be a Nanny or two employed so that Joss can keep up with her regular appearances at the local country club and boutique fashion shows.
Or, maybe Joss will be like Mikayla and live off of her trust fund while taking spontaneous trips to Europe to find herself (which I know from looking at Mikayla's holiday photos is code for sleeping with gorgeous European men and maxing out her credit card)
I look over at Luke who adds nothing and Joss's eyes glaze over for a second and then she startles, like she's remembered something. "Hey, is your brother's boss looking for any work experience kids?"
"Why? Are you thinking about becoming a mechanic?" I joke. Beside me, Luke laughs under his breath.
"No, but I overhead Calum say he was. Maybe you could give him Finn's details."
I glance at Luke with raised eyebrows because the convenience is almost too good to be true and I'm praying profusely that he didn't spill our plan to Joss. My long pause makes it look like I'm hesitating until Luke kisses my forehead, "It's okay, babe. You know I'm not the jealous type." Much to my dismay.
Joss is staring at me expectantly, "I - um, " I glance over to Calum who's sitting on top of the table, his feet resting on the chair. The rest of the boys are joking around while Calum looks at his phone. "Okay then." Here goes nothing.
Walking over to Calum, I can feel my heart beating heavily. I brush an invisible piece of fluff off of my school skirt and take a deep breathe. As I look back up, Calum's already looking at me, a small smile on his face.
The simple gesture creates a flurry of nerves in my stomach, passing in every direction like lost shooting stars.
"Hey Rubes," he greets me, as my insides officially melt. Rubes. He called me Rubes.
"Hey, what are you?" My eyes go wide when they catch up to my mouth, realising what I've just said. Calum lets out a short laugh and my nerves from before take a detour, straight to Planet Word Vomit. "Sorry. I was going to say how are you but then I thought I'd opt for what's up and then it all just came out wrong." He's still smiling at me when I finally stop speaking and I take that as a good sign, adding in one last sorry for good measure.
"Relax. What's up?"
"Um, Joss said you were still looking for somewhere to do work experience and my brother's a mechanic so, if you want I can give you his boss's number or whatever. If you want."
"That'd be great, thanks." He hands over his phone and I'm so shocked that I momentarily don't understand what he wants me to do. I've got Calum Hood's phone and all that it holds, right here in my hand. I could be one little tap away from a secret nudes folder or contemplative selfies or short poems written in his Notes app or -
"Ah, Ruby? Aren't you going to put the number in?"
"Oh, right. Of course," I open the contacts app and press Add New and then take out my own phone to get Finn's work number. I copy it and click save, reluctantly handing the phone back to Calum.
"Thanks for thinking of me. It was really nice of you."
"Sure, anytime," I smile, as the bell for class rings. "I better get going."
"What class do you have now?"
"Chemistry."
He smiles, an index finger pointing to his chest. "Biology. We could walk together if you want?"
I glance behind me and realise that Luke's already left for class. There's a small sting, having gotten used to having him walk with me but I then look back at Calum and his dark eyes, and remember that he has just asked me to walk to class with him so why would I really care about Luke?
"Sure," I smile as Calum stands up. On the way, he tells me about the Great Nebula of Orion and how most people know the constellation as it's nickname the Saucepan.
Later that afternoon, Alfie and I make nachos for dinner. Dad's at work and I haven't heard from Luke since we got home from school, but it's kind of nice spending some time with just Alfie and I.
After dinner, I let my little brother choose a movie and he surprises me by picking Cats & Dogs. I thought he'd outgrown those talking animal movies until half way through I realise it's a ploy to talk more about getting a dog.
"And they're so smart. Why else would police use them?" he adds after he's been talking about German Shepherds for a good five minutes.
"Yeah," I say slowly. "But they're also big and require a lot of exercise. How about something smaller? Like a pug? Or a beagle?"
Alfie gives me this raised eyebrow, "So I can get a dog?"
I reach over and ruffle his hair, "I'm not promising anything, okay?"
He nods solemnly and we watch the rest of the movie in silence. Alfie's birthday is in less than two weeks which doesn't give me a lot of time to convince Dad. I wonder how mad he'd be if I just went to the rescue centre and picked one out.
When the movie finishes, I oversee Alfie brushing his teeth and tuck him into bed. When I get into my own bed, I check my phone to see no new messages and then pull my laptop up onto my lap, planning on Googling which dog breeds are good for kids.
Instead, I fall down a virtual rabbit hole and spend all night looking up various stars and constellations.
question: do you guys prefer stories based in high school, college or other?
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Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU
Fanfiction"That's never going to work, you idiot." It's her senior year and Ruby has vowed to tell her long-term crush, Calum Hood, exactly how she feels. But when things don't go to plan, she skeptically takes on the help of Luke, the boy next door, who beli...
