Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU

26.

Luke didn't reply to my text and when Miss Mackey and Mr Smith let us out of the stupid talk, he'd already bolted to his next class too. Thankfully I only had one last class to go. I think my eyes watched the clock for the whole lesson. 

By the time I reach my car, I'm positive the reason Luke hasn't texted me back is because he doesn't want to embarrass me. He's had some time to think and he realises that he wasn't into the kiss as much as I was and he's trying to figure out how to let me down gently.

There's no other possible reason.

"Rubes!"

Calum jogs over to me, holding a soccer ball underneath his arm. He's smiling, looking as adorable as ever that I find myself feeling annoyed that I'm distracted and still looking for Luke in my peripheral vision. "Hi Cal."

He looks at me and then the car and frowns, "Are you waiting for Luke?"

"Yeah. He runs late sometimes," I shrug. "It's no big deal." It's just a good thing I don't have to pick up Alfie today.

Calum scratches the back of his neck, "I'm pretty sure he's already left."

He left? Without me? Without even telling me? "Oh." 

I can't think of anything else to say. Calum sort of shifts from one foot to the other, now rolling the soccer ball between his hands. "Do you think you could drop me off at practice?"

This day just keeps getting stranger and stranger. "Um, sure? I mean, sure," I repeat with more conviction. It's the first time for ages I've actually driven my car. I'm so used to Luke driving, it takes me a whole block to get the hang of the breaks again.

Calum directs me to the field he does his soccer practice at. I pretend that I have no clue, not mentioning the few times last season that I dragged Joss along to the cafe opposite the sports complex, hoping to catch a glimpse of sweaty Calum post-practice.

"Hey," he says suddenly with a huge smile. "I'm registered to this astronomy website," he pauses and frowns, like he's worried he's just said the words astronomy website out loud.

"No judgment from me," I promise, taking the next left. 

His face relaxes a little, "Well, they send out a schedule of constellations and stuff, that occur in specific locations. They're notoriously hard to predict of course but we're supposed to be able to get a glimpse of comet Catalina at the end of next month."

"Wow, that's so cool," I try not to sound like I'm faking enthusiasm, because I'm not. I'm just thrown by the whole afternoon: Luke leaving school without me, Calum asking for a ride.

"Yeah," he sighs, looking out the window for the first time in the short car ride. I pull up to the soccer field and he's holding the door handle, looking like he's trying to decide if he should say something else or not. "I know you're with Luke, but if you've got a few free nights next month, it'd be cool if we could watch for the comet together."

Before I can say anything, he hurries out of the car. I don't waste time worrying about what he meant. I've still got to find Luke.

I'm sitting in my car in the driveway, trying to decide if I should go over to Luke's or not. It's becoming increasingly obvious that we need to talk. We can't just go on ignoring each other when we're supposed to be dating. And we've got that double date with Tess and Heath on Wednesday, so the air needs to be cleared before then.

The more appealing option is to go up to my room, swiping a tub of ice-cream from the freezer on the way and hiding in bed all afternoon pretending like this hurricane of feelings isn't making my world spin on a different axis.