Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU

55.

Thankfully, my Dad never finds out about Calum sneaking over that night. I think I'd probably end up grounded until next year if he did.

The week after we slept together, we sent off our USU application forms together. Dad did let me go out for dinner afterwards, even though I was still technically grounded. He might be in love with Calum too.

Making the most of my few hours of freedom, we went out of town to this Japanese restaurant where you get to cook your own stir-fry on the hot plate in the centre of the table.

"I'll cook yours," Calum had said with a smile. He'd been smiling a lot lately. It must have been the sex, or maybe he was just really happy.

"Are you going to live on campus next year?" I asked. Calum threw a bowl of chicken onto the sizzling hot plate.

"I think so. Off campus housing is so expensive."

I'd already thought about the two of us getting a little apartment together. It would be cheaper, almost as cheap as on-campus accomodation, but it would also be crazy. We weren't even officially a couple. I could handle on-campus accomodation for at least a little while.

"What about you?" He stirred the chicken which was quickly turning golden brown.

"Yeah, I'll be living on campus." He added some veggies and kept stirring.

Calum grinned. "So, I guess we'll be seeing each other quite a lot." He said it in the goofy voice I love so much.

We spent the rest of the dinner talking about USU and dancing around the fact that we hadn't labelled ourselves a couple. Did people still do that? Ask each other to be boyfriends or girlfriends or whatever. Maybe that type of commitment was an urban myth in modern society, or at the very least in high school.

It didn't bother me, really, and so I waited for Calum to approach the subject. It only took him three months. He showed up to my house with a bunch of supermarket flowers. Tiny yellow daisies that were slightly wilted yet somehow perfect.

"What did I do to deserve these?" I asked playfully. I think I stole that line from a sitcom I watched once.

"Just trying to treat my lady right." I'm pretty sure he stole that line to.

I teased him. "I'm your lady now, am I?"

His arms wrapped around me and he kissed me, catching me off guard. His kisses still caught me off guard because I never knew what they'd be like. Sometimes he kissed me so delicately, like I might bruise otherwise. And other times, he kissed me fast and hard, like he'd never be able to kiss me again.

"I'm hoping you will be," he said when our mouths parting. "Be my lady, that is."

He seemed nervous. I couldn't help but laughed. He laughed too, just... nervously. "What?" I said.

"This is scary!" he'd said. "I've never had a girlfriend before. What if I'm a terrible boyfriend?"

"You've been a pretty good one so far."

"So far?"

"Yeah. I mean, isn't that what we've been doing all these months? Unofficially dating? This doesn't change anything. You can just carry on being your perfect, adorable self."

Calum's nose screwed up. "You think I'm adorable?"

"What's wrong with being adorable?"

"You make me sound like a puppy."

"You are kind of like a puppy," I countered. His nose screwed up again. "What about handsome?"

"Nope."