Wrong Number (Cake Hoodings)

75 *

{ s e v e n t y f i v e }

Luke entered the coach's office with trembling fingers and dry lips. He didn't look up as he closed the door behind himself, taking a silent deep breath to calm his nerves before turning around and looking up, masking every emotion on his face with a nonchalant look. 

Calum's father; Coach Hood, was a large man. Not in the 'unhealthy food sense' but in the sense that he'd been playing sports all his life, and probably been going to the gym and fuck, Luke was petrified of him. Luke was quite literally a noodle compared to the man. The only thing remotely comforting was knowing that Calum's father couldn't lay a finger on him without a law suit on his hands and the end of his career shoved in his face. 

"You wanted to see me, coach?" Luke awkwardly asked. 

"Yes." The coach answered, looking down at papers on his desk with a frown and saying nothing else. Luke waited for him to say something else, getting more uncomfortable as the seconds passed in complete silence. He began picking at his finger nails to calm himself down, even though in the back of his mind he knew he'd been growing them out forever and they were finally getting to a length he liked. After a few long seconds, Luke startled when the coach looked up at him, dropping his hands t his sides. "Luke Robert Hemmings, yes? Your mother is a nurse at the local hospital?" 

"Uh," Luke's eyes went wide. "Yeah- yes. That's right." 

Calum's father nodded briskly. 

"I really don't mean to corner you like this, Luke. I know you've been running away from me all day." The sympathetic tone is his voice made Luke confused. The man ran a hand through his short hair and looked up at Luke again. "I also know you've heard the rumors about yourself and my son."

And oh god, Luke's heart dropped into his stomach when the door knocked at that precise moment. It opened, Luke didn't turn around, and Calum's musky scent hit him faster than he would've liked. 

"Dad- oh, um, sorry. I didn't know you had someone in here-" 

"Good timing, son. Close the door behind you." Calum's dad said, the door clicked shut and then Calum was standing just a few steps away from Luke with his hands in his pockets and a faux confused look on his face. Calum was better at hiding than Luke was, he'd been doing it all his life. "Now that we're all here, we can talk about why these rumors would've started. What do you think?" His attention was solely on Luke, and Luke remembered that Calum had said that he'd already spoken to his dad about it. Luke tried to think of what Calum would've said to the question. 

"I don't know? Calum probably pissed off some girl because he didn't call her back the morning after?" Luke prayed to god Calum wasn't going to take his words to heart. "He seems like the type." The smile that the Coach gave Calum sent shivers down Luke's spine. Luke didn't look at Calum, not once, scared of his reaction to the words that everyone else said about him. Everyone except Luke, until now. 

"Are you gay, Luke?" 

Today? Today Luke could proudly answer that question with the truth. 

"No, sir." 

The man hummed. "Do you sleep around?" 

"I've been in a committed relationship for a while, sleeping with other people doesn't appeal to me." In the corner of Luke's eye, Calum's hand twitched. He had no idea what that was supposed to me, but it probably meant his argument wasn't strong enough. That's how Luke took the movement anyway. "My girlfriend takes up too much of my time anyway, I wouldn't get the chance to sleep around." 

"I've heard some things about you, Luke. None of them have involved you ever having a girlfriend." 

Luke tried not to scowl at the sudden homophobic tone Calum's father seemed to have adopted. "I tend to keep my relationships away from rumors."

When Luke and Calum were both finally dismissed from the coaches office, they walked to the practice room in silence, and didn't say anything to each other when they entered either.