"I love you," Calum assures me.
"I love you too. I've got class. I'll see you soon." I hang up the phone, and start to get ready for my morning class but there's a yuck feeling in my stomach.
I look at my reflection in the mirror and try to figure out what's wrong. Am I actually sick? No, it's not that kind of feeling. Have I forgotten something?
Think harder, Ruby, a voice says. I leave my small bathroom and go back into the room that I share with my room-mate, Ashley. My phone is on the bed but it's not locked like I left it. It's lit up, showing Joss's Facebook page on the screen. That's weird.
I pick it up and start scrolling down, noticing she's changed her relationship status to single. Then the phone almost slips from my hand. The room around me starts spinning, I'm sure of it. There it is; Joss and Calum, kissing in a photo she uploaded this morning.
This can't be right. It has to be some sort of cruel joke, I decide, but I keep scrolling and there's more of them. One after the other; his lips on her cheek, their hands looped together at the park, him carrying her on his back in a dark street.
The room is really spinning now, I feel like I'm going to be sick. I hear Joss's laugh in the background and I turn around to see her sitting right here on Ashley's bed. What -
I wake up gasping for air. It takes me a few minutes to realise that I'm still here, at home, and that it was all just a terrible nightmare. As I reach for my phone, the awful feelings leftover from the dream are sticking to me like sand, and then I see a message from Calum.
Calum: Happy birthday beautiful
It's only just 7am. He must have remembered as soon as he woke up. Some of the sand falls away.
Me: thank you
Calum: Can you do me a favour?
Me: lol it's my birthday and you're asking for a favour?
Me: but okay
Calum: no pouting about USU today
Me: Promise denied
Calum: I'm serious!
Me: So am I!
Calum: I already told you. We're going to be okay
I let go of a heavy breath, reminding myself that real life Calum is not the Calum from my dream and that I need to trust him.
Me: Okay
Calum: Good
Calum: Now come and open the front door ;)
I look down at my striped pyjama shorts and singlet, and don't bother considering to get dressed. When I open the front door, Calum's standing there with a bouquet of pink flowers in one hand and an envelope in the other.
"Happy birthday again," he grins, stepping in and kissing me.
"You know you didn't have to get my flowers," I say with a smile, tilting my chin towards the ground incase I have morning breath.
"It's not everyday my girl turns 18."
I laugh, "Now you sound like my dad."
A crimson blush covers Calum's cheeks as he smiles. "I hope you like them, anyway. I didn't know what flowers you liked."
"I like any flowers that come from you," I tell him, walking into the kitchen and digging through the cupboards to find a vase. Pepper, who's already sniffing around her bowl, abandons her quest for food to greet Calum. "How about I make us something breakfast?"
"It's your birthday," he says, watching me while kneeling down to pat the dog. "I'm taking you out for breakfast."
Finally, I find a vase. I fill it up with water and put the flowers into it. "Really?"
Calum laughs again, "Yes, really. Now go and get dressed."
"I'm going to shower first..." Now there's an idea. "You could join me if you want." I couldn't think of a better birthday present...
"And have you Dad bust us?" He shakes his head. "No thanks. I actually like having his approval to date his daughter."
"Suit yourself," I tease.
Leaving Calum to play with Pepper, I grab some clothes from my room, wincing when I see my USU acceptance letter on my desk. I'm stuck in this uncomfortable place where I'm so excited about going, yet dreading leaving Calum behind. And then there's those dreams, like the one I had last night, where Joss still manages to haunt me...
Joss. I remember when her and Michael first started dating, how they were practically attached at the mouths and how pathetic I thought it was. I take it all back now. I want to be with Calum all of the time because he's not just my boyfriend, he's my best friend too.
Calum and Pepper have been joined by Alfie when I walk back into the kitchen. Alfie jumps up and throws his arms around me in a hug. "Happy birthday, Ruby."
"Thanks kiddo."
He produces an envelope which I put on the table next to Calum's. I have this weird thing about reading cards in front of other people. Don't ask me why. "Where's Dad?"
"Right here." He walks in with his coffee cup and a small box wrapped in red paper. "Is it someone's birthday around here?"
Alfie rolls his eyes, "Daaaad."
Dad laughs at himself like he's hilarious and hands over the present. "Happy birthday, Ruby."
"Thanks Dad." I shake the box lightly out of habit.
"Usually people open their presents," Alfie says, his eyes lit up in excitement.
I tear gently into the paper until I'm met with a plain brown paper box. Inside of that is two plane tickets to Melbourne. "It might make more sense when you open Calum's present," Dad answers for me, acknowledging my confusion.
Calum hands over the envelope he brought me and when I open that, I find two tickets to the Melbourne Observatory. I look up at Calum who looks like he's about to jump out of his skin. "We're going to the Observatory! And we get to spend a week in Melbourne together. Once school finishes."
"It was Calum's idea," Dad says. "You two will have to work out the cost of accomodation but the flights are a gift from me."
My jaw hits the floor. I can't believe my Dad willingly bought two plane tickets for me and Calum to go away to Melbourne together without any supervision. Being an adult is officially fucking awesome.
"Thank you both, so much." I hug Dad and then give Calum a much more PG-rated kiss than I'd like. A whole week in Melbourne just the two of us? In a hotel?
"I'll get you better presents when I'm an adult with a job," Alfie says from the fridge. He pulls out a carton of orange juice and gives me a toothy grin.
"I love everything you've ever given me," I promise him.
"Go and get dressed kiddo," Dad says, throwing an arm around Calum. "Cal's going to shout us all breakfast. Isn't that right, son?"
Calum doesn't seem to notice Dad's joking. "That's right, sir."
I'm not even surprised when Dad pulls out a candle in the cafe and pokes it into my pancakes. He winks at Alfie as he pulls out the lighter and lights it. Calum's hand is resting gently on my thigh underneath the table and as I - along with the rest of the people in the busy cafe - am serenaded with Happy Birthday, I decide that this is already the best birthday I've ever had.
i updated the middle and outer space for you too bc i'm so nice :))
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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...
