Deal // Calum Hood

Meeting

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Annabelle
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I am terrified.
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To say I'd never snuck out before sounds a petty thing both not to have done and to be afraid to do, but I couldn't help it. I hated breaking rules and I was physically shaking as I opened my window. I couldn't pretend that I didn't want to see Calum. The ache I am feeling from missing him makes me feel as though my ribs are splitting apart.
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What happened has left me completely heartbroken and devastated. I couldn't bare it. I thought all this time that I actually had a friend, and then I thought he actually cared for me, worst of all I thought he truly liked me.
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I feel betrayed by both of them. Mainly, I wasn't quite sure how I managed to allow myself to get swept up in such an ordeal. The closer I got to the park, the more nervous I became. It wasn't quite dark yet, but the sun had almost disappeared, the air was cool and thick, I shivered as the breeze pushed over my bare arms and folded them together against my chest.
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My heart couldn't have been beating faster if I had just finished a marathon.
I was terrified. What if this was all part of the joke too? What if I got there and Sam, my sister and everyone from school was there too. Everyone laughing and in on the joke.
Or worse.
What if he's here to tell me that I'm right. He never liked me, even as a friend and he still thinks I'm as boring as he did the day we started all of this.
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The dull coloured gate appears way sooner than I wanted it to. Pushing it open, I entered the large run around park that Calum and I used to walk through on a weekly basis. I'm not sure exactly where he is, if he's here at all yet. It's quite a large field, scattered with metal benches that were both uncomfortable and freezing, even in the summer. I'm so anxious I don't know quite what to do, I'm extremely tense and afraid of what and how this meeting will unfold.
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And then, I see him. He's sat on a one of the nasty benches, one knee bobbing up and down and his beautiful brown eyes fixed on his tapping thumbs. My shoulders relaxed a little. He was alone, and he seemed nervous too.
Stepping forward I paused. He hadn't noticed me yet, I could turn and run and - No.
I couldn't. 
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Right as I decided to stay, Calum looked up almost as if he knew. He broke out into a nervous smile, or possibly a relieved one, and stood up. I was glad he was walking to me because my feet were stuck to the cobbled path. Seeing him breaks my heart all over again.
"I thought you weren't going to come." He admitted coyly.
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For the first time I realised I too would have to make conversation, it wasn't going to just be him talking at me. Which for some reason in my head, I had managed to misremember.
"Well." I shrugged a little. Then I wanted to hit myself. What was that? Well? That's all I could say?
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Calum seemed disheartened at my response.
"Come with me."
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We walked in an uncomfortable silence to a new freezing bench. I hadn't been to this side of the park before, and this bench was different. This bench had an incredible view across the whole of our town.
"Wow." Slipped past my lips.
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"Yeah, I love it here." He admitted. "I was going to take you, but . . ." He trailed off symboling that the plan was made for after our break up. "Look, I'm just going to get straight to the point. Your sister is . . ." I glower at him and he shakes his head, completely flustered. "No wrong place to start."
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"If this is about anything other than the truth, I would like to know so I could leave now."
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He seemed shocked. "What? No, don't leave! Please, I promise this is the truth." He looked so helpless, so afraid that I would leave. Maybe he was telling the truth? I stayed.
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"I know we never started this with the intention to date. That was never the plan for either of us. I promise all I wanted was for you to help me pass that interview. It sounds shallow now, but I'm giving you total honesty. I can't be honest without the whole truth. I hated you. For the first few weeks I did too. But then, I don't know what changed. Maybe it was how your voice sped up when you spoke of something exciting, or how innocent and real you were. I don't know, but I stopped hating you very quickly. And then, the night we ran home in the rain, you never left my mind. Though honestly, I think it started before the party. And then when we slept together-"
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He paused and my cheeks warmed. We hadn't spoken about this yet. I looked at the ground, embarrassed. "Well . . . I'd never been happier. But when you left the next day, and I was so upset. And then I found out you liked me too, and I realised I was wrong. Because that's when I'd never been happier.
Anyway, I know you probably don't believe me quite yet, so I brought proof."
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He turned and dug through his back pack. I swallowed thickly, unsure of what to think and trying not to cry. I didn't even know why I wanted to. He swung back around, a collection of random items in his palms.
"You'll think I'm terribly soppy, I know. But I wasn't sure how else to prove that this was never a game to me, Annabelle."
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The wind picked up and I shivered again, tightening my arms and rubbing the goosebumps. He noticed, turning to his bag again and pulling out a blanket.
"I knew you'd get cold." He mumbled, taking a moment to wrap me up. I always got cold.
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"Thank you." I smiled a little, hoping to god that he was telling the truth, that he actually did like me, because he meant everything to me.
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"This," He held up a familiar bookmark, "is something that fell out of one of your books when we came home in the rain. And this," he revealed a little polka dot bow tie, "is from the shop we tried on all those stupid hats and things. This is from when we went to that restaurant and you laughed so hard you cried," He showed me a napkin. "This is, well this," he passed me one of my hair clips "is from, um that night," he blushed too this time. "And this is from the day that I told you how I felt . . . And this," he passed me a tattered notebook,"is from the days and weeks that I realised I was madly in love with you . . ."
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I almost chocked on air. Did he just say he loved me? Did Calum Hood just tell me he was in love? He watches me very carefully, waiting for my reaction.
"Do you, do you still . . .?" I asked, afraid my crazy outbursts and believing Sam put him off.
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He nodded. "The book is filled with songs, or more terribly attempted songs, that I was planning to show you. It was how I was going to tell you before . . ." He lost his wording. "Before everything was messed up."
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I gripped the book, not wanting to embarrass him further by reading them all in front of him.
"I'm so sorry that you ever thought I would cheat on you. I'm sorry that you thought another person had chosen your sister over you. I'm so sorry that I let Sam get into your head." He scooted closer. "But I promise that I've never felt this way about anyone before. I love you Annabelle. Really truly.
I'm very much in love with you."
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He smiled nervously at me, the tanned skin next to his eyes creasing over. It was adorable.
"I love you too." I smiled. "And I'm the sorry one, I should have trusted-"
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"What was that? Sorry, I didn't quite hear you."
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I looked up at his smug, cheeky grin and glared.
"What did you say?"
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"I love you." I blushed.
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He cupped his ear, "Pardon?"
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"Calum!" I giggled awkwardly, looking around incase people were staring. "I love you." I said a little louder.
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"You're going to have to shout it." He shrugged, pretending it was the only possible option.
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My pink cheeks had turned into an entire hot, tomato face, and I could feel it spreading to my neck. He raised his eyebrows, waiting.
I inhaled deeply. "I love Calum Hood!" I yelled into the distance, hiding my face immediately after with the blanket.
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I heard him chuckle loudly outside my cocoon.
"How am I supposed to kiss you if you're under there?" He asked, attempting to pull back the blankets. I stubbornly clung it to my body, afraid that if I looked out, everyone would be scowling. "Annabelle." He teased, finally succeeding in pulling the soft material from my face. "Nobody's here." He promised with a loving smile as I sat up.
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I double checked, spinning my head round to make sure nobody was angry at me. When I looked back, Calum kissed me. The feelings rose in champagne bubbles, fizzy, sweet and full. Our lips moulded together perfectly as his palms placed themselves on my neck, pulling me in. We pulled away, each of us grinning from ear to ear because we were in love. This wasn't a game, nobody secretly hated me, and Calum loved me.