Cadences [cake au] ✔

// nine //

Important A/N at the end! Decide the future of this account 😉😉

Chapter 9

Calum's POV

I leapt up the dormitory stairs to my room and sprawled across my sofa in content.

I'd never felt so happy in all my eighteen years of living, and it was kinda weird to be honest. Sure, there was the happiness after winning competitions, but that wasn't real happiness – it was fake and I began to get used to it after a while, making it lose its effect.

With a pounding heart I poured myself a glass of water and downed it in one. I knew I was supposed to practice for the competition – it was in a week and a bit, after all, but something was holding me back and I had acknowledged that it was Luke.

Was this why my parents had warned me off dating till I was 25? Because it would affect me like this? Because right now, there was nothing else on my mind other than Luke, his smile, his piercings and the way he bit his lip ring. The tattoos still intimidated me but I figured I'd get used to them. As for the music he made... now that I understood he wrote his own lyrics, it kind of made me more lenient towards his band and their image.

I almost wanted to ask him if he wanted to write together, but thought that might've been taking it a bit too far... I didn't feel ready just yet to tell him I wrote songs.

Feeling somewhat sweaty, I went to my bathroom and stripped down, stepping into the shower and having a quick rinse, lathering myself with mint scented body wash before getting out and wiping myself dry with a towel. My showers were usually like this – I washed my hair every other day, but in general they were quick and seamless.

Then, feeling refreshed, I cleared my head of Luke and sat down at the keyboard, plugging in the add-on I'd just bought, practising for the rest of the evening.

That night, I had a weird dream and that in itself was weird because dreams didn't tend to be part of my daily routine.

As you had probably guessed, Luke was in it.

But what was strange was the flower guy from my childhood. Their eyes seemed to be connected and for a moment, I thought he was Luke, before quickly dismissing the thought due to the fact that Luke was so incredibly different to the cute, bright-blue-eyed child with soft, slightly curly locks and a painfully cute smile.

What's more, the dream included him kissing me, then undressing himself and straddling me.

When I woke up again it was way too late for my liking – it being 10am, I'd lost 2 hours of precious time that could've been spent practising. But for some reason I didn't regret it, because the dream I had about Luke made me feel a lot happier and fresher for the day ahead. I popped a stick of chewing gum in and headed out.

The first thing I did was head to classical music department to check the notice board. As usual, there was nothing of particular interest so I went back out and saw Luke and his similarly-dressed friend Michael enter the recording studios on the 1st floor. With curiosity, I followed, throwing my gum into the nearest bin.

On the way, I bashed into Ashton, who seemed to also be heading towards the studios.

"Oh, hi Calum! What are you doing here?" he asked, flicking through a wad of paper that had lyrics, sheet music and timetables on them.

"J-just browsing."

He smirked. He was pretty much the only person who knew that I sang, and a nice dude, but we didn't see each other very often. "Well, I've reserved the morning slot – do you wanna come watch?"