Cadences [cake au] ✔

// twenty-four //

Chapter 24

Calum's POV

Each night was getting colder, and I definitely felt the chill when I went out to meet my mother, who was dressed in a thick navy blue coat, almost freezing to death as she waited for me by a lamppost. It was never this cold in Brisbane, so she wasn't used to it.

"H-hi," I said meekly, approaching her and tapping her shoulder. She turned around with a sympathetic smile, sighing a little as she grabbed my hand.

"Calum, my son... come here."

She pulled me in for a hug, which was extremely unusual given our circumstances. "What's going on?" I asked, but she didn't reply for quite some time, instead keeping me in her warm embrace for a little longer.

"I'm so sorry for everything I did to you. I never meant to harm you... I was just..."

"Dad told me."

She pursed her lips and pressed them into a stiff smile. "You weren't meant to find out like that... but I guess it's better that you know now. I've been receiving treatment recently and I've been feeling better, but at times it gets a bit much. You would understand if you had it... I hope you never have to go through what I had to go through."

I started feeling like crap, and my heart seemed to be burning as it pumped blood around my body. If only I'd known... maybe I would've been more forgiving. Maybe I wouldn't have slapped her.

"How are things with that boy?"

I looked down at my feet, suddenly all shy. I'd never talked about stuff like that with my mum before – it was always piano, or piano, or sometimes piano. "Things are going well. He's... he's really nice. He treats me so well and looks after me and even teaches me stuff like skateboarding."

"I didn't expect Liz's son to look like that though, with the piercings and tattoos," she commented, huffing out a mouthful of steam. I nodded, because truthfully I agreed with her. I always thought he was some tall, handsome chisel-cut faced man who wore suits and posh shoes and wore his hair in natural waves like his mother; how wrong I'd been.

"We even work in the same place," I added. "Just here." I pointed at the building behind me and she peeked her head around my body so she could get a good look at the place. "It has a great atmosphere and I play the piano here every Saturday evening."

"Oh, did I interrupt you?"

"No, but I was planning on performing with Luke."

She paused. "Do you mind if I come and listen to you both?"

My heart fluttered a little, at the prospect of my mother finally accepting her son. It was symbolic almost, her coming into the bar with me – and when I saw Luke singing with another guy with a massive grin on his face, I stopped walking, gazing longingly at the beautiful smile on Luke's face. My mum didn't understand why I'd stopped, and bumped into me, causing me to trip over something and fall onto the floor.

I bit down hard on my lip, letting out shaky breaths as I tried to divert the attention that had now been placed on me. The music stopped, I heard footsteps, and soon I was pressed against a wall with someone's arms wrapped around my torso.

"Calum, Calum it's not what you think..." Luke whispered into my ear, hugging me tighter and tighter till I struggled to breathe. "He's my friend. He was here and he wanted to sing a song with me whilst I waited for you, so please don't misunderstand..."

Him apologising was fine and all – but one thing I just couldn't understand was why there would be any sort of misunderstanding at all.

~

"Are you okay Luke? You've been on edge all evening," I asked, bringing him a glass of water once we'd entered my dorm. He smiled up at me, accepting the glass before downing it in one.

"I'm fine, sorry if I worried you." He shut his eyes, leaning back on the sofa as I joined him. "Oh yeah, how was your mum? I didn't see her leave."

I shrugged. "She's good, I just feel bad that I didn't know sooner."

"I'd feel the same if I were you." He pulled me closer for a hug and I snuggled into his neck, pressing my lips against the softness of his skin. "Let's have a film marathon, yeah? It'll take your mind off things."

I slotted 'A Clockwork Orange' into the DVD player (my all-time favourite film) and sat back on the couch, tangling my legs with Luke's as we skipped the annoying ads and reached the main title screen.

"Have you watched this before?" I asked, selecting subtitles as I waited for his answer.

"Nope, it looks kinda freaky though, not gonna lie..."

I chuckled. "It's really thought-provoking. I've watched it like a billion times," I responded, grabbing a cushion to cuddle.

"Hey, you don't need a cushion when you've got me," Luke stated, throwing the cushion to the other side of the room and pulling me really close. I felt myself heat up and succumbed to his warmth – there was a strange air about him though, and I couldn't quite put my finger around what it was.

Luke's POV

My mind was elsewhere for the majority of the film. If I wasn't focusing on Calum's gentle breathing then I was thinking back to what Jack had done at the bar earlier, and how shitty it made me feel – it was almost as if I was cheating, but that evidently wasn't the case.

So why did I feel like it was?

Whenever I did adjust my eyes to the screen however, I was taken by surprise at how hallucinogenic and vibrant the whole thing was. Each scene baffled me but in an oddly compelling way – it was a shame I didn't watch the whole thing, because I'd liked to have had something to talk about with Calum at the end.

"Did you like it?" Calum asked with a yawn. I smiled back and stroked his soft curls idly, listening to his voice. "It was the first film that I actually enjoyed – it's different to the cliché ones, and I'm not really into romance films either. Probably because they pretty much only cover straight couples and clearly, I'm not in one right now... Luke?"

"Huh?"

"Are you listening to me?"

I cleared my throat. "Y-yeah, of course. You were talking about not liking cliché films because you're not straight, right?"

He giggled, making my heart skip a beat. "Well if you put it that way, it just makes me sound weird. So, next movie? You can pick."

"How about a cliché film about two guys then? What do you say to that?"

I couldn't quite read Calum's expression but I had a feeling he would agree. "What is it called?"

"Brokeback Mountain."

He nodded slowly, before replying, "Sure, why not? It's your choice after all!" I grinned and got my laptop out, logging in and finding the film in one of my folders. I started it and we watched a good twenty minutes of it, before our eyes ended up devouring each other. There was no denying it – watching the love between the two main characters turned us both on a little bit.

I paused the film and leant in slightly. "Hey are you sure you wanna pause it? It's actually really good," Calum asked innocently.

I smirked and replied, "The film can wait. Our sexual desire can't," before pushing him down onto the sofa and crashing my lips onto his.

 ***

Lmao I couldn't resist using that film here 😎 hope you guys are liking this so far :))) can't wait to finish and show you some more of my works!

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Kimmy xx