Afraid // Calum Hood

Chapter 4 // Surprise

Adelaide's Point of View

"I can't believe you would paint your entire room black," Calum stated with amusement, his brown eyes rolling at me as he dipped the roller into more of the paint.

I continued to stroke the brush back and forth on the corners, dangerously close to the royal blue tape covering the woodwork. An old baggy t-shirt that came to my knees covered my petite body and raggedy sheets covered the floors to protect the carpeting from any splatter. "It's not the entire room. The ceiling is staying white."

He chuckled loudly. "You're such a smart ass."

"At least I'm not a dumb ass," I fired, seeing the transformation from the awful orange to black right in front of my vision.

Calum just giggled at my pretentious words. I loved how he completely understood my sense of humor. It was comforting, having a friend who you were able to tease to show affection.

We had been painting my room for a few hours now, enjoying endless conversations about nothing. He had a beautiful mind that I was desperate to look deeper into. But Calum was never as open as I wished he would be. When he didn't like a question, he would just freeze and switch the topic altogether. His jaw would clench together tightly as if his two rows of teeth were hugging.

With a sigh, I placed my brush back into the bucket and laid down against the coverings on my nearly empty bedroom floor. "I'm exhausted," I complained. "Will you tell me your favorite memory?"

Calum quirked an eyebrow at me. It was one of his habits. "My favorite memory?" He clarified and I nodded, causing his adorable grin to grow on his cheeks. "I seem to be enjoying right now, Addy."

"No, for real," I whined. I did find his comment flattering, but I could also decipher the sarcasm in his tone. "Would you like me to tell you my favorite memory first?"

He smiled at me, falling onto his back next to me. His fingers twiddled with a piece of my brown hair. "I would love that."

"I was nine. My parents took me to the circus in town. There were lights and cotton candy everywhere, but all I could look at was the giant elephants they had. We were sitting in the front row so the elephant trainer saw me staring at them with awe, right, and he asked me if I wanted to pet it, while the circus show was going on. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, the elephant was so rough to touch. Then next thing I knew the trainer said I could ride on top of the elephant and the two of us climbed up this ladder to the spot on the top of the elephant's back, and the elephant strolled around which caused the spotlight to turn on us. So I was the main event for a circus. Probably one of the best moments of my life," I admitted, feeling a smile grow on my face from the nostalgic feeling in my tummy.

Calum's expression matched mine. He flopped to one side, using his hand to steady his head so he had a complete view of my face. "Alright circus freak, my favorite memory I was thirteen. I had always been bad at history, like really bad, and my teacher at the time was not too supportive of me. She told me I would never get a good grade on a test because I was dumb. And I loved proving people wrong, so I got a tutor and worked really well and on the next test I got a perfect score. I was the only kid in the whole school to get a 100, so I also had my picture up on the wall in the front of the school forever, which was super cool. I just remember being really proud of myself, and I haven't had that feeling in a long time."