Night Train || cth

t h i r t y - o n e

I've been stressing about telling Calum the truth all day long, and now that the moment is closely approaching, I'm becoming more and more nervous. My palms are sweaty and rubbing them together is only making it worse.

The last bell of the day rings loudly throughout the hallways, and I take a deep breath in preparation for what's to come next. I walk out of my last period class and out to my locker only to find him waiting there. Once again he's leaning up against it, but this time his attention is fully on me walking towards him. I take slow strides hoping to drag out the time.

Once I reach him, he grabs ahold of both of my hands and places a soft kiss on each one. He then sends me a small smile which causes my stomach to flip. I try and smile back at him but the truth is nagging at me and I can't help but turn my smile into a faint frown.

"Taylor, what were you going to tell me earlier?" He questions, raising an eyebrow while still holding onto my hands.

I slip my hands out of his grasp and ignore his question by opening my locker and stuffing my books inside. With my lack of an answer, I hear Calum sigh from behind the locker door. He must be getting frustrated with me, but he's too kind to tell me out loud. I neatly stack my books one by one and take out the lone textbook that I need for tonight's homework. When I'm all finished, I gently close the door and glance in Calum's direction. He's now leaning against the neighboring locker, attention still primarily on me.

"You do know that you're making me extremely worried, right?" He chuckles nervously. His hands are stuffed into his front pockets and he's kicking at the floor. His vans make a squeaking noise against the linoleum flooring and he cringes in response to the horrible noise. It was almost as bad as someone dragging their nails down a blackboard.

I scrunch my nose up at the sound as I hug the single textbook tightly to my chest. He pushes himself up off of the metal locker and takes a step towards me. His hands withdraw from his pockets and rest upon my shoulders, which are shaking slightly due to my agitation. His grasp tightens a bit once he notices.

"Please tell me what's going on," He pleads, focusing his big, brown eyes on my small, blue ones. His blinking is minimal as he takes the time to stare into my being. Unfortunately, his stare is only making me more nervous and I wish he would stop.

"Can we go somewhere?" I blurt out, causing him to pull away from me for a moment.

"Uh, yeah. Sure," He mutters, slightly confused at my outburst.

I can't tell him what I need to standing in the middle of a crowded school hallway. This needs to be done in a private area where there is no distraction or noise. I can only think of one place where I want to be right now, and I tell him to take me there immediately.

As soon as I buckle myself into Calum's car, my breathing starts to increase rapidly and I start to sweat even more than before. Even though it is fall and probably forty degrees outside, I ask Calum if it's alright to turn on the air. He looks at me like I'm crazy, but allows me to do as I please. I turn it up to high and turn all of the vents so that they're blowing on me. I have to diffuse the extreme heat that I'm feeling.

The ride from the school is only about twenty minutes and they're the fastest twenty minutes I think I've ever lived through. I can only imagine that this is because I'm dreading this moment, and would love for the time to freeze completely.

He puts the car in park and I look out the window to take in the beautiful scenery surrounding us. The tall evergreen trees that I've become accustomed to give off a strong scent as soon as we step outside. I pull on my cardigan as soon as the cool breeze blows by, and shut my door gently before I wander around to Calum's side. He holds his hand out for me to take and as soon as I do we take off across the street.