shells ; calum au

1.0

|| shells ||

Calum and Bella hadn't been spending much time together outside of their beach meet ups recently, for Bella was busy with "family matters" as she described her predicaments, and Calum was caught up with volunteer hours, work at Baskin Robins, the mural, and his mother's cancer. Bella constantly joked about how all the stress and constant go go go was going to build up inside his head and he would just freak out completely one day.

Well, Bella was right.

Calum was in his backyard, as per usual for him around this time of day. He was slaving the day away to the mural, yet again, but he had hit an "artists block" as that's what his mother would call her periods that lacked inspiration.

He was completely stressed and tired. Calum felt entirely overworked, and all he really needed despite what he thought was for someone to tell him they were there for him. He hadn't had someone do that in years, ever since Mali moved out and his mother got cancer, it had always been him on his own almost every hour of every day.

He was sat on the grass a little bit aways from the mural just staring at it with silent tears rolling down his cheeks.

During his most recent visit to see his mother the doctors had told him that she was reacting poorly to new treatment, and that there was no way of knowing how much longer she had left. That discovery tore Calum apart inside, even though he appeared to have brushed the tragic truth of his mother's health scare right off of his shoulders.

Calum was sad and mad and frustrated with the world. He didn't tell any of this to Bella. There was no way for her to know any of this was so bad, and he was mad at her for that. It was completely irrational and Calum knew it was his fault for not telling her this, but he refused to keep that in mind while he sulked over the fact that she wasn't there with him, being the shoulder he could cry on.

He was sad that he had been wasting precious time he could've spent with his mother on his social life and some girl. But deep down, Calum knew she wasn't some girl. She was special. Bella was unique and wonderful and her own person, and Calum adored her for that. But he had let it distract him from his main priority, his mother. He was disappointed in himself for that, for letting a girl he had known for a month or so come in front of the woman who had made him who he was and had given him everything he could ever need.

But most of all, Calum was frustrated. He just couldn't seem to understand how to do the mural. It was such a sweet idea, a tribute to his mother's strength and legacy, but sadly, Calum lacked necessary skill in the artistic department. He had no clue what he was doing most of the time, and it was constantly putting the entire project in jeopardy.

"I cant do this!" Calum yelled, throwing a shell down on the ground and stepping on it.

What Calum didn't know was that Bella was at the front of his house, walking around the side gate to the backyard to meet him. She decided to pay him a surprise visit and make sure he was okay since he never showed up at the beach the night prior. Bella understood this was a tough time from the fragmented details he had shared with her, but not the full thing. She new he was wary and unstable, but not to what extent. Bella wasn't prepared for him to be this big of a mess.

"Cal, hey." Bella smiled and touched Calum's shoulder, urging him to turn and face her, as well.

He twisted his body to get a view of Bella's face, revealing his mixed state through his looks to her.

Bella gasped, reaching out to touch his hand. "What's wrong, Cal. Please tell me."

The sky was getting darker and darker as they spoke, but neither of them paid any attention to it whatsoever. Bella could however see wet tears well up in Calum's large chocolate eyes.