thin walls / calum hood

0.2

Calum

If only Michael hadn't said that about the girl being loud, Calum would have been fine. But as he tried to sleep that night, there was one image he just couldn't shake from his mind. It was her - the blonde, bright eyed girl from downstairs. And she was being loud. She wasn't singing, although his name echoing from her lips was the sweetest melody he'd ever heard.

There wasn't much Calum could do to stop such thoughts. He just let it wash over him, and prayed that he'd never bump into her again. He'd be too embarrassed for thinking those things about her to be able to look her in the eyes. Calum had never even done anything remotely sexual before.

As he twisted and and turned, Calum tried his best to make it go away. He thought of everything he hated. Spiders, blood and death. Dirty socks and grannys shouting at him to get off their lawn. It didn't work. Wiping the sweat off of his forehead, he sighed. Michael was such an idiot for putting the thoughts into his head.

When the clock reached ten, Calum had gotten no more than two hours of sleep. He'd gone to the bathroom to splash his face with cold water in the early hours. Still, the images wouldn't leave his mind.

There was only one thing he could do. Roll out of bed and eat away his feelings. There was some left over pizza from the night before.

"Hey man," Michael called from behind the kitchen counter. He was happily munching on the pizza Calum had wanted to himself. "I just thought of something," he said.

Calum, still half asleep, stopped in his tracks as he saw Michael. Having rubbed his eyes repeatedly, he found that his friend was still there. "How did you get in here? Why are you eating my pizza?"

"Your mum let me in when she left," Michael shrugged causally. "Anyway, I was thinking something, right."

"Alright, what is it?" Calum poured a glass of water, taking a gulp. He reached for the last slice before Michael could shove it into his mouth.

"You should go chat up the loud one downstairs."

"No, stop."

Michael raised his hands. A cheeky little smirk played on his lips. "Fine, fine." He looked at his friend. "On a different note, you look like shit. Did you sleep at all?"

"Not really." Calum sucked his lips into his mouth. Again, Michael had managed to - this time unknowingly - put the thoughts into his head. "Was thinking about stuff."

"What stuff? Can I have an example?"

"Not really. Why are you here? Don't you have work today or something? Or someone else to annoy?"

"Nope, I'm off today. Doing my last shift tomorrow." Michael stretched, looking content. "No more sorting records or selling instruments to clueless parents. Feels good." He was working in the only music store left in town.

"I might swing by and check out the guitars later," said Calum.

While Calum finished drinking down the water, Michael walked over to open the window. "Did you hear that? I heard something."

"What is it?" Calum asked, but didn't need to wait for the answer. He'd just heard it as well. The girl from downstairs was singing again.

"You're in your skinny jeans anyway, You and your fit friends anyway."

Michael laughed. "Oh shit! She's at it again. Should we prank her?"

"No. I'll go tell her," Calum said, taking another bite of the cold pizza.

"Make her hit that high note." Smirking, Michael gave Calum a look, his eyebrow raised. "If you know what I mean."

"Oh my god." Calum giggled, a bit flustered. "I hate you so much," he mumbled before closing the door behind him and making his way down the stairs.

Hayley

She was home alone again. Although she had gotten that note yesterday, Hayley just couldn't keep herself from singing along to the songs playing on the music channel. Hopefully the boy from upstairs wasn't home, anyway.

Hayley's hopes of the boy not being at home were soon to be crushed. There was a soft knock on the door, followed by another. Pausing to look who was there, Hayley saw a brown haired boy. The same one as last time. He pushed a hand through his dark hair in an attempt to make it stay in the same direction. It didn't; his bed hair fell all over the place.

She opened the door and faced the boy, who held back a yawn. When he saw her, he straightened up his slouchy posture.

"Uh, hey," he blushed. "Could you keep it down, just a bit?"

He wore batman pajama bottoms with a shirtless, tanned chest. Slightly muscular. Smooth. Soft.

"Um, sure. Sorry," she replied, feeling embarrassed. Shit shit shit. Had she woken him up? Did he notice her eyes wide and gawking at his exposed body?

"S'okay. Kinda like that song, anyway."

The blush just kept creeping higher and higher up Hayley's face. It was her favourite song at the minute. "Good, innit?" she mumbled, giving him a small smile.

A bright haired person appeared on the stairs behind the boy. "Cal, you up for some Black Ops or what?"

Turning around, the brown-eyed boy gave his friend a short nod. When he faced her again, he gave her a small smile. "I have to go," Calum said, rolling his lips into his mouth. "See you later."

"Put a shirt on next time," she mumbled after them, and the one with purple hair turned his head, smirking. He'd caught that.

When the two had disappeared upstairs and Hayley had heard the door go, there were howls of boyish laughter. Once again, she was reminded of how thin the walls actually were. Shit. They were laughing at her.

Hayley would have to avoid him from now on; his casual 'see you later' had to stay a formality. She really didn't think she could ever face him again. Ever. It would be way too embarrassing. Just thinking about him, she wanted nothing more than to sink through the floor and never show her face again.