thin walls / calum hood

2.6

Hayley

"We'll be fine, don't worry. We'll order pizza later," Calum assured his mother, who was worried about leaving them alone to go out to dinner with some of her coworkers. "Really, it's okay."

He was a bit embarrassed, Hayley could tell, but acted like she didn't notice the way he was stuttering and stumbling over his words as he ushered his mother out the door.

Hayley would have said something about being able to handle him last time and that this time shouldn't be a problem, but figured it was too soon. Instead, she held her silence.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled when they were finally alone. "She doesn't like leaving me on my own anymore. She needs a break to think about something else than worrying about me, though."

His mum wasn't the only one in need of a distraction.

"Can you play something?" Hayley asked, eyes on the guitar rested against the wall. Loud music coming from his room was nothing new, and Hayley remembered him saying he played bass and guitar, but she'd never heard him play.

"Only if you sing."

Shooting him a glare, Hayley caught him smirking. "I can't sing."

"I've heard you sing so many times before."

The smirk was still resting on his lips, but soon widened into a big smile. It had been long since he had smiled like that, and Hayley couldn't help but get pulled in and return it. The little wrinkles at his nose and eyes were just too damn pretty – his laugh was contagious.

"And you made fun of me for it," she pointed out.

"Please sing." His lower lip jutted. "I wanna hear you."

"You'll laugh at me."

"Probably," he said, "but I'm not playing if you don't sing."

He was stubborn.

He grinned widely while she stuck her tongue out at him. He started strumming the guitar, a familiar tune filling the room. Hayley didn't know he listened to Ed Sheeran.

She sung off key and he did as well. Hayley could tell he was doing it on purpose, cause he sounded good at times when he stopped trying. Calum didn't even sing the real lyrics but kept 'blah blah blah'-ing the melody until he got to the 'my my, oh, give me love'.

They made a lot of noise, not stopping until Fedora interrupted by barking loudly. She jumped at Calum's feet, and he laughed at her, putting the guitar away.

"She's not a fan. Our band sucks," he said, lifting her up.

"Ouch." They were more than likely going to hell for having brutally murdered an Ed Sheeran song.

Michael called again, and Hayley repeated her sin of pressing the red button. She knew she was letting him down by not picking up, but wished he'd understand when she told him she was fixing things with Calum. Making a mental note of calling him back later, she shoved the phone back into her pocket.

The film Calum chose was a horror, and she wondered if it was a cheeky attempt at getting cuddles. Too bad – she wasn't that easily frightened. However, she did quite like the way his arm rested around her shoulders and she wouldn't miss the chance to put her head against him.

They were watching the film whilst eating popcorn his mum had made – thank god, Hayley didn't want another fire alarm accident. Hayley protectively held her bowl of popcorn, and Calum rested his at the armrest; salty for him, sweet for her.