uncle calum •cth•

dad michael

So, get this, it was actually pickle juice." Luke concluded his story.
"Dude! No way. That's a con right there." Ashton said in disbelief.
"Legend is what it is, mates. He made a killing." Michael admitted as he waved his arm around as to add emphasis. He regretted it instantly when blood-red wine poured over him from the direction of his outstretched hand. Glass shattered, and a small gasp accompanied leaving Michael scared to look. When he finally did look up, he saw a gorgeous woman with her hand covering her mouth. They started apologizing to one another before Michael offered to replace her drink. She accepted, and they walked over to the bar.
"I feel so bad. Your shirt is going to be stained." She said, not getting over the deep red on his shirt.
"Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have waved my arm into you. I'm sorry, just order your drink." He said with a slight laugh.
She ordered her drink and got it, but Michael wasn't ready for her to leave just yet. He glanced at his bandmates at the table and knew they weren't leaving anytime soon.
"So, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a songwriter. Those guys that I'm with are my coworkers. We weren't being productive, so we thought dinner would help our ideas to flow."
"I'll be offended if you don't write a song about this whole ordeal." Michael chuckled.
"It shall be called 'Constantly Apologetic'. It'll be a hit." She laughed out, almost spilling her drink again. "What do you do, mystery man?"
"Oh, I'm actually in a band. Those are my bandmates over there." He said pointing towards his table.
"Well, in that case, here's my number. I would love to see you again, for business or otherwise, but I have to go now." He smiled as he accepted the business card from her hand and watched her down her glass of wine.
"See you around." He called out after she walked away. She half-turned around to wave before scurrying off behind her coworkers.
"Mate, did you just get a date by being clumsy?" Luke asked once Micheal returned to the table.
"I think I did."
They had their first date at a pizza place. It was casual and fun. They liked the same types of pizzas, had similar band tastes, and had the same sense of humor. The date was perfect, and he concluded it by walking her home.
"This feels so weird to bring up, but I actually did write a song about the other day." She admitted on her doorstep.
"No way! Is it any good?" Michael had to take a moment to remember that this was his date and not a random songwriter in the studio. "I mean, obviously, it's good, you wrote it. I didn't-"
"Michael, shut up!" She laughed. "I'm not offended by asking if the song is good. It's not perfect, but it helped me through writer's block, so I think it's great."
"Glad I could be of assistance. I promise I won't spill wine on you next time you have writer's block."
"Don't make me promises you can't keep!"
They laughed a lot that night. And the next day and the next and the next. They were barely six months in when Michael admitted to the guys that he loved her. Another six months later, he was proposing.
She had a demo version of the song recorded, the one about the night they met. Just for the fun of it, she was calling it 'Constantly Apologetic'. Her and Micheal thought that was hilarious, no one else understood why they burst out laughing at the mention of the title. They listened to the demo before Michael pulled her into the studio across the hall. He flipped on the lights for her to see a blanket on the ground with candles, soft music, and red wine setting the scene.
"Oh, my! This is beautiful. What is this?" She turned around to face Michael to wait for an explanation, but he was already on one knee.
She cried. He cried. And, they kissed to celebrate their engagement.
The wedding planning dragged on for ages. They both led busy lives, and decided to change the plans to have a small wedding with less than fifty guests. It was a Saturday evening when they said their vows in front of a small group of family and friends. It wasn't the grand wedding they set out to plan in the beginning, but it was perfect.
Family had always been mentioned through the months they were dating. They didn't think they would be sharing a pregnancy announcement a few months after their wedding, but they were overjoyed that that was the case. She had an easy pregnancy with a cute little bump. The boys were excited to be uncles, besides Calum since he didn't seem to care too much. Michael still hung out and partied with his friends until the day his baby was born. She was almost a spitting image of him and dubbed Baby Clifford. The boys fawned over her at the hospital, except Calum. The first time Calum held her was when he had no choice.
"Cal, mate, please. Luke and Ash are busy, my parents are in Australia, her parents are on a cruise. We're desperate, and you're our last option."
"Fine, whatever."
"Swing by later today? I owe you one, man."
"Sure."
Calum swung by a few hours later. Michael sat across from him with his daughter in his arms trying to convince his friend to hold her.
"That thing is gross, man. It cries, throws up, and shits." Calum scoffed at the offer the hold the green-eyed bundle.
"That thing is my daughter, you asshole." Michael rolled his eyes at his bandmate, but still persisted. "I really need you to feel comfortable holding her if we're supposed to leave you to take care of her Friday."
"Fine. Jeez, I'll hold the child." Calum eventually relented. "What's so special about Friday anyways?" His question was met with a scoff from Michael as he walked towards the occupied couch with the baby in his arms.
"It's our anniversary. You're the only available person, and we've had these reservations for months, we're not canceling." Michael paused when he reached Calum. "Support her head, and put your other hand here. No, no. Here. Calum, dude, where my hand is. C'mon. Finally, yes, there."
Michael watched Calum. It wasn't that he didn't trust him, he didn't trust her. His daughter might have been cute, but she was known to scream and cry even when she was content. Michael didn't want his daughter scaring Calum off today when he was needed Friday.
"Her room is down the hall. Her crib is there and her changing table with diapers, wipes, clothes, all that. You will have to change a diaper, it's not that bad. Her bottles are in the fridge. We have a bottle warmer, but make sure to test the bottle before giving it to her. And that mat over there is for tummy time. It plays music and stuff." He saw Calum nod, and he hoped he absorbed all of that information. Michael lifted his baby out of Calum's arm only to be met with fussing moments later. Sometimes she didn't want to be moved, and Michael didn't know if he was proud or not that his baby loved being lazy.
Calum showed up on Friday a different man. He grabbed the baby from her dad, and instantly began babbling back and forth with her. Michael didn't worry about a single thing while he had dinner with his wife. They even stopped at an ice cream place before heading back home. They walked inside to find Calum with a sleeping baby on his chest and snapped a picture. After that night, Calum became their regular babysitter. He would even stop by some days just to let the exhausted parents take a nap. They were grateful for that.
"Your daughter is a better wingman than you." Calum said as he walked in the Clifford household.
"You better not have taken my baby to a bar or some shit. I'll murder you, Hood."
"No, we were at a grocery store, and now I've got a hot date."
Calum didn't babysit as often, and Little Clifford starting asking about him everyday. She missed her uncle.
Things got hectic when it was time for preschool. She had turned four over the summer, and preschool was a great way to make friends. Calum even showed up on the first day, and he cried with her parents when she walked in the class looking like a big girl.
Calum, Luke and his wife, and Ashton's family were all at Michael's house when the little girl got home from her first day. She told them all about her new friends, her favorite assignments, and how much fun she had on the playground. She played with toys with Ashton's son on the floor while the adults talked.
Life seemed to fly by. Suddenly, little Clifford was in kindergarten, and she had a baby brother. She adored her baby brother, but liked it when she was at school because no one at school cried. Michael couldn't wait for the day he could show his son how to play video games.
One rainy Saturday was spent lounging in the living room. His little girl wanted to watch Tangled for the millionth time, and he couldn't say no. She was sitting on the floor almost reciting the words while his wife had dozed off. His son sat in his lap, chewing on his fist and babbling. He couldn't remember what a Saturday was like before his family. He was a happy man with the perfect family.