Who do you love?

8

"Where's T? I saw her in passing this morning but didn't see her on set." Calum asked as he took his now usual seat at their table to eat, Teal's normal seat across from him remained empty. She typically beat him to lunch.

"Think she went to pick up her sister from the airport, she was gonna fly in today." Anthony answered around a bite of food.

"Oh, okay." Calum replied with a disappointed purse of his lips. He'd wanted to get a chance to talk to her before he had to turn in his decision for who to take on his first actual date of the show. So far everything had been done as a group, but next week he would be required to select one girl to share a real date with. He wanted—no, needed—Teal's advice. She always seemed to know exactly what to say, much like his sister Mali. His sister wouldn't be of much help to him in this particular situation though, as she hadn't had a chance to meet any of these girls yet in order to be able to know who he should pick and so he had hoped to get Teal's assistance.

He did his best to hide his disappointment but he spent the rest of his lunch break wishing she was there to offer up her usual sass and chatter. Much the same way he had spent the after party last night wishing he had skipped it once more in favor of a night in the guest house with her and the rest of his newfound crew friends.

He didn't catch sight of her again until the evening, he wasn't filming, but the girls were and she appeared to be on a break, standing off to the side of the main house, her phone in her hand. "Hey,T!" He said cheerily, as he approached her.

"Calum." She acknowledged him shortly, not even bothering to look upwards from her phone screen. He bunched his eyebrows together, obvious misunderstanding reading on his face.

"Oh-kaaay." He said, dragging out the second syllable. "Have I done something wrong?"

Her fingers that were previously tapping away paused for a moment and he saw an indistinguishable look cross her face before she forcefully swallowed and turned her chin to angle her face to meet his.

"No, Calum. I'm just busy. Did you need something?" Her voice was exasperated and perhaps a bit annoyed and he felt his face fall and his eyes harden as she spoke. What the fuck?

"I—" He stuttered, his mouth moving opened before closing again as he tried to figure out how to proceed. Their conversations over the week had been pleasant enough so he didn't understand where this irritation with him was coming from. "Not really, I was just hoping to ask you about next week."

"I really shouldn't be helping you like that Calum. These are decisions you need to make on your own. Just do whatever your gut says." She said dismissively.

He flattened his lips and narrowed his eyes again as he watched her continue about her business as if he was already gone. Where was this attitude coming from? He wanted to ask her as much but given her previous answers he assumed she had made up her mind about conversing with him that day so instead he turned on his heels with a low huff, his shoulders slumped as he stalked back to the guest house.

From the balcony he could just make out the set where the girls confessionals were being filmed. Teal's bright yellow hoodie was easy to find and he couldn't tear his gaze away from it. What had turned her so cold to him? Her friendship, along with those of the rest of their small little dinner group, were helping him deal with the overwhelming feelings of all of these relationships he was forming. He looked forward to the moments where he was just shooting the shit with them. It was freeing to not have to worry about every word that came from his mouth or how his actions might be perceived, something he had to constantly think about with the girls in front of the camera.

If he were to be completely honest with himself he knew that it was a little deeper than that. He liked Teal, at least as a friend, he wouldn't allow himself to think about anything deeper than that, it wouldn't be fair to either of them. He enjoyed her company though and hated being at odds with anyone so he hoped that whatever had occurred to upset her, was something that he would be able to fix.