Who do you love?

22

Calum's hands shook slightly as he fit his key into the lock and opened the home he had been residing in for the past six weeks. He had been waiting for this opportunity for what felt like forever. In his head, he knew what he wanted to tell her, what he wanted to finally say to clear the air and get it off his chest, he just wasn't sure if he actually had the guts to say it.

He took a few short steps inside and flipped on the lights, his eyes darting around the room and instantly he wished he had cleaned up a bit before he had left. Dirty dishes filled the sink in the kitchen and empty cans and bottles cluttered the coffee table of the living room area.

"I'm not usually so messy." He said, turning his body slightly to face her. "The last few days have been a bit of a disaster."

She shot him a soft smile, the corners of her lips just barely lifting as she stood awkwardly just inside the doorway.

His smile faltered at the sight of how uncomfortable she was. This wasn't how he had envisioned this but there wasn't anything he could do to change it now. He certainly didn't want to squander the opportunity, so he took a seat on the couch, motioning for her to join him and she did, though her hesitation was obvious.

"Why are you way over there?" He asked with a quiet chuckle as she took the seat on the sectional as far away from him as was physically possible.

"Don't want to get too comfortable." Calum narrowed his eyes as she spoke. "It's Valentine's Day...don't you have plans with, like, Jules or something?" She questioned, sounding a bit exasperated with him already.

"No." He told her plainly.

Teal eyed him carefully, like perhaps she didn't believe that he hadn't set something up, but in his mind it had seemed unfair to pick one of the girls out for such a romantic holiday. Regardless, it wasn't any of them he most wanted to spend it with.

"It's a stupid made up holiday anways." She shrugged finally.

He grinned at her. "That's what I always say, too."

She gave a small nod but didn't respond, leaving the conversation to die.

"I didn't know you play guitar." Shit. He wasn't entirely sure where that had come from but he was aware that it wasn't what he had meant to say and it certainly wasn't on topic for where he wanted their conversation to go. Being around Teal really did stun him stupid.

"Wh—How...How did you know I play guitar?" She asked him, slightly stunned by the change in their conversation direction but he had managed to make her curious.

"I heard you the other night, you were on the balcony. I was listening to you."

She gave him a look that seemed uncertain and honestly a bit uncomfortable and he worried that he had overstepped. Now that he thought about his words, they did come off a bit creepy.

"I—I just meant that.." He stumbled on his words and he could feel the flush of color that overtook his cheeks. Fuck. This really wasn't going how he wanted it to. "Let me start over." He said, huffing out a breath.

He looked away from her and she could practically see his chest deflate, the somber mood he was suddenly shifting towards did something to the heart beating in her chest. She was softening towards him, the walls she had built to protect herself since the complete embarrassing disappointment of their kiss crumbling as he finally dragged his eyes back to hers.

"I was walking back to my place and I overheard you singing." He said softly, his normal confidence replaced by wavering uncertainty as he studied her and her reaction as if judging whether or not he should keep going. "It was Creep right?"

She smiled warmly, trying to be encouraging as whatever he was trying to say was obviously something he had been struggling with.

"I love that song. I just—I didn't know you played, or that you could sing for that matter."

Now it was Teal's turn to blush. "I love radiohead. And I don't really play or sing that well, if I had known anyone could hear me, I wouldn't have done it. No one's...well, no one's actually heard me before besides Navy."

"Guess I'll count myself lucky then." He said, their eyes meeting and a hopeful smile danced across his face. "You can sing though." He told her, his words laced with genuineness.

She blushed again, her gaze dropping down the dark hardwood floors.

"Why are things like this between us now?" He asked her suddenly, almost choking after he had realized what he had said. It was like he had lost all ability to filter his words. The question had been one he wanted to ask, he just had surprised even himself with how blunt he had been about it.

"Why are things like what?" She asked, her face marred with bona fide confusion.

He groaned and ran his hands across his face, his elbows resting on his knees as he bent forward. "Like this Teal. When I first got here we were friends, we—we hung out and we talked and it was so easy and now, now nothing makes any fucking sense. It's like we did a complete one eighty. One day we were fine and then my birthday happened and everything changed."

"Ding, ding, ding." Teal said sarcastically.

"What?" He asked, his bushy eyebrows knit together.

"Your birthday, Calum. You completely led me on. I was drunk and vulnerable and I had all these feelings for you and I kissed you and then that was just...it. You never addressed it, you just moved on like nothing happened and then you flaunted your escapades with all these other girls right in front of me and it fucking hurt, Calum."

She muttered a curse as she wiped at her cheek, annoyed that her resolve, to not let him know how he had affected her, had faltered.

"That's not fair." He said evenly. He was sitting up now, his back straight as his eyes penetrated her with his hard stare. "I tried to talk to you the next day, but you were the one who shut me out, you were the one who hid away being 'sick' for the week." He spat, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "You were the one who tried to leave the whole damn show, Teal. I might not have gone about things the way I should. Admittedly, trying to make you jealous with those girls probably wasn't my most shining moment but I'm not the only one at fault here. I fucking cared about you, I still care about you and you pushed me away and never gave me the chance to address it."

"You were trying to make me jealous?" She asked, now she was the one wearing a shocked expression.

"Was it not painfully obvious? Teal, I've been into you this whole fucking time. It might have taken me until that kiss to really admit it to myself and I tried to feel differently, I did. I didn't want the whole mess I knew this could be but I can't help myself. I like you and I don't want you unaware of it anymore. I was damn near heartbroken when I found out you tried to leave. I never get like this about girls, but you stole my whole heart without even trying."

"But.." Teal shook her head, she was trying to make sense of what she was hearing. Calum had been having near identical feelings for her this whole time?

Calum let out a loud groan and crossed the small divide between them, he was done talking, his hands cupped the sides of her face and he searched her eyes before he tilted his chin upwards and smashed their lips together.

An: oh hell here we go again.

What will come of their kiss this time?

Will things be different?

Let me know!
Ily,
Sav 🖤