Who do you love?

29

Calum had spent so much of the last few years of his life on planes, gotten so comfortable with them, that he sometimes forgot that other people could fear them. That was the case when Jules, seated to his left, grabbed for his hand during take off.

"Sorry," she said, noticing his raised eyebrows, "I just hate the takeoff and landing. The gear makes so much noise...scares me." She mumbled.

"It's fine." He told her with a sympathetic smile before closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the plush first class seat. It had already been a long morning. They'd had to film Katie's dismissal right before take off. He hated that they had decided to wait until so last minute to do it. Hated that they'd gotten her excitement up before sending her home from Bali alone. He didn't like toying with people's emotions like that and it didn't sit right with him. He hadn't had any say in the matter though so he tried to brush the thoughts away and hoped that he would manage at least a few hours of shut eye on the nearly seven hour flight to Sydney.

He must've fallen asleep quickly after that because he didn't hear anything else until the plane was descending and he watched out the window as his homeland came into view. It would always feel like home, even if it wasn't where he lived anymore. It was the place where he had discovered himself and who he wanted to be. Australia had grown him into the man he had become. Besides, it was where his parent's lived and he'd always been a bit of a mumma's boy.

Thoughts of his parents and Mali, who had also flown in for the chance to meet the girls after his heart, had his grin widening. He'd seen them at Christmas but he never tired of spending time with them and he was happy he'd get to spend the car ride and night with them alone before they met Ansley and Jules

It wasn't either of those girls that he was most concerned about them meeting though anyways. He thought that things would be fine, hoped for it anyways but his mind kept replaying his conversation with Mali from a few weeks ago. The one where she'd told him to let Teal go. He hoped her opinion would be different once she'd actually interacted with the woman who had still managed to capture his heart despite Mali's advice and his own best defenses.

*

"So, go on, tell us about them." Mali pressed Calum as soon as they'd finally got settled in the house after the drive from the airport.

"Mali, give him his space he's probably tired after traveling all day." His mum scolded.

"I just wanna know what we're dealing with beforehand." Mali defended with a quick roll of her eyes, leaning forward against the kitchen countertops.

" 's fine Mum. I wanted to talk to you guys tonight before tomorrow because I'm sure it'll be a mess."

His mother eyed him but finally nodded and he continued, his sister and dad listening on as well.

"There's two girls left, their names are Jules and Ansley."

"Who's your favorite?" His dad asked.

Calum sighed and pulled his bottom lip back between his teeth.

"I don't know yet." He answered honestly.

He didn't know who his favorite was because he didn't have one, it didn't matter. His heart belonged to someone else completely.

"Well, okay. You have to like them at least a bit if they've made it this far." Joy said.

"Oh, well, yeah, they're both great. Ansley's a photographer. She's really down to earth and cool. We always have fun together, it's easy."

"And the other girl? Jules?"

"She's a professional footballer." He chuckled as his dad's eyebrows lifted.