“What?” sputters out of my lips. I let go of Calum. My back hits the steering and the honk goes off.
We jump and I readjust. Calum laughs. But I don’t find the situation funny. Fine, we didn’t do things the traditional way but we have been on a date. We text. We cuddle. We fuck. We kiss.
Oh, my God. Is he joking?
“You’re my boyfriend,” I insist. But I don’t touch him.
Calum purses his lips. I smack his chest and it provokes more laughter out of him. “Am I?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Yeah? Wait, are you not?”
His face is solemn. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
The pounding of my heart is so loud I’m afraid he will hear it. Taking my hand, he plants a kiss on my knuckles, then another on the inside of my wrist.
“You didn’t ask me to be your boyfriend,&rdquo
The greatest part about having a boyfriend is asking him mindless questions he mustn’t fail to answer. Oh, and the random selfies too. I can be doing assignments and my phone pings with a picture from him. And I love the sexting too.“Why’s the sky so blue?” I ask.Calum rolls his eyes again and his guitar almost slips from his grasp. He must be tired of me. Too bad for him because I’m here to stay. My books are sprawled on the floor in his room, he’s helping me with my music homework. It might be considered cheating if he was actually doing any work but he’s letting me do it all while offering little to nothing but his sexy presence.I poke him on his cheek with my pencil. He’s seated cross-legged on the floor while I’m flat on my belly. The blanket he spread on the floor is keeping me warm but I know something else that will do a better job and make me warmer.“Answer me, Cal.
The cafeteria is too loud. Sadly, Calum is not on lunch duty. The girls are talking about school. Mostly Rose and Taylor. Lucien and Ryan barely speak but nod along to their girlfriends. It is a bit weird to have Jackson’s friends on our table.Lucien’s arm wraps around Taylor’s shoulder, we share eye contact and he looks away. I don’t know if Jackson told them anything. But if they are here with us, I guess he didn’t. Or, he did and they didn’t care. It doesn’t matter anymore.Jackson’s opinion of me is shit, it doesn’t count.My fingers race over the edge of the table as their talk grows louder, more intense. Rose is excited to be out of town. Taylor will move to London. Amelia and I hardly have anything to say. She didn’t apply to any schools, neither did I.Beside me, Amelia nibbles on her sandwich. As always, we are on the other side of the table. I slide out my phone to te
The bell for the next period goes off while I’m still in my thoughts. Another peek at my phone and my fists clench. Calum hasn’t replied me.Jamming my locker door close, I start for my next class before students start swarming the hallway. Sadly, I don’t have music today so I sit still throughout the classes for the rest of the day. As soon as the bell goes off, I bounce.I’m alone in the parking lot. Impatience knots my joints and my fingers beat against the roof Calum’s car. Speaking of the annoying man who ignores his girlfriend’s texts, Calum walks out a few minutes later. One look at my frowning face and the jerk of a boyfriend cracks a smile. It draws one from me. Damn him.The car beeps to signify it’s unlocked, I slide into the passenger seat and his hand comes down immediately on my knee. “I was busy.”“Too busy to reply your girlfriend,” I murmur.
Calum turns to me with a sigh. Dark emotions rise to the surface of his eyes. He’s angry and hurt but none of that is directed at me. I offer him a small smile so he knows that whatever he tells me won’t change how I feel about him.“In rehab, you’re allowed visitors,” he whispers. His blues close as if he’s reliving those days. I rub his knee, humming our favourite song till the tension in his shoulders dissipates. “They never showed up and I was there for a year. They were aware. I told my mum to tell them. At first, I tried not to care but I fucking cared, superstar. I mean, even if I was upset with my friends and I heard they almost OD’d, I would bury the grudges. I’ll show up immediately.”A memory from last term hits me unexpectedly. The day Jackson couldn’t make it to the house because his car was bad. I told Calum I hated him. I didn’t have a ride to school and he said I should
Dainty fingers spread across my stepbrother’s firm chest. I press closer to him, my breasts squashed against his side. We have to do this again. I have to fall asleep in his arms and wake there the next day. It’s the best feeling on earth.“How did you manage to pull it off?” I whisper.“Honestly, it’s all thanks to your dad.” I jerk but his hand on my belly keeps me from sitting up. “Not like that, baby. Pete was planning a date for my mum and I suggested he took her to a place outside of town.” It’s always so weird hearing my dad addressed by his first name. I cringe. “We hardly get the house to ourselves, so I couldn’t miss my chance to celebrate my superstar.”“And you did. And I love you, Calum Dissick.”My fingers graze his chest, rolling over the hard points of his nipples. “I love you too, Cathy.”The bedside lamp is the o
My boyfriend is not happy. He’s not mad at me but he’s not happy with the situation.Amelia nudges me with her knee, I shake off thoughts of Calum and try to participate in the conversation. Rose and Taylor will leave after our finals, we have to cherish every moment.Today, it’s just us four at our table. I like it. I missed it. I love having their boyfriends at our table but it’s different with only the girls. It’s us.“Girls,” I say and my hand goes up. Everyone stops talking. Rose shoves her burger into her mouth, stuffing her cheek like a starving bum. Amelia sips from her coke. “I was thinking…” Well, it’s Calum’s idea or rather, Dani’s but I don’t tell them that as I propose the plan of switching our mode of operation. “It can help us.”It can help me.Calum is doing his part. I have to also do mine. Rose dumps her burger on her
CALUMShit. Shit. Shit.How do you define useless? Watching the love of your life cry into the arms of her best friend instead of yours. Being unable to comfort your superstar. Is it okay to touch her on school grounds but as a stepsibling offering comfort? “Your dad is okay,” I say as a contribution. But Cathy’s face is hidden in Amelia’s neck, away from me. A small crowd has gathered around us, I chase them off to their next class but allow Rose and the other girl, I think Taylor is her name, step up to the duo. They don’t ask questions but join in the hug and the emptiness I thought was under control burns a hole through my chest. I do miss Sam and Lucas. And Tessa. I miss my friends. Seeing there’s nothing more than a crying girl, the rest of the students disperse, leaving us alone once more. The girls break the hug but Amelia stays at Cathy’s side with an arm on her shoulder. I ball my hands in my pockets to refrain from touching my girlfriend. My baby. I failed her. I kn
“You’re avoiding him,” Amelia says.For the past hour my best friend has been here, she has not failed to remind me about the man next door. He’s trying and I’m…well, I’m not.I fall flat on my back to the bed, arms and feet spread wide open. Amelia grunts but stays out of my way. Squinting at the ceiling, seconds roll by without me talking. Eventually, she will have to drop this topic because I have nothing to say to her or Calum. A pillow comes down on my face, once, twice and a third time before I jump.“Jesus!” I scramble out of her reach before the fourth attack. “What’s your problem, Amelia?”Glaring daggers right back at me, she murmurs, “You are my problem. You’re avoiding him.”My knees sink into the bed. Slowly shaking my head, I grab a pillow to defend myself from her.“I’m not avoiding him,” I reply