Even If You Don't // Calum Hood

Chapter 21: I Wanna Get Back to Where We Started

Calum's POV

I had left the stage so the girls could play an encore song, finding myself with Mari's brother in my arms once again. Asher had grown more and more attached to me throughout the band's time in the city – not that I was complaining – and had absolutely refused to leave my side all day. We laughed as we danced around to the girls' song before they took their group photo with the crowd and came backstage.

"Mawi, you so good!" Asher cheered, clapping and bouncing on my hip as I was holding him.

"Thank you, Ashy," she smiled, kissing his cheek before holding her hands out to him. He reached out and leaned toward her, allowing her to take him from me. "Why don't we give Cal a break, huh?" she told him, "You've made him carry you around all day."

"But I like Calum," he pouted, making me smile.

Although I didn't hear much about them before meeting them, I felt incredibly lucky in that Mari's family seemed to really like me. Lori had managed to have a few minutes alone with me while Mari was getting ready for one of our dates one evening, telling me that she was happy her daughter met someone she got along with so well. I thanked her, of course, but I didn't really know what to say, to be honest – I'd never had a parent tell me something like that before. But I was definitely thankful to have someone like Mari.

"Ah, come on, Mar," I chuckled, shaking my head, "It's not like I don't enjoy spending time with him." I reached over and tickled his stomach, making him giggle loudly.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, Rockstar, but you can't carry him around and play your set at the same time," she smirked.

"Is that a challenge?" I grinned mischievously. She only responded by rolling her eyes, shoving my shoulder as she went to talk to Lori. I watched her for a moment, smiling to myself, before heading over to the boys and preparing to go onstage.

~

In the middle of our set, Luke took his mic off of its stand and hurried to the side of the stage to hand his guitar off to our guitar tech since he didn't do anything but sing for Waste the Night.

"You guys still with us?" Luke asked everyone as he came back to center stage. The crowd screamed in response, making him smile. "Awesome!" he beamed, "Well, we have a special person coming out to help me with this song, so I want you all to be as loud as you possibly can as Miss Mari Duncan comes back to the stage!" They obviously screamed even louder as she came back on, microphone in hand and a smile plastered on her face. She bowed obnoxiously, making us laugh as Michael, Ashton, and I started playing the song.

[Luke]

Taste of your tongue, oh, the smoke in your lungs
And I need your love, and I need your love
The salt on your skin is pulling me in
And I need your love, and I need your love

I don't wanna say goodbye to another night
And watch you walk away
I don't wanna let it burn in the city lights
And make the same mistakes this time

[Luke, Calum, Michael]

I don't wanna waste it, don't wanna waste it
I don't wanna waste it, don't wanna waste it
I don't wanna waste it, don't wanna waste the night
I don't wanna waste it, don't wanna waste it
I don't wanna waste it, don't wanna waste it
I don't wanna waste it, don't wanna waste the night

"Asher!" I heard Lori all but shout, causing all of us to look over our shoulders. We smiled when we saw Mari's brother racing toward her. She quickly picked him up, making the crowd awe, before she had to start singing.