thin walls / calum hood

0.1

Hayley

Hayley waited for a minute after the door shut, and raised herself from the sofa. As her mum had gone to do some grocery shopping, she was finally alone in the flat. It was her time to do whatever she wanted. Usually, this meant her singing or dancing around the lounge. Didn't everyone do that, anyway? No shame.

"Guess it's true, I'm not good at a one night stand. But I still need love, cause I'm just a man," she sang along to the music through her headphones. When the second chorus came, Hayley - belting out lyrics - couldn't hear that someone was knocking on the door. "Oh, won't you stay with me? Cause you're all I need."

As Hayley turned around in her improv choreography, she noticed how something moved under the door. A piece of paper. Taking off her headphones, she hurried over to the door, looking out the little peephole. Just in time to see a dark haired, lanky boy disappear around the corner and up the stairs.

She reached down for the note and opened it.

Can you keep quite please?

The boy - whoever he was - had possibly the worst handwriting Hayley had ever seen anyone have ever. It was as if written with a foot, almost illegible. The ink was slightly smudged over the paper. How had he even got his pen licence? Hayley laughed to herself at how he couldn't even spell quiet.

But shit shit shit he had heard her sing.

It was embarrassing. Hayley swore to herself never to sing again. Or at least, not that loud. She sat down again, the slip of paper still in her hand. Was she really that bad?

The roaring laughter from above let her know the answer.

Calum

When Calum returned to his flat, his three friends were laughing uncontrollably. He closed the door behind him, wishing they would calm down. If they could hear her, surely she could hear them laughing as well.

"Thank fuck that's over," Michael said, letting out a sigh of relief.

The girl had stopped. 

"Mate, your neighbour's singing is absolutely terrible," Ashton said, still laughing. "And these walls are really thin."

Calum walked over to the kitchen part of the room, reaching for a bottle of Ribena in the fridge. "I know. She could use some practice. Anyone want a drink?" Sure, the girl in the flat downstairs wasn't exactly the best singer. But it wasn't that bad.

Calum didn't like how his friends made fun of her. It was easy for them to slag her off, though. They didn't even know her. In all fairness, he didn't really know much about her, either. He knew she was pretty, blonde and liked to sing chart music. That was about it.

Conversation had never gone anywhere past exchanging a quick hello when passing on the stairs or the casual 'thanks' when he'd held the entrance door for her. That was a few weeks ago now. But still. Calum felt bad for the girl.

"Yeah, a drink sounds nice," Luke said, poking his head up from behind the TV. "Have you got any vodka? Could do with some shots to forget that horrific performance from downstairs."

"Let it go already, she's stopped now. You're not the one who needs to hear it a lot, anyway." Calum took out a few glasses from one of the shelves. "I only have Ribena, want some?"

"Yeah sure, thanks." Luke accepted the glass Calum poured for him. "Does she sing a lot?"

"Yeah." Calum bit his cheek, wishing they would just stop talking about her already.

"Shit, she's always that loud? I like it loud." A laugh signed Michael Clifford filled the room. He let a groan flee his mouth mid-laugh. "Mate, I hope she's fit."

"Shut up, Mikey." Calum rolled his eyes. "You guys are such dickwads. Why do I even hang out with you?"

"Imagine it, though. Her screaming your name."

The subject wasn't precisely Calum's field of expertise. He hated how it was once again brought into conversation. It was intentional, though. The three would never let him forget about the fact that he was a virgin. "Can we not talk about sex?" Just saying the word made him cringe, his neck getting hot and red.

"You need some loud sex."

Luke howled. "Oh my god, Mikey!"

"It's true, though. Calum does need to make his debut at some point."

Ashton and Luke exchanged glances and squirmed in laughter, unable to hold it back. They were basically doubled over on the couch.

"Could you be any more blunt?"

"Oh, I could. Trust me." Michael smiled widely, wiggling his eyebrows. And Calum knew he could. It was something Michael had proved time and time again. Sometimes his bluntness was funny, but when it involved Calum himself, not so much.