thin walls / calum hood

1.0

Michael

Although Calum had protested, Hayley had been invited to the party at Luke's. Apparently, he didn't want her to see him drunk again.

"I don't think she's here," Calum said. "I haven't seen her. She's not, right?"

"Don't think so." Michael didn't know. He thought that if the thought of the girl being at the party stressed him out so much, then clearly he needed something else to think about. It had been an hour, and he had already found a girl to introduce to his friend. A short, quirky brunette - very cute and what Michael would say was Calum's type. "But there's this girl," he started.

Not long after, Calum poured his new friend a Coke and rum. The two had hit it off immediately. She was talkative and bubbly, just what a shy guy like Calum needed to make a conversation flow nicely. Michael was very happy with himself as he sat back and watched.

It was all running smoothly. Until Calum pulled Michael to the side.

"I don't think i can do it, mate," Calum slurred loudly into Michael's ear, trying to be heard over the music. "I don't even like clubs."

"If you don't want to, you don't have to. Nobody's forcing you," Michael pointed out, taking a swig from his can of beer, supporting Calum with his free arm. "Alyssa is down, though."

"I know that. I'm just saying that I'm not sure about this whole thing, you know?"

"Why? Is this about Hayley?"

Had Calum, just like Michael, only just realised she'd actually showed up?

Michael did sort of regret inviting her. Hayley wasn't exactly the life of the party – didn't seem like she was even drinking. Michael had noticed she'd been looking miserable for most of the night. As bad as it sounded, he didn't want the night to be ruined. He was half a beer away from having a great night. This was why he had refrained from asking her what was wrong.

"No, I just–"

"I'm just saying the opportunity is there. Do what you want with it."

"I want to. I'm just nervous about it."

"I was as well. My first wasn't even that good. I lasted like two seconds and she laughed."

The revelation made Calum's heart stop. "She laughed?"

"Yeah." Michael cringed at the memory. Then, he saw the fear in Calum's eyes. "Don't worry, though. You'll be okay."

But Calum just frowned, looking even more scared than before. Of course he didn't want to be laughed at. Michael had thought him sharing his embarrassing story would make Calum feel better, bur now he did regret mentioning it.

"I don't think I do this anymore," Calum said, putting his drink down.

Hayley

She watched as Calum chatted to his friends, laughing; he was effortless, and the shy boy she'd met before was almost unrecognisable. Alcohol was easy access to some confidence, Hayley thought, good or bad.

Hayley knew that she looked super anti-social in her corner. The place was crowded and the music was too loud for conversation, besides she was nowhere near drunk enough to talk to anyone anyway. They weren't even playing any good songs – nothing that she liked anyway. Luke's music system blasted a looping mix of old school rock and indie.

If this is a rom-com, kill the director please.

Calum had asked if she'd be coming out later. It was the only thing he'd said to her the whole time. Awkward.  If she had known that he didn't want her there she wouldn't have bothered. The majority of the time, he'd been having intense exchanges with Michael. Not that she wanted to know what it was about - she had a pretty good idea.