Basic Space

Calum’s POV
I wake up with hair in my face. I haven’t even opened my eyes, and I already feel my head throbbing. I slowly open my eyes, and i see the back of Addie’s head, and I know it wasn’t a dream - that we slept together. Literally slept. Nothing more. Which is both a relief and a disappointment.
I try to slowly get up without waking her up, but as soon as I try to lift my head off the pillow, I feel like someone hits me with a hammer on the head. And my ribs. Right. I got beat up last night.
I push my body off the bed and sit there for a moment. The whole room is spinning and I feel sick.
After I throw up in the bathroom and brush my teeth I come back to my room. It smells of alcohol and a bit of sweat. Addie is still sleeping and i look at the time on my phone - 8:48 am. I should go back to sleep. So I open the window, and a cool morning breeze hits me. After that I lie down, slowly, and put my arm around Addie. She snuggles closer to me, and I feel her unintentionally rub herself against me. My hormones need to calm the fuck down.
I lie awake for what seems like hours. I cannot fall asleep. My whole body hurts, and it’s a mixture of a hangover and getting hit repeatedly. I lie there enjoying Addie’s body heat more than i should. I hear a faint knock on my door, and I am scared that it’s my mom, but then I hear Mali’s voice.
“You awake?” She whispers. I face her and nod. She motions with her head for me to come outside. I do, and close the door behind me.
“Where’s mom?” I whisper, climbing down the stairs.
“They were talking about going into the city today” She answers, as I hear our parent’s door open. Mom greets us and enters the bathroom.
After she is done, she asks me about the gig and about the cuts on my face. I lie and say that I was really drunk and fell on the parking lot. She then gives me a lecture about driving drunk and I convince her that that was hours before we left and that I wasn’t really drunk when I was driving back. She still gave me a huge lecture.
I wanted her and dad out of the house. Mali said nothing about Addie in my room, and i silently thanked her. I mean, my mom likes Addie, but she’ll ask too many questions, and plus, she’ll tease me about it, and I don’t need it from Mali and her.
So I go up to my room and see Addie still sleeping. I look out the window, and see Aggie opening hers.
“Morning” i greet her. She gets startled but then frowns when she sees me.
“Where is she?” She whispers.
I look at Addie, who is peacefully asleep and then face Aggie “She’s sleeping”
“She slept over at your place? In your room?” Aggie asks, sounding as if she is accusing me of something.
“Nothing happened, if that’s what you want to ask” I say.
“Sure” She says, and goes to walk away before I stop her.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” I say.
“Shoot” She answers, folding her arms in front of her chest.
“What the hell is Marissa’s problem?” I blurt out. I really, really hope Addie isn’t listening to this. I don’t know why. I think I might be a bit embarrassed.
“I don’t think it’s my place to say” Aggie says, looking uncomfortable.
“Mate they are constantly horrible to your sister” I stop her from leaving again “And I got a beating for it. So I think I deserve to know”
She is silent for a while. And then sets her face in a stone cold unreadable mask and says “You used Marissa for sex. You took her virginity, and then dropped her to move on to a different girl”
If this was a cartoon, my jaw-drop would have reached the ground. “What?” I ask because honestly I’m speechless.
“Look, i don’t want to say more. I’ve said too much anyway. Settle your shit with Marissa. And if you hurt Addie, I will hurt you worse than Stephen and Chris” With that, she closes her window and walks off. I stand there, the cold wind blowing my hair. I ‘took’ her virginity?! She was no virgin. I knew that. When I turn back I see Addie still sleeping and for some reason I start wondering if she’s a virgin. Not that it matters. But the question still weighs on me.
I hear mom calling for me downstairs and I open my door and poke my head.
“Yeah mom?” I answer her.
“I said, do your homework. You’re grounded. I don’t care if you get a gig to play in the White House” She says, putting on her coat. My dad stifles a laugh.
“Kayyyy” I call out and then they leave, right after they say goodbye.
Mali is in her gym clothes and has a bag over her shoulder “I’m going to the gym” She announces after our parents leave “You can have the house for two hoursf” She winks at me, and I roll my eyes.
After she leaves everything goes quiet. It’s around 11am, and Addie is still sleeping. I don’t know when her mom is expecting her. Probably the sooner the better.
Addie’s POV
I get awoken by Calum’s voice.
“Addie?” He gently shakes my shoulder.
“Mmmmm” i answer and slowly open my eyes. The room isn’t spinning…that much.
“I’ll make you breakfast” He says, sitting on the bed. His weight dips the bed.
“Fuck” I say remembering that his parents are home. This will be an awkward morning.
“Relax my parents aren’t home. They didn’t know you were here” He answers my unasked question, I look up at him and notice his hair, sticking in every direction.
“I need to go home” I whisper. I feel like my voice is disappearing. Or maybe my throat is just really dry and I’m really dehydrated.
“Not before you eat” He says, gets up from the bad, and gives me his hand to help me out. I take it and when I sit upright, I know I will definitely be sick. He must’ve seen it on my face because he guided me to the bathroom.
“Can you not be in here?” I say, barely keeping my vomit down.
“Who else is going to hold your hair?” He winks. I can’t hold it in and I turn around and vomit in the toilet. It isn’t pretty. Cal holds my hair, and if i wasn’t throwing up, I would dig myself a hole of embarrassment, and move in it.
He lets me wash up, and gives me a toothbrush which he just opened (apparently, his mom buys multiple toothbrushes for no reason, which is convenient). I brush my teeth and after I’m done, and come out I can hear Calum downstairs. I bring my phone and when I check it I see a text from mom saying she will be out to do some errands, and that she’ll be back for lunch. Great. I’ll get “lectured” by Tom.
I go down, slowly, and find eggs with bacon and toast.
“Technically I’m a vegetarian” I say.
“Technically?” He says, pouring orange juice in a glass.
“Well, it’s easier to say that, than to explain to people that I very rarely eat meat. Like very rarely” I say, sitting on a chair.
He takes the bacon away from my plate and we eat.
“You feeling better?” I say, before taking a bite from my eggs.
“Actually, I think it hurts more now” He smiles.
We talk about his injuries and if they are serious and he doesn’t seem to be too worried about them.
After breakfast I decide to go home and face the music. And I have to put on my skirt and my croptop and my heels and Tom’s gonna comment on it.
“You can borrow some of Mali’s clothes?” Calum says from the door. I have been staring at my clothes for the past couple of minutes unsure what to do.
“You think she’ll mind?” I ask, not sure if I want to decline the offer just yet.
“Nahhh” he smiles and walks down the hallway to Mali’s room. In a minute he comes back with some leggings and a t-shirt. I change in the bathroom, feeling really weird wearing his sister’s clothes.
I come out and I see Calum holding out flip-flops
“So you don’t walk the 3cm to your house in heels” He smiles handing them to me.
“Thank you” I say. I put them on, and he gives me a plastic bag to put my clothes and shoes in, before we start walking towards the front door.
He unlocks it and opens it, and without me even asking, he checks whether Tom is in sight.
“Coast is clear” He announces and opens the door wider.
“Thanks” I say and he shrugs, as if it’s no big deal “For letting me sleep over. And breakfast” I say and then I don’t want to say the last part “And holding my hear” I add hoping he won’t hear it, but he does and he laughs.
And then he gives me a hug for some reason, and I hug him back. And we stay hugged for a couple of seconds. It’s really nice.
“Have to go” I say, pulling away.
“Call me if you need anything” he says. And he has said this to me almost every day, but right now it sounds different. I don’t know how. I’ll probably overanalyse it later.
So I leave, and I know he is watching me, and just to prove it, I turn around before I open the front door. Yep. He’s there. He smiles and then closes his door.
When I walk in no one seems to notice. My mom isn’t home, Aggie is probably in her room, and all I hear is Tom and his perverted friends. Great.
“Yo Tom!” A guy coming out of the guest bathroom shouts “Your daughter is here!” He says eyeing me and my clothes. I go straight to my room, but I hear footsteps not long after that.
“And where have you been all night, missy?” Tom asks, folding his arms. I can almost feel the attention of 6 grown, middle aged men on me.
“I thought Aggie told you? I was at a sleepover” I say. I re-read Aggie’s texts, so I can formulate a story in my head.
“Did you ask permission to go to a sleepover?!” He asks calmly, but I know he is itching for a fight. I am not going to give him the satisfaction, no matter how good it feels to tell him off.
“I’m sorry. I forgot.” I say. He is surprised. I apologised. Can’t remember the last time I said those words to him. Neither can he, as it seems.
“Sorry ain’t gonna cut it” He folds his arms. He is really pushing me here. “After the stunt you pulled yesterday morning, and the way you were dressed, like some prostitute working the corner, sorry ain’t enough”
Lord, give me the strength not to throw a knife at him.
“What am I suppose to say then?” I ask. That’s the least amount of sass I can produce right now.
“How about you clean this house up? You wash my car and then go to your room!” He shouts. Wow, if that’s the best punishment he can think of…
“Okay.” I say and I can see him get angrier. He is expecting me to shoot back, have a reason to tell me off in front of his friends. This actually gives me more satisfaction, seeing him get angry because I’m doing nothing wrong.
So I do as he says. I clean the house (least amount of effort in cleaning I have ever invested) and when I break a second glass in the kitchen on purpose, he makes me stop, and wash his car. I purposefully miss multiple spots, and “accidentally” leave one of the windows opened. Technically, it was open when I got there, I just didn’t bother to close it. Which he couldn’t blame me for because I insisted that I didn’t notice. So after I was horrible at the two punishments he gave me, he made me go to my room and stay there until I am summoned.
I take a shower and when I come out mom brings me lunch in my bedroom. Tells me to do homework, and doesn’t say another word. She must be pissed at me, but there is no way she’ll show it in front of Tom and his friends. I feel bad that she has to deal with them. I don’t see Aggie for the whole day.
That night Michael calls me, asks me how I’m doing, whines about his hangover and school, and then he goes to sleep. I do the same and when I lie down, I somehow trigger the memory of lying in Calum’s bed, with his arms around me, drawing circles on my stomach while being half-asleep. And sleeping in his clothes, and being surrounded by his smell.
And then I remember that he was waaay too close to that girl in the club, and I started, for some reason, making excuses for him.
He just needs a rebound. That’s what all that was about. That’s why he got with two girls already, because he needs a rebound. But why would he need a rebound if he didn’t really care about Marissa. I mean, of course he cared, but what if he was in love with her? What if he still is in love with her? What if he goes back to her?
My mind was literally rushing. I couldn’t stop thinking, and at one point I must’ve fallen asleep because I don’t remember ever stopping the thoughts that kept flooding my brain.
In the morning, I get up and start getting ready. I put on jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie, and I braid my hear. I don’t even bother with breakfast because I just want to be out of the house as soon as I can. I can hear snoring from the living room. I really need to find a way of getting those people out of here. This aint a bed and breakfast, and even if it was, they were not paying. Don’t they have jobs? Or a life?
“Not gonna say good morning?” A guy in the kitchen says to be. It’s the same guy that was commenting on the combination of my age and caffeine.
“Why would I wish you a good anything?” I say, putting on my shoes. It’s way too early for me to filter my thoughts.
“You got a mouth on you” He says, drinking his, what I assume to be, coffee.
“Yes. I am a human being with a mouth. Glad you made the observation. Keep up the good work” I give him a thumbs up, but he just gives me that predatory smile again. It’s disgusting.
“You should put it to good use, sweetheart” He says. Ew, ew, ew, ew.
I roll my eyes and get out of the house before I attack. Or before he attacks. Not sure which one.
I walk to school and meet Michael on the way. He has the hood of his hoodie on.
I fall into step with him and we walk to school together. He asks me where Aggie is, and I say I don’t know. I tell him about this morning though. He grimaces as if he is throwing up.
“That is so wrong, mate” he says, looking disgusted.
“Yeah” I nod, putting my hands in my pockets. “I have to dress like a homeless person so they don’t comment. I need them out of my house”
“This may be a stupid question, but why don’t you call the police?” He asks me.
“Because” I say, but I can’t finish the sentence. It’s a horribly stupid reason.
“Beacausee….?” He says expectantly.
“Because my mom is scared” I say a little too quiet.
“What do you mean?” He asks.
“Say the police makes them leave. And we get a restraining order, again, he will find a new way to make our lives worse just because we called the cops on him” I answer. “We need to make sure that if we do call the cops, he is out of our lives for good. Like, he gets jail time or something. And it needs to be long-term. Otherwise, he’ll just be back, meaner and more violent”
“Shit” Mikey says, which is a reasonable response. There isn’t anything he can say, really…
“But I’m trying to weave a plan” I say. He laughs at the word ‘weave’ but I ignore him “I need something to make them leave our house. At least his friends. I need to make the place unliveable”
He looks at me a bit confused. We are almost at school. “What do you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. Kill the cable? Internet? Infest our house with bugs? Rats?” I suggest. “I am really desperate at this point.”
We walk in the school hallway and to our class.
“Bugs, huh?” He says, as we take our seats. “Could be spiders”
“Yeah, Australia is full of them” I say. “But it’s a problem that can be easily solved. I need something epidemic”
He laughs, and our teacher enters.
Our conversation is put on pause as we have AP Psychology. We separate after that, for our next classes, until we get to lunch. I see Calum and Luke already on our table outside. Calum looks better. He healed well in a day.
“Hey” I say sitting across from him. He looks at me and just nods.
“Morning” Luke says, even though it’s not really morning anymore. He looks tired and asleep.
Before I can comment on it, Lucy sits next to Calum.
“What’s up with you?” She asks Luke, noticing his tiredness.
“I need sleep” He says. Luke really seems more relaxed around Lucy nowadays. I mean, those first few days he seemed nervous around her, trying to impress her a little bit.
They start discussing Luke’s sleep deprivation (which is due to him playing video games at night and ending up going to sleep at 2 or 3am), when Michael sits next to me and just says “Bed bugs”
“Excuse me?” Calum tries not to laugh.
“Bed bugs” He says again and looks at me, triumphantly. “It’s hard to get rid of them, like you need to get rid of mattresses, and like wash all your clothes and stuff. It can get pretty nasty”
That is actually a really good plan. I think Mikey can see the excitement in my eyes, because he gets all hyper.
“None of this makes sense” Luke says looking at us confused.
“But where the hell am I going to find bed bugs man?” I say slumping a bit.
“Someone explain this whole bed bug situation please” Lucy says. So I go into my plan of exterminating Tom and his friends with bugs.
They decide to help me figure this out after school. I turn around, still buzzing from this new plan and see Aggie sitting with her fabulous friends. Chris is eyeing me. Or maybe not me. Calum. Calum shifts in his seat, his jaw is clenched and stares Chris down. Both Stephen and Chris don’t look happy, like they don’t think their beating was good.
“I don’t like them” Mikey says.
“No one likes them” Lucy adds. “Whatever. I’m going to the bathroom” She says, and gets up, walks inside and goes down the hallway to the bathroom.
All of us return our focus to our table. We talk some more about the bed bug solution, when the bell rings and we all head for class.
After classes, I find Luke at his locker, and both of us walk outside to wait for the rest of them.
“I did not like the looks Calum got during lunch” Luke says to me, as we sit outside on a bench.
“Yeah” I say feeling a bit guilty. I mean, all this started because Calum and I became friends? Not that it wasn’t bound to happen at one point.
“I told my brothers about it, they flipped out a bit” I raise an eyebrow at him “Yeah. Turns out Jack knows Chris’s brother. Being assholes runs in the family”
As if on cue, Chris come out of the school. He looks in our direction, scowls, and then continues walking.
“Don’t they have better things to do with their lives?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.
“Don’t think so” Luke says. “So, listen” He begins, but it looks as if he has trouble speaking.
“Listening” I say, but when he says nothing, I playfully shove his shoulder “What’s up, dude?”
“Does…um…does Lucy have a boyfriend?” He asks me, looking at his shoes.
“What?” I laugh.
“I’m serious” He says, this time looking up.
“Pretty sure she doesn’t” I say “I’m also pretty sure she wouldn’t be flirting with you as much if she did”
“I don’t know. Girls are confusing” He says, shaking his head “I’m a bit scared of her” He chuckles.
“Me too, Luke. Me too” I squeeze his shoulder, dramatically. He laughs “Another thing I’m pretty sure of, is that she likes you”
I have never seen Luke blush as much. He’s adorable.
“So I’ve been googling” Mikey says, sitting next to me “And I found this website called cheapbedbugs.com-“
“Of course you did” Luke says, laughing.
“Hey! You can get anything on the internet. So 25 bedbugs, which is like one vial, is $50, plus $35 for shipping” He continues, reading the information from his phone “So we could get em, but it says that it’s like extra $25 for a cold pack, because they could die on their way here from the heat or whatever”
“So let me get this straight” I stop him, before he continues “$110 for 25 bed bugs?”
“Well yeah” He says, his shoulder slumping “We could get 50 bedbugs, for a $100, plus shipping and a cold pack for a total of $160”
“That’s so much money” I say, this whole bed bugs idea looking less and less attractive by the second.
“We could pitch in?” Luke says, scratching his head. “I mean, between us three, Calum, Ashton, who probably won’t have a problem, Lucy and Aggie, we’ll all pay like, what, approximately $15 each? We’d get 25 bedbugs for that, which is better than nothing?”
“I can’t ask you guys to spend money….on bugs” I say, picking my nails.
“Dude, come on.” Mikey says, his spirit back “I have some saved up, I don’t mind it”
I stay quiet, thinking about it.
“We could probably stretch to get a 100 bedbugs” Luke says. “It will be approximatelly…” he goes quiet for a couple of seconds, doing the math in his head “Like $20? $25? Something like that. Which is not that big of a difference.”
“We’ll pitch in.” Michael says, putting a hand around my shoulder.
“Pitch in for what?” Calum says, walking towards us. Michael removes his hand from my shoulder a little too fast
Luke explains the plan, and the money issue and Calum listens without interrupting him.
“So let me get this straight” he says, and then continues after a short pause “There’s a website called cheapbedbugs.com?”
We all laugh.
Aggie comes out of the school doors and motions with her head for me to follow her.
“We’ll talk about this later” I say to no one in particular, and follow Aggie without another word.
We start walking home in silence.
“What?” I say, after a couple of minutes.
“What happened on saturday?” She asks, not really looking at me.
“Ummmm, well…further proof that your friends are assholes. Nothing out of the ordinary” I say. I don’t know why, but I am angry with Aggie. Angry at her because she is still friends with these people.
“Are you okay?” She asks, ignoring my attempt at picking a fight with her.
“Sure. Calum is as well” I cross my arms in front of my chest “Stephen and Chris didn’t seem too pleased about that, though”
“Look, I didn’t know they were going to do that” she says, stopping. I stop and face her. “But since we are being honest about our thoughts for each other’s friends, I don’t think Calum is as nice as he pretends to be”
“Excuse me?” I almost laugh.
“Yeah, he is nice to you, and all that, but it’s because he probably likes you” If she notices me blushing, she says nothing “But just remember, he was like that with Marissa at one point, until he got what he wanted, and then he dumped her”
“You cannot actually believe what you are saying, right?” I ask, a little bewildered.
“I’m just trying to be a good sister. Hope you know what you’re doing” She says, and then walks away. Walks. Away.
I start laughing. And shaking from anger.
“Aggie” I start, and she stops, but doesn’t turn around to look at me “First of all, Calum and I are not, I repeat, not together, so whatever you think is happening between us, it’s not. Second of all, I don’t even know where you get the nerve to tell me that my friends, who actually care about me, who’ve been here for me with the whole Tom business, who support me, who volunteer to donate money for a plan to get rid of Tom and his friends from our house, who hold my fucking hair when I vomit, are ‘not as nice as they pretend to be’!” I clench my hands into fists. And slowly start walking to Aggie, who still has her back towards me “Who haven’t said one bad word about you, who actually get beat up and bullied by your friends, who probably believe in some elaborate lie, and who feel entitled to other human beings.” I come around her, and stand in front of her. I straighten my back, and realise I’m actually a couple of inches taller than Aggie. “You know, I used to feel left out, and a little jealous because you could become friends with anyone, and because people liked you better, but honestly, right now, the only thing I feel is pity. Because you have to waste your time with them. I’m not scared of any of them, frankly I find them ridiculous, but I have a feeling that you are. And I feel sorry for you, that you even want to be around people who you feel unsafe with” I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I have stopped shaking, and my hands are relaxed by my sides.
Aggie doesn’t look at me. She looks angry and sad at the same, as if she lost a battle.
“So yeah. Your opinion on Calum and the rest of them, and your warnings, are actually irrelevant to me. My advice for you though, watch your back with people like Marissa. As soon as you have nothing to give her, she’ll drop you” This time I’m the one who walks away, but I don’t feel triumphant. I feel sad, because I think Aggie just got slapped with the truth she wasn’t seeing.
She doesn’t call after me, just walks a few steps behind me.
When we enter the house, it’s unusually quiet. But if Aggie notices, she says nothing. She takes the stairs two at a time, and after a moment I hear her bedroom door close.
The house is completely empty. Come to think of it, I didn’t notice Tom’s car in the driveway.
I walk to my room and change out of my jeans. I then open the glass door for air, and sit on my bed, doing homework.
“Can i come in?” I hear my mom’s voice, after the soft knock. I haven’t talked to her about my spontaneous sleepover.
“Sure” i say, putting my math homework to the side.
“Aggie is making risotto” She says, walking in, and then closing the door behind her. I just nod, and wait for her to continue. She doesn’t seem angry. Just tired.
“Where’s Tom?” I ask. He hasn’t been home all day.
“He and his friends went downtown.” She says, sitting on the edge of my bed “A better question is where were you sleeping on Saturday?” Before I can open my mouth and say Lucy’s, she interrupts me “I know you weren’t at Lucy’s. I talked to your aunt”
After a moment I answer “I slept over at Calum’s” I don’t know why I feel guilty.
“You were next door?” my mom raises her eyebrows. I nod.
“Before you assume anything” Now I’m the one interrupting the question forming in her head “We’re not together. We’re not dating. He just let me crash because it was geographically convenient”
She nods a few times.
“I’m sorry” I apologise “I shouldn’t have lost track of time”
She nods again, and smiles at me. “Please be more careful while Tom’s here”
“Speaking of” I say. After a brief moment, I continue “How long is he staying?”
She looks devastated. As if I just told her the worst news of her life.
“Hopefully not long” She says. I nod and when she starts to leave my room I whisper to myself “I’ll make sure of it”

Notes

Yo, another update! Enjoy. I'm horrible at updating, amiright? (answer: yes)