Even If You Don't

Calum’s POV

One week later; 12:45pm

The moment the plane landed on the tarmac in Indianapolis, I thought I was going to throw up. There was no guarantee that Mari would be at home or that Lori wouldn’t refuse to tell me where she was or that she would even let me see her at all.

After deboarding, I called an Uber for the 25-minute ride to Mari’s house and just listened to the driver talk – occasionally adding to the conversation here and there but I was mainly silent. I thanked the woman as she pulled up to the curb to let me out, both of us giving each other a goodbye. I closed the car door and listened to her pull away while I took a deep breath and walked to the porch.

I stood in front of the door for a moment, finding myself unable to move. I'd obviously been here during tour, but I just couldn't make myself knock. There was a different feeling now. Now, I was afraid someone would slam the door in my face before I could even say a single word – not that I would blame them if they did – but I just needed to talk to Mari and I was terrified she wouldn’t let me.

~

Mari’s POV; 1:30pm

I suddenly began to hear frantic knocking on the front door, making my eyes widen. I had only just put Asher down for his nap 15 minutes ago and I was not going to be happy if he was woken up. I threw my blanket off of my legs and quietly raced downstairs to look through the peephole, but whoever was there was covering it. I rolled my eyes and cracked the door open, my heart immediately skipping a beat.

“Calum?” I murmured, opening the door all the way, “What are you... How did you know I was here?”

“I made Kaylynn tell me,” he said, “She wasn’t happy about it, but she still told me.”

“Why are you here?” I whispered.

“I made a mistake, Mar,” he shook his head, a desperate tone in his voice, “I never wanted this to be an on-tour thing that ended after the last show.” And it almost hurt to hear him use my nickname again...

Almost.

“Then why did you say it was over?” my voice cracked, my eyes welling up with tears. He moved his hands as if he was going to wipe my cheeks, but he forced his arms to stay at his side, probably thinking that I wouldn’t want him to touch me – which wasn’t entirely untrue.

“Because I just... I’ve never done well with long distance and I didn’t want you to feel like it was your fault... I didn’t want you to feel guilty for living so far away whenever I told you I miss you...” he answered, looking down at his feet, “I wasn’t thinking about how ending it would have made you feel or what we could have done to make it work. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been miserable since the moment the words left my mouth. No one will talk to me unless it’s to tell me how stupid I am – my mum, especially.” I was silent for a moment, eyeing him carefully, as I took in how genuinely sorry he really was – although, I was quite pleased to hear that even Joy was giving him a hard time.

“Makes me feel a little better,” I said softly. He looked back up at me after chuckling softly. “Do you... Do you wanna come in?” I asked him. He swallowed, barely nodding his head. I moved out of the way so he could come in, quietly closing the door. However, when I turned around to face him again, Calum couldn’t hold himself back.

“I’m in love with you,” he blurted out, his eyes immediately shutting tightly. My breathing hitched and I just stared at him. When I still didn’t speak after a few seconds, it was clear he was starting to get nervous. “Mari, please say something,” he muttered, his eyes still closed.

But that was the problem; I wasn’t sure what to say. So I just did the first thing that came to my mind.

Calum's POV

To say I was shocked to feel Mari's hands on my cheeks and her lips on mine was an understatement. My eyes shot open before fluttering back closed, my hands finding her hips and pulling her against me. We both let out sighs of relief, smiling when the other’s grip tightened at the same time.

When she pulled away to breathe, I rested my forehead on hers. Her right arm slid around my neck while her left hand remained on my face, her thumb stroking my cheekbone.

“I’m in love with you too, Cal,” Mari whispered, making me let out another deep breath.

“Am?” I murmured, “As in still?” She chuckled quietly, nodding her head.

“You’re a complete asshole and I hate you for what you did,” she shrugged, pressing a kiss to my nose, “But yeah – still.”

“A complete asshole who’s really, really sorry,” I nodded in agreement, “And is also really, really hoping you’ll forgive him.”

“I forgive you, Cal,” she told me, making me smile lightly. Her grip on my neck then tightened and my smile dropped again. “But if you ever do something like that again-” She spoke with a threatening tone. “-I’ll be on the first red-eye flight back to Sydney to kick your ass.” I couldn’t help but laugh under my breath.

“Kaylynn said the same thing when she gave me your flight info,” I told her, “Except she said she was going to kill me.”

“I guess the question now is which one of us are you more afraid of?” I pretended to think about it for a moment.

“I think I’m pretty terrified of both of you equally,” I answered.

“You should be,” she mumbled, pressing her lips back to mine. I couldn’t keep myself from smiling – which ultimately shortened the kiss, but I was too happy she hadn’t kicked me out of her house to care.

When we pulled away again, I felt her start twirling the ends of my hair with her fingertips. I pressed a kiss to her forehead, moving back to find a puzzled look on her face that made me tilt my head.

“Did you not come here with anything?” Mari asked, finally realizing I would have had to Uber here and that I didn’t show up with any bags.

“No...” I said shyly, “To be honest, I really didn’t think you were going to forgive me.”

“So does that mean you’re going home today too?” she bit her inner cheek.

“You know, the band doesn’t have anything scheduled appearance-wise until the iHeart Awards in April...” I pointed out, “And I could always have the boys send some stuff to London... Luke and I can write together on Skype... Plane tickets can be refunded...”

“You’re gonna live with me until April?” she raised her eyebrows, obviously a little skeptical.

“If you’ll have me,” I mumbled.

“What about when you have to go home again?” her voice cracked involuntarily.

“My home is wherever you are, baby girl,” I said firmly, tightening my hold on her, “Even if I can’t be with you physically, I’m always right here-” I brought my hand up, gently poking the skin above her heart.

“Calum Hood, you are the cheesiest person I’ve ever met,” she said with a light blush on her cheeks, making me grin widely.

“I love you, princess,” I said just before my lips were back on hers.

“I love you too, Cal,” she whispered between kisses, and I was so grateful I finally had her back.