"Tell me I'm a screwed up mess; that I never listen, listen..."

___
Royce sits in her bed, calculus homework fanned out before her as she contemplates life on a Tuesday night.

She's stuck on the assignment, debating whether or not it's not still too late to drop this class, when she pulls out her phone and texts her "tutor."

Princess: are you busy?

He responds not too much longer after.

Cal: uh....
Cal: kinda
Cal: what's up?

Royce sucks in a breath.

Princess: nvm
Princess: it was about calc
Princess: I can call kenn

Bubbles bounce in the bottom left of her phone screen.

He's typing.

Cal: too late I'm helping you now
Cal: what's the problem?

And Royce laughs. This competition between him and Kennedy lately had been too much. Amusing, yes.

Extra?

Also, yes.

She types: seriously calum it's not that big of a deal

Those bubbles bounce again.

Until, they stop.

And Royce watches the bottom of her screen, waiting for them to return. She's watching, thinking that she really should just call Kennedy, or ask for Luke's number, because out of all of them, Calc literally seemed to come the easiest to him. Like, Calum was good at it too, but it seemed like Luke actually enjoyed math.

When he could stay awake in class.

Which, Royce thought was super weird, and kind of concerning, but she kept forgetting to ask Calum about it.

And she begins to type again, pressing 'Send' on her newest text: and what's luke's cell? before her own begins to ring.

She watches the name flash across her screen.

Calum's calling.

"Hello?"

"Hey," he says, casually as if he always calls her every Tuesday night at eleven. "Is your room in the front of the house, or the back?" He asks. And then, he scowls, "And what the fuck do you need Luke's number for?"

"For calculus," she replies simply, before she has to circle back to his previous question. "And what about my room?"

"Like, y'know..." He pauses, "Is your window facing the street, or...?"

"It is..." She replies slowly, and slowly, does she push her blankets from her legs to rise from her bed.

"Sweet."

She's standing. "Why?"

"Oh..Ah...Yep," he chuckles. "I see you."

"Oh my god..." And Royce rushes to the window. "Oh my god," she hisses, because he's standing across the street, leaning against his car, ankles crossed. He lifts his hand from his pocket and waves.

"Aw," he grins. "You're so small up there..."

Royce busts out laughing. "Are you high?"

"Actually, no," he replies. "M'not."

Royce shakes her head, smiling in disbelief. "Y'sure?"

"Yup," he replies. "If I was high I'd have tossed some rocks, or something."

Royce rolls her eyes. "I feel like you would've done that sober, too."

"Ha," he laughs, "Yeah I was totally thinking about it."

"And I'm really glad you didn't," Royce giggles before shaking her head, "Now, what are you doing here, Romeo?"

"Came to convince you to camp, Juliet," he replies, and Royce rolls her eyes as she catches sight of his cheeky grin. "Kennedy sent me."

"Yeah, right."

He laughs. "She didn't send me. Surprise."

Royce laughs, smiling down at him. "So..."

He lifts a brow. "So?"

"So," Royce looks around, "How're you getting up?"

He frowns. "You can't let me in?"

"Calum," Royce laughs, "it's like, eleven-thirty on a school night and you're a boy? My dad would freak all the way out."

"Jesus Christ."

"I know," Royce nods. "Overprotective much? Absolutely..."

"So, we can't..."

She grins mischievously. "We can, but you've got to help me do Calc first."

"Deal," Calum nods, and he slowly crosses the street. "So...How'm I getting in?"

Royce looks around for her favorite sparkly pink Uggs. "Come around the back...Y'know where the kitchen is?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," she whispers, as she heads towards her door, "I'm gonna let you in through the back and then you have to run to the stairs, okay?"

"The ones in the kitchen?"

"Yeah," Royce nods, kinda pleased that he remembers the layout of her house from the times he's been over. "Those."

"Okay."

"Okay," she replies, jogging down the main staircase. "Coming..."

And she hangs up, padding through the foyer and the living room and the dining room and into the kitchen, all of the spaces empty.

Hallelujah.

And she jogs to the sliding glass doors, catching sight of Calum through the windows.

She smiles, waving at him as he catches her eye and he grins back.

She grabs the door handle and pulls it open. "Go."

"This is so exciting," he exclaims as he rushes past her and she follows behind, laughing softly as they hurry to the small staircase.

"Whoa. Who's that?"

Royce turns and Calum freezes, left foot falling hard upon the first stair.

"So close."

"Uh..."

"Oh," Tobe nods, as Calum's face is triggered instantly in his memory. He laughs, nodding as he reaches for the orange juice in the refrigerator. "I remember you," he says. And he unscrews the top of the juice, "You're the one who swallowed my sister's face that day after school..."

"Yeah, uh..." Calum has probably never felt as uncomfortable as he feels in this moment. He clears his throat, "I guess that's, uh...that's me..."

Royce can't even glare at Calum like she'd like - because, really? Really with that response? - because she's too busy glaring at her brother.

"Don't. Tell. Anyone."

He shrugs, lifting his free hand. "Hey," he shrugs, "you know I don't care whose saliva you allow into your mouth."

"Tobe!"

"What?" He exclaims. "Where is the lie,  Royce?" He grasps soundlessly at air, "Where is the lie?"

Calum hides a smile. He'd have probably laughed had this not been his ass on the line.

"Tobe," Royce sighs, "let's just keep this between us, okay? Please?"

"Secret's safe with me, Poppy," he grins. "You know I don't care," he shrugs as he sticks the juice back into the fridge.

He peers over the door, "Hey," he stares at Calum,  "wrap it up, though."

Royce takes Calum's hand, "Good-bye, Tobe."

"Hey!" Tobe exclaims seriously, and Royce pauses, groaning. "I'm serious, Royce. You know I don't trust western medicine. I don't need my sister in some clinic 'cause of an itch she can't scratch," he turns to Calum, who is now seriously trying to hold in his laughter, "or worse."

"I promise, mate," he nods. "I'm clean."

"Alright," Tobe nods, and he throws up a peace sign, grabbing his juice with the other hand. "Pray for world peace. I'm going to bed."

And Royce groans, squeezing Calum's hand and dragging him up the stairs.

"Your brother's pretty cool," he says, after Royce leads him into her bedroom and successfully shuts and locks the door without her mom or her dad or Paige seeing.

"I mean," Royce shrugs, falling atop her bed. "I guess I'd rather he sees you than anyone else."

Calum snorts. "Than Paige?"

"Or, my dad. My mom'd probably be cool about it," Royce nods, now that she's thinking about what might happen if anyone else in her family had seen Calum. "Chris probably wouldn't care at all...Probably--"

And Calum's nose wrinkles suddenly and kind of adorably. "Why'd he call you 'Poppy,' though?" He asks at once, because never had he ever heard anyone call her that before. "How'd you get a nickname like that from Royce?"

Her stomach turns instantly.

"Because," Royce replies a bit tensely. And she lets out a breath because she can feel herself about to get worked up, and over what? It's an honest, innocent question, right?

She faces him. "'Cause 'Poppy's' my first name," she replies. "Royce is my middle name," she sighs, taking a seat beside him on the bed. "Actually."

Calum pauses. "No way."

Royce groans. "Here we go..."

"No, I mean," he shakes his head. "Poppy? It's a flower, right? Like, I can see it. It kinda fits..."

"I hate it."

"Or not..."

And Royce laughs, a sight that has Calum grinning, despite running his hand along the back of his neck.

"Whatever," she sighs. "It's not your fault. My family's the only group of people who really call me that. Mostly," and Calum notes how her jaw clenches, eyes darkening, "it just used to be my mom..."

And she shakes her head, and with it, the darkness that seemed to envelop her just a moment ago.

Calum opens his mouth to speak, because he definitely noticed that mood shift, but Royce continues on, switching the conversation at her first available opportunity. 

"Hey, why does Luke always fall asleep in calculus?"

And Calum almost doesn't even know what to say because that was random as hell.

He laughs. "What?"

"Yeah, like," she repositions herself on the bed to lie on her stomach beside him. "He's always asleep. You too, but mostly him," she rests her head on her arms, "What's with that?"

He frowns. "What's with all the questions about Luke, tonight?"

She shrugs. "I don't know...I thought about calc, so I --"

"Calc makes you think about Luke and not me?" He exclaims. "I'm offended."

"It makes me think about both of you, you baby," Royce laughs, laughing softly into her palm.

"Yeah, right."

"Why are you tripping right now?"

"You know I sit next to you, right? Right."

"Shh," she exclaims, laughing softly. They were getting loud and that wasn't good when her parents were just down the hall. "Luke's just good at Calc, okay?"

"I'm good at Calc, Royce."

"I know, Calum; that's why I've asked you for help."

He crosses his arms. "But, apparently I'm a second choice to Luke."

Royce is laughing. "Never," she replies, and at the sound of his disbelieving grunt she lays her head in his lap. "C'mon, Calum. I need you!"

"Thought you needed Luke."

"Luke didn't come over, though," she replies, peering up at him. "He didn't surprise me at midnight, Romeo and Juliet, style, either."

"You're damn right, he didn't."

Royce laughs aloud. "You're amazing to me, Calum."

He chuckles. "I'm just amazing, Royce."

"I know," Royce says, crawling her way towards him upon the bed. 

He rolls his eyes. "You're just saying that."

"Am not," she replies, pushing him backwards upon the mattress. "I, unlike you, don't lie to people."

His mind instantly shifts to the moments previous, when she had been talking about her name...and her mom. 

"You keep secrets, though."

Royce scoffs. "Secrets are different than lies."

"Um, but they're not," Calum says, as Royce throws her leg across his lap and makes his mind skip from his initial thought. He shakes his head as Royce throws her arms around his neck and his large hands grip her waist. "Keeping things from people might as well be lying."

"Um, we'll have to agree to disagree," she says. "That's fine."

He pulls back. "Can you honestly say that keeping important shit to yourself isn't the same as lying?"

"Um, I absolutely can. Now, please remind me why we're on this?"

"'Cause I'm really fucking confused how you don't get that that's the same thing."

"Shh! And are you kidding? Why're my secrets a big deal all of a sudden?"

Because, Calum realizes, for some reason, he doesn't want Royce to keep shit from him. That whole, 'Poppy' shit intrigued the hell out of him, and he wanted to know more. Royce had a way of always surprising him and springing new shit upon him that continued to keep him guessing. He sure as hell didn't think she'd be down to hook up, and look where they were. Royce was the type of girl he'd thought he had all figured out, and he was kinda pissed that his speculations were wrong. 

And he wanted to be right.

"Look," she continues, "I'm human. So, shut the fuck up with that, trying to make me feel bad about not sharing my life with the world. Besides," she implores, "you probably lie to me about stuff that's way worse than the secrets you keep."

To that, Calum'd have to say 'hell-fucking-no.'

She'd run if she knew his secrets. 

"I'm pretty sure you can deal with my lies."

"Whatever," Royce scoffs. "That doesn't negate the fact that you lie to me all the fucking time."

"What?! I never--"

"You literally just did, Mr. I'm-Here-'Cause-Kenn-Wants-To-Go-Camping."

He laughs, staring up at her. 

Then, he squints, narrowing his eyes at the girl in his lap. 

"Fine," he says at once. 

"Fine, what?"

"Fine, ask me why I'm here."

She snorts. "So you can tell me another lie?" 

He pouts, shrugging. "I'm giving you the chance to hear the truth."

"Finally?"

"Okay, don't fucking push it, Royce."

She rolls her eyes. "Why are you really here, Calum?"

He grins, because he likes arguing with her. He's like, genuinely amused when they go at it, for some reason, and he can almost literally say that about no one else. 

"So, I can do this," he says, and as he sits up straighter and plants that kiss upon her lips, and as that kiss turns into one of their make-out sessions, and as that make-out session involves Royce tugging on his hair, Calum feels a small pang of guilt because that was yet another lie. 

Like, it wasn't the truth. 

It wasn't the complete truth.  

Because, in actuality, Calum found himself out for a drive to clear his head and found himself driving to The Bluffs. It was as if his car was on autopilot as he contemplated all the shit that was bothering him. It was as if some outside force had preordained this trip to Royce's house because seeing her and touching her and hearing her was kind of starting to make him feel better about the shittiest situations that suddenly seemed to make up his life. 

But that was one of those secrets. 

That was one of the things that'd have her running. 

Because if there was one thing he knew about Royce, it was that she cared about two things: her family and her grades, and somehow, Calum realizes, as she grinds slowly in his lap, he doesn't seem to fit in the plan she has for herself. So, for the time being, if sex was all Royce was willing to give, he'd take it. 

And she breaks away, pulling from their kiss. 

"Wait, wait..." she gasps. 

He nearly whines. "What?"

"Calc homework," she says, blinking to clear the haze clouding her eyes. "You said you'd help me with calc, remember?"

He groans. "Yeah," and she grins triumphantly, tumbling from his lap. "Fine."

She shoots him that smile that makes him want to do anything she'd ask. 

Another secret he'd never share. 

"You're the best, Cal."

And he only grunts in response, watching as she flips through the pages of their textbook. 

Sex and calc, then. 

He'd settle for sex and calc. 

___

these two...

comment and vote! i really like these next few chapters so i'm kinda excited for this progression. think you know what's gonna happen?

p.s. this song takes me back guys.

tell me a lie || one direction