July
Lucy's Age: 18
Calum pushed play on the DVR and then pulled me down onto the beat-up microfiber couch next to him. I loved being close to him, so I didn't protest when he put his arm around me. We watched the episode and then as the credits started to roll Calum leaned over and gently brushed his lips across mine.
I leaned into the kiss for a few seconds before pulling back.
"Tell me about your week."
He shrugged, nicely toned muscles rippling under his blue polo shirt. "Not much to tell. Lots of work, two more auditions that I'm pretty sure aren't going to pan out, and then a few idle hours looking forward to seeing you."
This was the part of our relationship that I didn't enjoy. Calum was attractive, and he was driven in his own way, but the things that he was investing himself in seemed so trivial to me lately. Sometimes it really did feel like we were from two different planets.
He seemed to sense my mood, leaning back and looking at me with more seriousness than was usual for him.
"I picked up a new technique the other day, but you don't care about that, so let's talk about your week."
Now I felt bad. "It's not like that, Calum."
"I think it is like that, Lucy. You're different lately. I like that you're serious, but you're serious all of the time now. Everything is high-stakes this and super-important that. It's like you don't know how to have fun anymore."
"I know how to have fun, but not everything is about having fun. Don't you ever wish you were making a difference?"
Apparently I scored a solid blow with that one because Calum stood up and backed a couple of steps away from the couch. "We can't all be playing with million-dollar investments out of the gate, Lucy. I'm doing what I want to be doing. I'm learning the stuff that I want to be learning, and I'm putting myself in a position where someday I will be making enough money to make a difference, and it will be my own money, not somebody else's."
I opened my mouth to respond back with something petty and spiteful, but his last comment managed to shut me up. He was right. I was putting in a tremendous amount of work and Geoffrey was making a ton of money off of the things I was helping him find, but it wasn't my money and I had no control over what use it would ultimately be put to.
It was something that had been worrying at the back of my mind for weeks now, and it showed how well Calum knew me that he was able to identify what was bothering me like that. I'd been taking my frustrations out on him.
"I'm sorry, Calum. You're right. I shouldn't be busting your chops like that."
I held out my hand and when he took it I tugged him back down onto the couch.
"I don't like fighting with you, Lucy."
"I know. I don't like fighting with you either, it just seems like it's all the two of us seem to be able to do lately."