13Callum
Dylan held up two tubs of ice cream. “Hazelnut or coconut?”
“Umm…hazelnut?” Callum had never had either flavour before.
“Good choice.” Dylan grinned at him. “Bowl or straight out of the tub?”
Callum faltered on that question. Would they be eating out of the same tub? If he said yes, what impression would that give Dylan? It probably didn’t matter. He’d already blurted out that he thought Dylan looked amazing in his heels.
They’d both taken their footwear off. Callum was sitting on the sofa, feeling somewhat awkward but a lot less shaky than he had been as they’d got on the bus. He was still livid at the thought that those thugs might have hurt Dylan if he hadn’t been there, but also angry at himself for coming close to slamming his fist into the big guy’s face. After all the things he’d done wrong, all the fights he’d been in, and all the things he needed to atone for, he couldn’t physically hurt anyone ever again. It might only take one punch to destroy someone’s life.
“It’s best out of the tub,” Dylan said, taking the decision away from Callum.
He put the other tub of ice cream back in the freezer and grabbed two large spoons from a drawer. He took the lid of the ice-cream off and left it on the worktop before joining Callum on the sofa. He handed one of the spoons to Callum.
“It’s a bit hard,” he said, chipping the edge of his spoon against the surface. “Give it ten minutes and it’ll be perfect.” He put the tub down on the windowsill. “Which gives us time to make the most important decision of the night.”
“What’s that?”
“Which rom-com we’re going to watch, obviously.”
Callum laughed, which was when he realised just how tense he’d been. “We’re watching a rom-com?”
“Of course. Ice cream and a rom-com arethe besttherapy for…well…anything and everything!” Dylan waggled his spoon at Callum. “No objections.”
He turned the TV on with the remote control and they flicked through the film pages together. Dylan gave a mini synopsis and an opinion on every film in the romantic comedy section.
“Is there a rom-com you haven’t watched?” Callum asked.
“Probably not. Oh! This one’s a good one. A bit of a tearjerker, but it works out okay in the end.” Dylan sniffled a little. “I do love a good happy ever after, after some tears.”
“Let’s watch it then.”
Callum wasn’t interested in watching rom-coms, but the excitement and happiness on Dylan’s face was worth suffering through one. They both needed to relax after what had happened. If he was still on edge, Dylan had to be too, so if eating ice cream out of the same pot and watching a rom-com was what his friend needed him to do, then Callum would do it. It might have been why he’d held Dylan’s hand until they’d got on the bus. Callum had been too shaky to think about whether heshouldhave been holding Dylan’s hand, but he’d been with it enough to know it had felt lovely and that he’d missed the man’s touch when Dylan had let go.
“First we need the right lighting,” Dylan said, jumping up.
Callum watched as Dylan went to switch the main lights off, plunging them into darkness until strings of fairy lights winked on.
“Wow,” Callum breathed.
The twinkling lights were strung up around the edge of the bed and over the windows. It made the space under the bed feel twice as cosy, which allowed a little more tension to leave his body. Dylan joined him again and picked up the pot of ice cream. He sat close enough for their shoulders to touch, his stare fixed firmly on the TV as he turned the film on.
By about half an hour into the film, Callum was laughing so hard his sides were hurting, which also made eating ice cream pretty hard. They kept trying to scoop a bit out at the same time, so their spoons clashed, which only made them laugh more. Dylan had been right—ice cream and a rom-com were an excellent type of therapy. The ice cream was really nice. Smooth and delicately flavoured. Callum was sad when they reached the bottom of the tub, because it meant they no longer had any reason to sit close together. Not that Dylan seemed to get that memo. After putting the empty tub and the spoons down on the floor, he pulled his feet onto the sofa and leant his head against Callum’s shoulder. The last thing Callum wanted to do was move him, so they sat like that for the rest of the movie, Dylan’s fingertips brushing ever so slightly against Callum’s thigh. Every time Dylan laughed, the sound rang in Callum’s ears and made him feel a little lighter and a lot happier. When Dylan cried through the sad bits, Callum wanted to hold and comfort him.
“Feeling better?” Dylan asked as the end credits rolled.
“Much, thank you.”
Callum’s cheeks were damp with tears from laughing so hard. He wiped them away with the backs of his hands.
“We could play some VR if you want?” Dylan offered.
Callum was happy where they were. “Or watch another movie?”
Dylan made a contented sound. “With more ice cream.”
“God, no. I’m still stuffed.”
