So sweet. He always was thoughtful.
Callum and I are walking in silence towards the passport check when he accidentally drops his passport by my feet and I reach down to pick it up, because I am nothing if not a gentleman.
‘Thanks,’ he says, briskly reaching to take it out of my hands.
But the speed with which Callum moves towards his passport makes me pause, suspicious. I snatch it away from his grasp.
‘May I?’ I ask, curiosity getting the better of me as I flick through to his passport photo.
Callum practically growls.
‘I’d rather you didn’t. Oh look, too late.’
There, on the photo page, is a very different-looking Callum. ‘Oh my sweet Australian days, is that a man bun?’ I squeal, delighted.
He moves closer still, trying to remove the passport from my hand but I’m too fast, holding it behind my back. I’m still chuckling at the photo as Callum stands in front of me, assessing the situation. I bounce up and down on my tiptoes, hands behind my back, triumphant. I guess I shouldn’t be too cocky. Given our size difference, he could quite easily reach around and take it from me. As I land back on my feet I notice a shift in mood. The air between us seems to crackle. My eyes track up to Callum’s as helooks down at me with that penetrating green gaze of his, chewing his bottom lip.
‘Let’s just say that I am looking forward to the day my passport is up for renewal,’ he says, folding his toned arms in front of him. At some point he must have taken his jumper off because he’s standing there in a white T-shirt, still miraculously crisp, and I can’t help but cast a lingering look at his forearms before forcing myself to stop doing that.
‘And a beard too,’ I say, sneaking another peek.
‘All right, hand it over.’
‘Nope.’
‘Moss.’
‘What happened to using my first name?’
‘Given that you have made very mediocre attempts to call me by my preferred name, and you are now holding my passport to ransom, I have decided to lower myself back to your level.’
‘Here you go, Cal,’ I grin, returning his passport with a flourish.
Quick as a flash, Callum accepts his passport with one hand and steals my passport with the other.
‘Hey!’
‘A taste of your own medicine,’ he says, eyes twinkling as he opens up my passport for inevitable dissemination.
‘Go on then,’ I sigh. ‘Do you worst. What’s it going to be? “Is that Casper the Friendly Ghost?” or “Did you lose your eyebrows that day?” Believe me, I’ve heard them all. So come on, let’s have it.’
Callum takes a long look at my passport photo and then closes it and returns it to mewithout comment.
‘What’s the matter? Have you run out of mean things to say since we’ve landed?’ I ask, surprised.
Callum stares at me for a beat too long.
‘It’s a great photo.’ He shrugs.
Sorry, what?
‘Don’t look so surprised,’ he adds, before ushering me towards immigration.
It’s definitely Australia, I decide as we take our newly checked passports and head towards baggage collection. Callum missed a glaringly obvious chance to poke fun at me there and he’s been quiet ever since. Did he startle himself into submission after saying my passport photo was ‘great’? I mean, as far as Callum Bang’s cutting tongue goes, that was probably the highest praise I have ever received from him. So theremustbe something in the Aussie air. Maybe now that we are Down Under, Callum’s entire personality has flipped, too? Is he going to be almost civil with me for the rest of the trip? Because if so, I’m not sure I can handle it. My stomach’s doing weird things.
Although that’s probably down to the fact that I’ve missed several meals already today.
‘Callum!’ I call after him. No, wait, let’s get this right. ‘Cal!’
