No One Better

Calum came to find me some time later.

"Hey Kim." He says with a smile as I open my door.

"Sup Calum." I smile back and motion for him to come in.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" He says upon seeing the clothes sprawled on one side of my bed and the folded stacks on the other.

"Nah, not really, just my folding. I literally had nothing else to wear so I decided to wash it all. Turns out it is quite a bit more than I anticipated."

"Have you been at it since we got back? I remember you said you needed to fold all this when we returned from the meet and greet." He gives me an incredulous look.

I shrug my shoulders with my hands up in mock innocence. "Y'all were the ones who told me to pack for the whole summer. That's 3 months of unexpected weather that I wanted to be prepared for."

Calum simply laughs and shakes his head, which prompts me to laugh.

"So I guess going out is not an opportunity on your agenda?"

"Well, it could, but then I wouldn't be able to go out to eat with you guys tomorrow. I would have to get this done so I don't leave anything here and I am still able to go around the country with you guys."

He ponders this for a while, "What if I help you?"

"Oh heck nah bruh, I can get this done quickly." I hurry back to the unfolded clothes and continue folding.

"Come on, that way we can go out and watch that movie you wanted to see." He says, coming over and picking up one of my shirts.

I snatch it away from him, "No dude for real, I can get this done real fast. After that I would just need to change then we can head out."

"Well it's already 6, the next showing is at 7 and traffic is going to be bad."

"Va estar bien, I can get this done." I fold the shirt in my hands and continue with the rest of the clothes.

He sighs and takes a seat on an open space on the other side of my bed. "Well, if the time for the movie passes we can do it another time right?"

I nod, "Or if we miss it, we could just watch a movie here." I motion to the TV.

His eyes light up, "But you wanted to see the one in the theaters."

"Well yeah, but it'll eventually be on a streaming service or on TV. It's okay."

He looked like he wanted to protest, but I cut him off.

"Calum for real, we can watch something here. I don't mind, all I wanted was to hang out with you. Watching a movie here will be just as good as watching the new one at the theater." I felt my cheeks grow hot and I looked down to try and hide that. It was the truth. I just wanted to hang out with him, to be around him and pretend that he had any interest in me and that we were on an official date. It would make me feel a little special if I pretended that for once, what I wanted to happen happened.

I hear him chuckle. "Okay, in that case," the bed shifts under his movements. I look up and see him walking to the door. He stops in front of it and looks over at me. "I'm going to get snacks and change into my jammies." He eyes my pajama pants. "Have any requests?"

"Anything sour or with chocolate," I say.

He smiles, "Gotcha. I'll be right back."

I nod and smile back at him. As he leaves my room, I start folding faster, wanting to finish and get everything set up and neat before he came back. I have never folded so fast in my life, finishing with my 3 months worth of clothes in 6 minutes. I quickly organized it in my suitcase, making sure that everything fit in the suitcases I had brought them in. A few seconds after I zipped up the last one, Calum returned with so many snacks he could barely hold them in his arms and a huge smile on his face.

"Is this enough sour and chocolate for ya?"

I laugh and shake my head, "Ay no, you're crazy." I go over to him and take some of the snacks that he was barely hanging onto. After I close the door, we walk back to the bed and put the snacks on there. Calum and I find our spots, sitting next to each other and organizing the snacks in between us. I reached for the remote on my side and turned on the TV.

"Okay, so we have the option of basically every streaming service. Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max, Netflix, I have a couple of movies on YouTube, Prime Video, you name it. What do you want to watch?" I ask.

"Well, you wanted to watch that movie at the theater, so you choose this one too."

I suck my teeth at him, "Calum, it took me forever to choose what I wanted to do, you can't throw this at me and expect me to have an answer right awa-" I pause, suddenly realizing what movie I could make him watch. "Nevermind I know what to watch." I press the YouTube button on the remote.

Calum laughs, "Atta girl. Look at you making a decision all fast and sh-stuff." he quickly fixes as I look at him. "Sorry force of habit."

I grin, "Dude, I know that I said I don't like cuss words, but if that's you that's fine. As long as you don't try to get me to say them it's cool." I turn back to the screen which had YouTube loaded up. I went over to my purchased movies and got it ready to play the movie.

"You've said that before, but it still feels wrong when I let one slip around you. It's like I'm cussing around a pastor or Jesus or something."

I roll my eyes playfully and shake my head, "Try as I might, I will never be Jesus Calum, so it's okay."

He grins, "You're the closest I've come to seeing Jesus here on Earth, so it feels even morally wrong to look at you for too long."

I scrunch my eyebrows together and look at him, "What?"

"Yeah, you're so innocent, and I wouldn't consider myself to be that innocent."

I roll my eyes in annoyance, "Dude, I'm not that innocent okay? Just because I love Jesus doesn't mean I won't punch a foo, okay?"

He laughs at this, "Trust me, after the argument you got in with Chris I believe that, but that doesn't stop the fact that I feel like I can't reach that same level of innocence that you have. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't be around you because of that. I feel like I might taint you."

"Really Calum? It's not that deep, I'm not THAT innocent you know? I have fallen from grace. Thank God He is who He is, otherwise I would be doomed and not be who I am, you know?"

He stares into my eyes for a bit, making me a bit tense, but in a good way. I felt like I was staring into a vortex, a portal that would take me to grand new places I had never known. I wanted to jump in, but I was afraid that it would reject me, spitting me back out and disappear out of my life.

I felt my cheeks start to grow hot and this made Calum grin.

"Why are you nervous? I thought you were the one that wasn't that innocent."

I roll my eyes and laugh, "I'm also self-conscious Calum, you know this."

He sighs, "You have no reason to be."

I look down to hide the heat in my cheeks, "Okay okay, let's play the movie." I press play and turn on the English subtitles so he could understand what was going on.

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Under the Same Moon is a Spanish language movie about a family that is spread across the US-Mexico border. A mother left Mexico to come to California to work and make better money than she was for her son, who stayed behind with his grandmother. The son is longing to be with his mother and desperately wants to go be with her in California. It is one of my favorites, which is only one of the many reasons why I chose to watch this one with Calum. He had asked to know more about me through the things that I like, and this was the best movie to show that.

I had been watching this movie since I was 10, so I knew when there should be a reaction out of the audience. I looked over at Calum a lot throughout the movie, wanting to see his reactions to my favorite scenes. Like the opening scene where you realize that the mom and the son are separated, like when the boy makes it across the border and is saved my a middle aged lady, and when he ends up making his way to California with his mom. But there was no better reaction in the whole movie than the ending. The mother and son were only a crosswalk away, looking at each other with tears in their eyes after having been apart for 5 years. They both desperately pressed the buttons to let them cross the streets, not being able to contain their excitement and relief to finally see each other. This is the most anticipated part of the movie, where they would finally be able to embrace each other and be together in the same place as a family. Finally, the orange hand on the light board turned to the white person, indicating they could cross, and then, the screen goes black and the credits roll.

Calum sucked his teeth at first. "What? What?! WHAT?!" He exclaimed, which made me smile. "Kim, where's the rest of it!"

"That's it Calum, that's the end."

"No, Kim that's not the end. That can't be end. There's probably a sequel right?"

I shake my head, not being able to stop smiling. "No, it's a standalone movie."

His mouth dropped open and he leans forward, off the headboard, "What kind of psycho leaves the movie like that? How is that even fair? Did they really get to finally be together? What about the guy who got caught by the cops? What about the father? What about the little friend in Mexico?"

I shrug my shoulders, "That's really up to your imagination I guess. I used to hate the ending too, wondering all the same things. But after watching it for over 10 years, I just came to terms with it."

He leans back into the headboard, clearly not being able to come to terms with this ending. "That's pretty sick, I'm not even going to lie."

I grin and pat his hand, "It's okay, everyone who watches this movie always has the same reaction to the ending."

He nods, "Yeah, the directors and screenwriters and all them knew exactly what they were doing."

I grin at him as he looks at me. I saw a decision being made in his eyes. When he gazed into my eyes this time, I saw that he was trying to find courage, for what I'm not sure. He looked like he wanted to say something, he parted his lips then closed them a couple of times like he was wondering if he should speak at all.

I waited for him to say something, not wanting to break whatever course of action he wanted to take. Even if he didn't do anything and we went back to watching another movie, I could pretend that he wanted to kiss me in this moment and was wrestling with the pros and cons of that happening. When I couldn't take it anymore, I whispered, "Calum?"

He took a deep breath, "And I really hope I know exactly what I'm doing too."

I knit my eyebrows together in confusion and open my mouth to say something, but before I could, he takes my face in his hands and plants his lips onto mine. He was very gentle at first, like if he was trying not to break me. He carefully moved his lips on mine, making sure not to move to fast, which made my heart flutter and my skin tingly. I angled my body to face his and tried to reciprocate the same energy back, wanting to savor this moment. I closed my eyes and followed his lead. I put my hand on his elbow, making slow strokes on his arm with my thumb. He smiled into our kiss, pulling back a bit, touching his forehead to mine.

I became aware of how loud my heartbeat was at this moment. It pounded in my ears and I felt like it was going to leap out of my chest. I wondered if it was loud enough for Calum to hear at this close proximity. There were so many thoughts running through my head, but I focused on my heartbeat, on our foreheads still touching, on Calum's hands still on my cheeks, not wanting to be anywhere but this moment with him right now.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head up, pressing my lips to his one more time. Calum went along with it, staying careful in his movements. There was a part of me that wanted him to throw caution to the wind and not be so careful, but a bigger part of me was grateful that he wasn't trying to rush anything. He knew how much this meant to me, it being my first kiss and all. He was more experienced in a lot of things that I had none in, and that was why he was being so careful and slow. My body was full of electricity at this point, I only hoped that it was the same feeling for Calum.

A knock on the door was what made us come back to reality.

"Yeah?" Calum called out as he looked to the door, still not releasing my face.

"There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you. Guys he's over here!" I hear Sienna call out to the rest of the group. "Calum we've been looking everywhere for you! Is Kim in there too?"

I clear my throat and call out "Yeah."

"Girl, I texted you like 10 times! Why haven't you-ugh I'm yelling at the door. Open up yeah?"

"Ahi voy!" I make a move to get up but Calum holds me back.

"Wait!" He whispers and presses his lips onto mine one more time. "Sorry I just had to."

I grin sheepishly and get off the bed, walking over to the door to let Sierra in. I open the door and see not only Sierra but everyone else around her as well. "Yo, what? Is everything okay guys?"

"Yeah we were just wondering where Calum was. Neither of you were answering, we should have known that you guys would be together." Allan says.

I see realization hit Sierra's eyes as she glances at me quickly. "Yeah, we should have known. What did you guys even need Calum for again?"

I hear footsteps approach behind me. "What's happening?"

"Nothing, we just didn't see you in your room and we were wondering what fun you were getting up to." Miles says.

"I told you Kim and I were going to watch a movie." Calum says.

"Yeah but we asked Chris if you had left already and he said you hadn't gone out the front doors yet. Then we texted Kim but she never answered." Allan says.

I look back into the room at the spot where I left my phone. It was on the table next to the TV, where I would not have been able to hear it vibrate. "Ooh, sorry guys," I look back at them. "We were watching a movie in here because I had some preparing to do before we left tomorrow. If I didn't get this done now, I wouldn't have been able to go hang out with you guys before the show tomorrow. I left my phone away from me and I couldn't hear it."

"Ah okay. It's okay, we know where y'all are now. We were just a little worried, the guys for Calum." Kay says.

I chuckle, "Just the guys?"

"Yeah, us for you Kimmy." Sienna says, which makes me smile and the guys scoff.

"Okay, so if that's it, we should get back to discussing the movie." Calum says, looking down at me.

I nod, trying not to grin.

We say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. Once I close the door, I was immediately nervous. I knew Calum would still be careful with me and not rush anything, but now what were we supposed to do? He had said that about the movie as an excuse to get rid of the crowd, and now I was overthinking about what was going to happen now. I didn't want to make it awkward and ask "what now" but I also didn't want to be wondering.

"Well, that's one way to end a first kiss." Calum says, a smile on his face.

I can't help but grin through the heat rising to my face.

Calum grins back and steps closer to me, taking my hand in his. "So, based on your reaction, I made a good choice? I didn't ruin anything by acting on my feelings?"

I felt too nervous to look up at him, so I just looked at our hands and shook my head. He ran his thumb on my knuckles, going back and forth on them a couple of times. He brings his other hand and tilts my chin up, forcing me to look at him.

"Please tell me what you're thinking."

If I was being honest, I had too much going on in my brain. I was trying to process the fact that we kissed, not once, but 3 times just now. I was also trying to process what this all meant now. This showed me that he liked me, that he was attracted to me, and that our relationship would never be the same anymore. We were just friends before the moment we had on my hotel bed. What were we now? What did this mean for our relationship? I know he was going to move slow for my sake, and I was grateful for that, but did he want to be with me now? Is this when he was going to ask me out, ask me to be his girlfriend? Then if he did, how was that going to go down? Would he even want to be seen in public with a plus-size girl? Is he okay with a relationship even after he just got out of another one earlier this year? Calum and his ex dated for a while, was he really ready to truly move on? I knew I was getting ahead of myself, we barely even just kissed and I was worried about a whole relationship that didn't exist yet. I needed to take this slow, roll with it and wait until the appropriate time to wonder about these things came. I didn't want to scare him.

"I'm thinking that there's no one else I would have rather had my first kiss with."

He grins and cups my cheek with the hand on my chin. His thumb caresses my cheek a couple of times before he plants another kiss on my lips. This one didn't last as long as our first. When he pulled away, he kissed my forehead and pulled my body into his, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. I wrapped mine around his torso burying my face in his chest to breathe in his scent. This was another moment that I wanted to live in, to savor, so I blocked off everything else and focused on Calum's being right in front of me. I focused on his breathing, on the tingly feeling in my being as Calum held me tight against him. Everything about this moment could not have been more enchanting and exhilarating. My heart was beating so fast and so loud that I thought that everyone else in the hotel could hear it. I never wanted it to end.

Calum leans back a bit to look down at me. "Wanna continue this on the bed? Cuddling, I mean. Nothing else, unless you'd want to but I will respect your wishes if you don't want to."

I laugh and look up at him, shaking my head. "Just hold me yeah? I like what we're doing just now."

He nods with a smile on his face. "Gotcha, cuddling it is." He keeps one arm on me and we start walking to the bed we had shared our first kiss on. We threw off all the snacks and lay there in each other's arms, making the moment continue for as long as we could.