damn all these beautiful girls - c. h. (SERIES)
(i don’t own this picture)
summary: Cal’s invited to a pre-gaming session at a friend’s house and meets Jo, an amusing girl who keeps him company throughout the night’s mischief. (college!calum, drinking, clubbing and, mostly, lots of laughter)
enjoy 💭 part one part two part three
The group of friends chatted amongst themselves as Jo finished the task of handing out UNO cards to each person, a responsibility that fell on her hands given that no one else had volunteered. She didn’t mind, though, as she was always the one who did it back at home, with her family, when they played card games right after lunch, during summer, as a sort of a tradition. She enjoyed the silly game a lot, as it was something she had always shared with her family, and now she could share with her new family, only in a slightly different way. She usually didn’t end the game completely plastered, back home.
Jo caught the group’s attention when she spoke up. “Alright, I’m done.” She set the remaining deck on the center of the table, so everyone would be able to reach it, and settled back on her chair, crossing her legs and picking up her cards to immediately rearrange them in the way she saw fit. She could sense Calum’s curiosity lingering on on her as he reached over to the table and picked up his own cards, and Jo tried to not glance over to the sight of his toned, tattooed arm, half covered by the red shirt, when he did so. Instead, she spoke without adverting gaze from her hands, smirking though her words. “Can I help you with anything, Calum?”
The man silently chuckled in reply and shrugged his shoulders in his laid-back position, with legs widespread, tearing his eyes away from the girl and directing them to his deck, wondering out loud, his voice with a hint of humor. “I was just admiring you, professionally organizing your cards.”
This time, Jo drew her eyes to him, to which he reflected her on the action, and contemplated his smug smile and charming eyes locked on hers. Feeling her cheeks warming, she set her eyes back on the cards and concluded her rearranging.
“Well, I’d advise you to do the same thing…” Jo rested her back on the seat as she spoke, much like Calum was doing, and hid her cards by leaning them to her chest, turning her head deliberately to him and ending her sentence. “But I actually hope you suck at this game.”
Calum, head turned, as well, just sneered at her. “I’ll have y’know that I’m a fuckin’ ace at UNO.”
“No, you’re not! He’s fuckin’ terrible, Jo.” Ashton, overhearing Calum’s last statement, called him out, disbelief laced in his laugh, from the opposite side of the table, to which Jo smiled at, watching as Calum told his friend to “shut the fuck up”, something Ashton pretended to not listen as he called for everyone’s attention, stating that he would be starting as he reached for the deck, placing one single card on the center of the table.
Three people had already placed their own cards when it was Maya’s turn. Before putting down hers, however, she enquired to no one in specific. “So how does this work? When do we have to drink?” Her eyes circled the table as she spoke.
Grace, a very nice, pretty-looking friend of Tom’s, who sat beside Maya, answered her, chuckling. “We’ll tell you when you have to. Just play.”
Maya mumbled a gentle “alright”, moving a strand of her dark hair behind her ear and carefully choosing a card, placing it on the growing pile, to which Jo remarked, with a grin on her lips, from three chairs away from the girl. “Now we’re playing! Aiden, drink up.” Aiden sighed and raised the drink to his mouth, taking two large gulps of it as Jo promptly explained to Maya, leaning over the table so they could make eye contact, that they had to take two sips when the person before them played a +2 card.
“What about a +4? You drink four times?” Maya speculated as her boyfriend placed down his card. Jo intriguingly glanced over to Calum, who was listening attentively, hands gripping the cards in front of him, as Grace told Maya that the +4 card implied having two shots.
Now, it was Calum’s turn, as he was sitting besides Aiden. He made a show of his actions as he slowly straightened his position, cleared his throat and dramatically searched his cards, picking one up with his right hand and flashing Jo a mocking smile while the card fell on top of the others. Jo squinted at the man, who had a challenging appearance, and tried to suppress her own smile while people cheered and laughed at her.
“So, I guess it’s two shots for the lady?” Calum spoke with an ironic tone while he stretched over the table to grab two small, plastic cups and Jo just muttered a low “okay” as she rolled her eyes, given that her options didn’t really expand much further, and Calum was already standing up and requesting Willow to hand him over the bottle of red vodka. Jo couldn’t help but beam to herself over his choice, and her eyes glinted with excitement while she flipped her hair so it wouldn’t get in the way, corrected her posture, and grabbed the edges of the table, patiently waiting and watching Calum expertly fill the small glasses, somehow making himself even more attractive in her eyes. Once he was done, Calum settled down the bottle and looked down at Jo, who shot him one last glance, shook her shoulders, hyping herself up, and picked one of the glasses up, downing the red liquid quickly and not giving herself a break before bringing the other one to her lips, finishing it off with the same fast pace. Calum felt his chest rumbling with laughter, hearing Jo’s friend, Arnell, shouting “’atta girl!” and Ashton whistling at the girl who currently had her face slightly scrunched, most likely from the trace of bitterness.
Jo looked up to the starry sky, suddenly being very aware of the warm night she found herself in, and raised her hands to her cheeks, feeling them very hot, as well. Calum was sitting back down when he pointed out, mockingly, that it was her turn to play.
“Yes, I’m very aware of that.” Jo side glanced at him, picking up her cards and beginning to feel the alcohol making its effect on her system as she felt her inhibitions lowering, and her body temperature rising. She was about to ask Calum what color she was supposed to play, given that he had used the +4 card, when he beat her to it.
“Color’s red, by the way.” She had a knowing smirk curling on her lips as she mumbled “of course”. Adverting her focus back to the cards, ready to use the red number 5, she halted for a brief moment, choosing another, instead.
“Will you just fuckin’ play, already?” Jo shot her head towards an impatient Tom and told him “not to fuckin’ rush her”, finally picking up her selected card and practically hitting the table as she put it down. Her eyes met the handsome man to her right, and he sighed, faking frustration.
“So, what is it? A shot?” Calum wondered staring at the red reverse card in before him, ignoring the giggling Jo to his left.
Aiden was the one who replied. “Just three gulps, bro. And make them count!” Calum nodded along and drank from his cup after placing his card on the table, getting the game going, and peeping at Jo, who currently had her legs crossed in an endearing, childlike way alongside a certain smugness written on her features as she kept her bright eyes trained on his. Calum only then, as a pleasant surprise, noticed the sweet flavor on his tongue, as he had forgotten it was the girl next to him who had mixed his drink. That just made him paint a lovelier picture of Jo, in his mind.
As they took turns in the game, the group of friends gathered around the, now, quite messy table, started to get rowdy, as the alcohol kicked in and the game took a very competitive turn, with everyone declaring betrayal with the slightest of moves that implied they would have to drink. It had circled around them quite a few times when it was Ashton’s turn to have seven shots in a row, for which he highly manifested his displeasure. Even though the man loudly claimed, over everyone’s laughter, and gestured comically with his hands, that he was“no little bitch” and “could easily drink ten fuckin’ shots, if he had to”, Ashton also confessed he would need a minute to take a breath.
Calum, who had also been a victim of the game’s vicious ways, mostly by the hands of Jo, was nearly falling down his chair, gripping his stomach as he laughed at Ashton’s little display, judging the full shot glasses in front of him and acting as though they would be his life’s culmination.
Jo, too, was chuckling just like everybody else at her Australian friend who, at last, conjured up the guts to down the first glass. Tom, Liam and Willow cheered Ashton, in a sort of crescendo, as he went through his shots, never taking breaks until it came to the seventh one. That’s when Ashton had to lay down his head on the table and cover it with his arms. Jo was quick to point out how that position could possibly make him want to throw up, and Tom patted his friend’s back encouragingly. Ashton raised his head, his woozy eyes looking around the group and finally landing on the last full glass before him. He slurred “fuckin’ hell” before downing it, making everyone essentially howl in celebration.
Jo turned to her right, after all the commotion, and was met with the sight of Calum whipping away literal tears of amusement, speaking in between hearty chuckles once he noticed Jo’s eyes on him. “Fuck… I’m a little drunk.” Calum already had two or three drinks down, as did Jo, and while he was clearly affected by it, the girl was, too, in a greater way, which made sense, taking in account their sizes and the fact that she was, quite frankly, a lightweight when it came to drinking.
Jo leaned her head on the chair, lazy eyes on Calum, and her head was spinning as she thought to herself how much she liked the tattoos on his chest, peeking through the shirt, and the chain dangling from his neck. “Yeah, you are.”
Calum snorted and admired the beautiful girl, laid back on her chair and with such an easy smile enriching her lips. Her hair, once in soft, tamed waves, was now a bit frizzy and had a piece falling over her eyes, which seemed as though she didn’t really notice. Calum didn’t think twice, with drunken, clouded mind, and extended his hand over towards her face, reaching for the fallen strand and gently moving it to the back of her ear. Jo didn’t dare to move as he did so, her breath stilled, and eyes lost.
“You’re one to talk.” Calum murmured, his tone low and enticing, and a slight smirk on his full, appealing lips, which Jo couldn’t seem to keep her eyes from.
“That’s doesn’t even make sense!” Both of them were torn away from the moment by Maya’s high-pitched declaration. Jo straightened herself in her seat, and Calum did, too, softly clearing his throat. The two felt a flutter climbing up their bodies and were trying to mask their embarrassment by paying close attention to Maya’s complaining over the loud music.
“Babe, the whole game doesn’t make any fucking sense… Just drink.” Aiden had his arm around his girlfriend and was making an effort to not mock the tipsy girl as he smiled at her, peaking at the cup on her hands. “It’s only halfway full, anyway.” Maya, apparently, had played her last card, it being a +4 one, and wasn’t aware that once it happened, she had to finish whatever was left from her drink and grab more cards, so the game never truly ended. The girl rolled her eyes before complying. “At least, you’ll have to drink too.”
Aiden mischievously eyed Maya, placing down his +4 card. “Not me.” He glanced, amusingly, at Calum, as he was the one who would have to bear the consequences of the two 4+ cards. However, Calum just shook his head and stifled his laughter as he slowly let his card join the others, mouthing “I’m sorry” at Jo.
Jo shot daggers through her eyes at the grinning man and covered her eyes with a hand, placing her elbows on the table and trying to process how the hell she would be able to pull off having six shots, while the table roared with laughter at her misery. She felt someone rubbing her shoulder behind her and recognized the touch as Tom’s. “C’mon, I’ll give you emotional support.”
Jo shook her head, pleading with her voice unclear. “I- I can’t do that shit. I’ll fuckin’ puke, I swear!” Shots were Jo’s weakness, as she had learnt throughout her drinking experience. If she had more than about three in a row, specially after having a few drinks, from previously, on her system, they would most likely make their way up instantly.
“I’ll do half, then.” Calum offered, trying to soften Jo’s dooming fate. She looked at him and smiled, overlooking Ashton’s complaints on how Calum “didn’t fucking offer him that when he had to drink all those shots”. Calum, also ignoring Ashton, added that he wanted to do tequila.
“It’d be more fun with limes, though… I don’t think we have any.” Jo grumpily answered.
Tom commented over to Jo as he made his way over to his seat, slightly stumbling once he got there. “We do have them; we just didn’t cut them.”
Jo excitedly grinned at Calum, who raised his dark eyebrows appreciatingly. She got up on wobbly feet and made her way to the inside of the house, grabbing the tequila as she passed by it, and looking back at Calum who was still sitting down watching her, amused, as were the ones who were paying attention to their interaction. “You coming, tiger?”
Calum snorted at the ridiculous pet name and stood up, following a drunk, giggly Jo into the house.
alrighttt, thank you so much for reading!! im sorry for any typos or lack of logic :p
I’ve had a lot of fun writing this, but im currently a lil busy with school… the next parts will be up soon, though!!
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