Mixtapes & Polaroids | Sam x Deena

50

Deena spends the night feeling just a little bit better after reconciling with Sam, even when Josh still won't look at her— or stay in the same room as her. Deena sleeps for the first time in two days, she sleeps with a heavy heart but with a little less loneliness because of Sam. Because she knew that even if tomorrow came to break her heart, she'd have Sam.

And Deena doesn't have much to hold onto, she feels like everything around her is crumbling into dust but in the rubble and the chaos the only thing keeping her from entirely losing her heart was Sam. And Deena wishes she could say it, that she was great at words, that she could show Sam all she has done so Deena settles on the next best thing. She makes Sam another mix, and she keeps their polaroid picture in her wallet.

Josh was still refusing to talk to her, even as she spent nearly an hour sitting by the basement door trying to apologize. With a defeated huff and acceptance of her own failures, Deena realizes all she can really do is wait. The telephone rings just as Deena is about to get ready for Sarah's show, and without any mind she goes to pick it up assuming it was either Simon or Kate, ready to pester her about their plans.

"Hello?" Deena hums, her towel slung over her shoulder as she leans against the wall.

"Deena? I... Can you meet me tonight?" Paul's voice bleeds through from the other end, soft, almost shaky as Deena is taken back.

"What? For what?" Deena asks, a strange feeling rumbling in her gut as a brief moment of silence falls between them.

"It's... I just need to do one last thing. One last drop. Can you come?" There's a desperation to his voice Deena has never heard before. It was somber and dark, like standing out in the cold, cold rain and waiting for shelter that'll never be found.

"Sarah has a show tonight." Deena replies reluctantly, she can hear him breathing on the other end as her grip on the phone tightens.

"After, I can wait. It's uh... at the warehouse. Remember how to get there?" Paul asks timidly, like a conversation to be held after a beating Paul sounded almost exhausted and just as much as Deena would have wanted to have a stress free night she knew saying no wasn't an option.

And Deena realizes maybe some things never change.

"Why are you being weird, Paul?" Deena finally asks, sighing as she slumps back against the wall in defeat. She was a little bit disappointed, and maybe foolish for thinking they were past ominously vague calls and sketchy drops.

"I'm just... ashamed to have to ask. That's all. I just really needed your help." Paul says almost like a child, and Deena can't help but feel strange at his demeanor. Something was clearly wrong, but Deena knows it wasn't her place to ask.

So she gives in, instead.

"You need me to swing by you?" Deena sighs, fingers tapping anxiously against the telephone as she waited for Paul to respond.

"No, I got the car now. Just meet me there an hour past midnight, please don't be late." He says, his nerves dripping from every word as Deena's brows furrow.

"Okay. Yeah." She reluctantly replies.

"One in the morning, okay? Not a minute past." He says almost frantically, like he was throwing the words out, not wanting to keep them in for much longer as Deena sinks further into confusion.

"Yes! I know, i'll be there." Deena replies sharply, and Paul stumbles into silence.

"Alright. Uh... bye then." And just like that the line goes dead and Deena is left with a sinking feeling in her gut.

So while Deena wills herself to forget such a strange phone call and continue getting ready, Kate has spent the past fifteen minutes by the door down to Sarah's room. She keeps reaching for the knob and chickening out, walking away and walking back. If anyone had seen her, they'd think she's deranged for pacing like a headless chicken grumbling to herself about how dumb she feels.