ʟᴀᴄᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜɪᴍ- ᴄ.ʜ

Vol 10: The Boxes

It's been a week.

A slow one.

The summer after graduation was supposed to be fun. But it was a drag; Lacey thought.

Although Lace and Calum hadn't spoken much since the party Lacey couldn't help but keep thinking and replaying in her mind the kind gestures Calum did for her. Driving her home. Telling off Luke for being a dumbass brother. Giving her his jacket. Shit. She forgot about that. It's still hung up neatly in her wardrobe.

Every single time she thought about it she wondered; did Calum only do that because she was his best friends little sister? Was it a chore for him? Charity work? Why did she care so much? It's not like she has a crush on him. That'd be unnecessary. So unnecessary. Pretty sure he's been with girls left and right during tour anyway; she rolled her eyes at that thought.

The girl pondered around her thoughts as she wiped the surface of the counter that belonged to the candy bar; bits and crumbs of popcorn and m & ms filling the air with a mixture of scents.

She caught a glimpse of herself within the reflection of one of the cinema doors directly adjacent to her. She looked exhausted in her straight black pants and uniform of a white puffed sleeve top under a dark red vest.

Her long hair was in a pony tail in a frizzy mess; with the small baby hair on the sides of her head having a mind of their own.

It was funny how her brother was out seeing the world at 18 but she is barely making it past a six hour shift at a crappy old cinema in her town. Yeah sure, Luke helps financially of course, but obviously Lacey needed to make a living for herself, it's just Luke got it so much quicker.

What a curse.

The afternoon sunlight lit up the quiet cinema lobby as she tried to figure out what she wanted to eat for dinner. Her parents were still out of town for a holiday for Christmas and her brother was not home; of course. She had no problem fending for herself; but it got lonely sometimes.

She managed to force herself to finis up tidying before her shift ended so her manager didn't scowl her the day after for leaving all the empty popcorn bags the way they were.

"These fucking kids- I swear to god." A voice echoed a couple meters behind her and Lacey turned around to see who the voice belonged to.

The voice belonged to tall boy. He was also very lanky as his long arms were holding a variety of different sizes of popcorn bags. His strawberry blonde hair messed around his forehead and the sides of his ears. He had pale rosy cheeks and perfect teeth. He wore the same uniform as Lacey; but instead of a white blouse he wore s crinkled white long sleeve which was loosely over his trousers. His trampled vans sneakers were almost past their time as he stomped to where Lacey was.

"Hey Eli." Lacey chuckled as she found it really amusing on how little teenagers got on Eli's nerves so easily.

"Have you already finished your shift?" The boy dropped the empty bags of popcorn into the big bin as he grunted while doing so.

"Uh- yeah, or else I'd already kill myself." Lacey shook her head; which was filled with sarcasm.

Eli's nose ring moved a smidge as he leaned his upper torso onto the counter, arms crossed, perched next to where Lacey was standing.

"Right." Eli scoffed in agreement.

A little bit of silence escaped, but was interrupted as Eli suddenly cleared his throat.

"By the way.." He shifted his stance.

"I'm sorry about- you know, what happened." He lowered his eyes.