all mine | ft. michael clifford

five;

note: for anyone confused, mali is pronounced (MAH-LEE) also, i've attached a pic of what i imagine mali's hair to be like (wavy and pink) x

STEP THREE CONTINUED: MAKE SOME FRIENDS.

The next few days passed by in a blur and I found myself falling completely in love with Los Angeles. I loved the vibe, loved the people, and loved this whole fresh start thing. I'd done a lot of thinking, a lot of self-searching and realised that I was more lost than I thought I was. Still, I had faith that pieces of me were going to fall together in this place like a professional jigsaw puzzler had put them there. I had time and I had the patience.

Until then, I found myself at Marcy's whenever I had spare time. Olivia and Melissa talked to me while they cut hair and we laughed like old friends regardless of the fact that I'd known them for less than a week. They would tell me about their families; Olivia's didn't speak to her anymore and Melissa's travelled the world constantly, stopping by every few months to check in. Her grandma had come in for a cut the other day – hence, the elderly lady I'd seen leave the shop. Both girls were each other's family and the 5SOS boys were part of it as well. Olivia had met Ashton by chance in downtown LA and apparently they'd fallen in love immediately; I had my doubts about the whole love at first sight thing but the story was nice. Upon meeting Ashton, she'd met the rest of them and then introduced everyone to Melissa. That was a year ago and their lovey-dovey relationship was still apparently going strong despite Ashton being away for months at a time between visiting his parents in Australia and touring.

I hadn't seen the boys since we'd gone to the pier that night. I found myself missing them even though I hardly knew them. I liked their energy and I liked the energy that Olivia and Melissa had when they were around.

I was sitting in a deserted Marcy's, swinging on one of the salon chairs and chatting to Olivia when Melissa came hurriedly in after heading out to the Post Office, shouting with excitement.

She had a fairly big box in her hands that she carried towards us.

"It came!" She squealed, plonking it down on the counter and tearing off the tape that sealed the cardboard.

"Your laptop?" Olivia asked, swiftly moving towards her so that she could see.

I followed suit and watched as Melissa lugged the brand new Apple MacBook out of its wrappings. She looked like a child on Christmas and I smiled at her happiness.

"Yes, oh my god," she sighed, sliding her fingers along the brand new silver finish. "It's fucking beautiful."

I nodded. "It is, wow."

"Two weeks I waited," she told me. "My old one was just too slow so I splurged on this and I already love it."

Liv and I watched as she powered it up, happy that she was happy. She talked us through what she was going to use it for; a bit of creative writing but mostly social media and future studying. It was a luxury item and I longed for the swanky technologies I'd left back at home.

"Hey, Mali, do you have a laptop here in LA?" Mel asked me, setting up the home screen while Olivia plugged in the power cord for her.

I shook my head. "Nah, took up too much room in my bag and it wasn't really a necessity."

"Did you want my old one? It's super slow but it works so that makes it better than nothing, right?" She offered, eyes still on her new screen.

The gesture was over the top, incredibly kind and something I couldn't accept. "No, lovely. I'm fine."

"She's being polite," Olivia cut in. "She wants it."

"Mel, I couldn't-"

"It's sitting out back, I'll grab it for you when you're leaving," she told me with finality in her voice. "Honestly, I've got no use for it anymore so you can either take it or I'll throw it out."