Cliché (c.h)

12.

Recap: "This is exactly what I mean. If you really love someone, you know right off the bat. You wouldn't cheat on them either." Kalie continued, reaching for Calum's hand and her heart skipped a beat when he didn't withdraw from her touch.

Of course Calum knew what she said rang true in many situations but did it apply now? He had so many questions and no one to answer them but himself.
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Cori looked expectantly at Harry as he focused his green eyes on her mouth which was fixed into an almost perfect 'O' shape.

"You're definitely going to have to open wider. How small do you think it is?" Harry questioned while do brushing his hair off his forehead.

"Well I'm not trying to choke so you're just going to have to make this work Harold." Cori adjusted her position on her knees, rapidly becoming impatient.

As the girl went to complain some more, Harry tossed the cake pop directly at her eye, bouncing off of her glasses and leaving an impossibly sticky chocolate residue on her lenses.

"Give me the bowl, fool. You obviously do not have the hand-eye coordination for this." Snatching the bowl of chocolate donut holes from him, Cori popped one into her mouth before removing her glasses.

"Well the score is currently 7-0 so I think I'm doing just fine." Harry wiggled the score sheet at her for emphasis.

"Okay you purposely miss my mouth each time you throw one! That's called cheating and I hate cheaters."

Harry rolled his eyes at his friend, preparing to skillfully catch his next doughnut hole. Business was rather slow today so what else could they do besides have a pastry related olympics. The troublesome pair continued on like this until closing time which came faster than expected.

After locking up, they said goodbye to one another before going their own ways. Beginning the rather short walk to her apartment, Cori took her phone out and began to play Crack Rock by Frank Ocean. Taking this time to reflect on her day, she realized something was a little off. She hadn't spoken to her boyfriend in nearly eight hours.

Not a call, facetime, or text was sent between the two of them which was highly unusual. Deciding to shoot him a quick text saying that he should come over tonight, Cori felt a little more balanced now. Calum quickly responded with a simple 'of course' and she was excited to see him after such a boring day. But at that very moment, she only desired the calming night sky and Frank Ocean.

Approaching the building, her residential senior citizen Mr. Paterson was sitting in the lobby as he often is. Cori always had a soft spot for him as he was practically like a grandfather to her so nearly every day after work she would bring the widower some of the leftover sweets and sandwiches.

His wife had passed away the year before and the old man fought hard not to show how much it genuinely destroyed him. When Cori had the time and he wanted the company (which was always) the two would spend time talking in his apartment and looking over old photos of the family that he once had. It was awful how his estranged son and daughters never came to see him especially at a time where he needed them the most.

Engulfing the frail old man into a hug she watched his face warm up instantly. In the past year his dark brown face had produced tons of wrinkles, his eyes no longer glowed, and he rapidly lost weight. Mr. Paterson needed somebody and Cori wanted to be there for him.

"Where is that white boy you're always running around with? You have to be careful in these streets at night, child." Mr. Paterson opened the box of doughnuts and helped himself to a glazed long john, his favorite.

"We've had this talk before. He isn't white and I'll be fine on my own Mr. P. Especially after you went out of your way to buy me that pepper spray and taser. I appreciate the concern though." Cori laughed and jingled her keys which had the pepper spray dangling from it.

"You can never be too safe. The world is a sick, sick, sick place Corinne. It'll take everything you have and then demand more. Anyways, we both oughta be going home now." Reaching for his cane, Mr. Paterson hoisted himself up and the unlikely pair made their way to the elevator.

After letting the elderly man off on the second floor, the elevator continued its ascent to the third level. Humming the chorus to Pink Matter Cori began to walk to her door but was confused when she could see the door was covered with pictures.

Speeding up she was met with pictures of Calum and Bailey? At least fifteen pictures of her boyfriend and the strange purple haired girl from the bakery decorated her apartment door. Cori's mind was utterly confused and legitimately felt sick. There were pictures of the two from what appeared to be years ago to a photo that was timestamped as today.

The picture was taken from across the room and they appeared to be in a restaurant as Bailey held hands with Calum from across the table. Cori did not want to overreact and make assumptions but this was all spelled out for her. After quickly snapping a photo of the door, Cori tore the pictures down abruptly and unlocked the entrance to her home.

Slamming the door behind her, she tossed the crumpled ball of pictures into her trash can and sat on the floor beside it. The burning sensation in her eyes started up and tears began to ease down her face. Along with being Cori's first everything, it appears Calum would be her first severe heartbreak as well.

When she first stormed in, she overlooked the thin manila folder that had been slid under the door. Resting eyes on it now she crawled over to it and tore the package open. Inside were even more pictures, but these stung more than the ones that had been attached to her door.

The photo on top of the pile was an upward angle of Calum with his head thrown back seeming to be in a pure state of ecstasy. It was clear as day that that was less than a week ago when the group had gone out and she just couldn't bring herself to look at the rest of the pictures. Feeling absolutely drained, Corinne silently cried as her heart tore in two.

It had been five minutes into her endless sobbing when her phone vibrated in her jacket pocket.
Cal: Hey I'm on my way up. See you in like ten seconds 💖
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Hope yall enjoyed this hot mess of a chapter. I promise I'll try to update more often.
Dont forget to vote & comment. 💘
-C