The Mess I Made | Malum

♡ cups of love ♡

The easel wasn't big enough, but Calum found space for it. His arms flattened between the seats on the booth and the immaculate table that exposed vacancy or purity, and Mae was running her hands all over it. He had a tune inside of his head that wouldn't stop playing, and he wanted to throw his body outside of the one-story window that mounted next to him. But he couldn't; simply because had unfinished work to attend to. His hands shimmered under the ceiling lights as he drilled through his meager backpack in search for his sketch pad, and the elevator inside of his mind wouldn't stop spiraling downwards. Calum's lips had nagged against his skin as he pulled the obsidian pen out of the front pocket, and he licked them in hopes that the burn would subsidize.

"Working on a new project?"

"No inspiration," Calum answered in an overly-enthusiastic tone. "Nothing thought-provoking here."

Mae absorbed her surroundings, nodding along as she traced the technicalities of every single heartbeat in the room. Her big henna eyes looked high and low for something wonderful, but she found herself getting drawn back to Calum. He was the most interesting thing about this place, but Calum couldn't defy that and try to turn it around by saying the same thing. Because it isn't true. He fell between the cracks and doesn't want to be redeemed. Vanishing into the hollow part of his mind creates a bigger hole in his life but he doesn't care. Trying to pour a cup of love has never been on his checklist before. It still isn't.

"Maybe you could draw me?"

Calum would shake his head. He's done it before, but Mae isn't intriguing enough. She's his girlfriend, and possibly the most breathtaking person known to walk on the gravel of this world, but she's not for him. He's looking for something that could lift him off of his feet and bring him somewhere nice, or someone who'd be willing to do that. He could feel that volcano in his lungs trying its absolute hardest to erupt as Mae stared at him with the edges of her lips curving up and her nose contracting with every small breath she took. He needed to remember to breathe.

"You have a stain on your shirt."

"Oh." Mae chortled, bringing the napkin up to her chest and rubbing the material against her pajama top. It didn't do much, hardly anything at all, but she didn't expect it to. She glanced back up at her boyfriend and bit down on her bottom lip, the top clinging to her skin when it wasn't receiving enough attention. "All better now."

"Where is that damn waiter already?"

His eyes wandered towards the empty podium, and then the person who was bound to change his eternity forever walked in. The male had been scraping his feet against the floorboards, and pint-sized petals flew out of his hair. His tender, youthful eyes burned against his chest, and suddenly, Calum's hands weren't glimmering anymore. He found his new inspiration for the painting. As he grew closer, the brunette opened the floodgates and prepared himself for the storm that was about to occur. Mae had noticed, her heart speaking haltingly for her. She couldn't even inch out a word before the waiter had two feet glued on the mat in front of them. Mae was hanging on every word, and she didn't know what to do about it.

"I'm Michael, and I'll be your waiter for the day. Can I start you off with any drinks?"

Mae steadied her fingers against the paper while Calum hummed and tapped his chin. He already knew. He already knew that this explosion was about to kill Michael, and he wanted to prevent it before he made an even bigger mess of himself. It'd take centuries for it to be completely cleaned up.

Mae was up first. "Can I get a moderately warm tea with lemon?" And then it was his turn, but he struggled with forming the words that he was originally going to say. He felt idiotic just staring down at his hands and wondering why they had more lines on them than they did yesterday, but he decided to let it go. Drop it and forget about it. He could feel his stomach churning with every breath he tried to take, and then he looked up at his girlfriend. She was still full of life and it was almost as if there wasn't an ounce of negativity inside of her. It made him jealous.