Vanilla & Smoke || A.I.

Dark.

Dark
/dahrk/
adjective
having very little or no light

~~~

"I don't like him," Calum was saying, a joint stuck in between his pointer and middle finger, forgotten half way to his mouth. "You should just skip tomorrow with me."

Thora rolled her eyes, leaning against the brick wall. They were behind the school, the bell having already run and most of the student having already fled campus. They were going to leave too, but Calum was insistent on smoking first. He was too much of an adrenaline junkie for his own good, he got off on the idea that he was doing something that'd get him in trouble at a time that people were still around in a place where he could get caught.

"He seemed serious about failing me," Thora grumbled, pressing her lower back against the wall more firmly. "You can't skip out every period. You need the credit to pass."

Instead of responding, Calum peered down at his best friend, examining her face critically. "You need this more than I do," he decided, offering her the rolled up joint, little trails of white gray smoke dancing off the tip.

Thora snorted, but took it anyways. "Whatever. We both know weed doesn't relax you."

"It does. I just shouldn't get high on it anymore."

That was an undestatement. The last time Calum had gotten high, he'd become a paranoid mess. Thora had been driving him home, and he yelled for her to stop because he thought he'd seen something in the trees. She'd stopped so suddenly they could've crashed. It was nothing, but for the entire night Calum was staring at the shadows the moonlight cast, waiting for one of them to come alive and attack him.

Thora brought the joint up to her lips and inhaled deeply around it, feeling the familiar sting in her throat. She took it out, admiring the slight black residue her lipstick had left on the stick before dropping it to the ground, crushing it under her boot.

"You're such a drama queen," Calum teased unsmiling. "Come on, just let it out."

He was right of course, but Thora just turned to him with a little smile and took her time, enjoying the burn a bit more than she should've before parting her lips and letting the smoke fall out, white tendrils contrasting against black lips.

"What are you two doing?" A voice called out from further along the wall, clearly angry.

***********************************

After being chased a little ways by an angry teacher, Calum and Thora continued their conversation in Calums ratty old car as it thundered down the road.

"What did the invention of the wheel cause? A revolution."

Calum scratched behind his ear boredly as he continued pushing the speed limit, the shaky car shuddering as it sped along the road. "That's pretty lame."

"It is," she agreed, used to his driving. He'd retaken the drivers test three times, only passing the third time, and then only barely. When Thora had first driven with him, she thought she would die. Now it was nearly a boring expirence. Despite ignoring speed limits and driving a car that didn't seem very road safe, Calum had never been pulled over and had never gotten a ticket.

Thora doubted even if he was pulled over that he'd get a ticket. Calum would probably just give a little smirk to the officer, one where he tucked the side of his bottom lip under his teeth and gave a little smirk. If that didn't work, perhalps Calum would pull off his shirt, show off his body. But it likely wouldn't come to that. You could be gay, straight, married, even asexual like Thora, but you'd have to be blind to not think that Calum was the most attractive person in the room at all times.

Maybe that's why Mr.Irwin didn't like him. Because he didn't get to appreciate the art that was Calum Hood.