art girl :: cth

one

"cal, wake up."

"go away."

"come on bro."

"go away, luke."

"you're going to be late for work."

he sat up immediately, grabbing his phone from his bedside table to check the time. luke's stood beside his bed, shaking his head.

8:49 am

"oh, fuck me. miss wendler is going to be pissed," calum stressed, ushering luke out of his room and haphazardly throwing together an outfit. my usual black jeans and a sweater look okay, i guess, he thinks. calum pins his name tag to his sweater, and dashed to the restroom to brush his teeth, smiling in the mirror to make sure he doesn't look like a hot mess.

"bye, luke," calum called, slinging his pack over his shoulder and grabbing the spare house keys.

"do you need me to drive you?" luke yelled from the kitchen.

"no, i can ride my bike," he replied, shutting the door behind him and running to the parking garage where his bicycle was held.

as he stepped outside, he immediately regretting passing up luke's offer of a ride. it was pouring rain, and he was in such a rush that he'd forgotten to bring an umbrella with him. calum mentally face palmed and got on his bike. he pulled his hood over his mess of curls and began pedaling away from his apartment. the droplets of rain pattered against his back as he biked towards the cafe, shivering every so often because of the cold breeze blowing against his face.

once he arrived, he quickly locked up his bicycle on the rack in the parking lot, and opened the back door to the cafe. miss wendler was dusting off some of the shelves in the front of the store, waiting for the rest of the employees to arrive.

"miss wendler?" calum's voice called, sounding oddly loud as it broke the quiet of the cafe.

she turned around and smiled once her eyes caught his. "i was wondering when you'd show up," she chuckled, setting the duster down. "the kettle needs to be set to boil and the counters wiped down before the customers come in."

"yes, miss," he replied, obeying his manager.

"and today won't be as busy because of the storm, so you can be a little more laid back than usual."

calum nodded and pushed the kitchen door open. the kettle was on the counter, filled with fresh water, ready to be boiled. he started the fire and set the kettle on it. while letting the kettle do its job, he picked up a rag and a bucket, filling the bucket up with warm, soapy water. calum then made his way to each of the tables and swiped them down generously. before he even got to the back of the room, the bell attached to the door jingled, causing him to look up from his work.

there luana was, in soaking wet clothes, hair frizzier because of the weather. she tried to smooth it down with her hands but it wasn't working. noticing calum stopped in his tracks, she waved and sent him a shy smile from across the room. he grinned back, and his dimples returned once more. she sat down in the back, where he hadn't cleaned yet. he frowned, but continued his job.

luana was an introvert. as a quiet girl, her old life back in rio meant nothing to her. all of her friends partied all night, but that was never really her scene. she'd rather be at home, nuzzled up in a blanket and watching netflix. she moved to san francisco as an attempt to start anew, her life in brazil not being the best one. she planned to sell her artwork here, and see all the things she couldn't back home.

today was a rainy day, weather she'd encountered one too many times in brazil. luana had planned to sleep in, but she'd been so rudely awakened by a cold splash of water dripping on her face. her apartment had a leak. the house she lived in was inexpensive, explaining the bad maintenance, but also she was on the top floor so she would be getting all the rain. she stormed out of the house in a hurry, determined to find somewhere cozy to sit down and think.

the dusty rose, she thought.

first, the heater was most likely on, something her apartment didn't have. second, the really cute waiter named calum was probably working there. he seemed like the type to wake up early.

she stepped outside and realized that she'd forgotten her umbrella, but still continued her journey anyways. the walk to the cafe was short, so she wouldn't get that wet, right? as almost as if it was on cue, a car drove past a puddle and splashed her with dirty water from the thigh down. luana shuddered and internally screamed, but she kept walking on. 

finally reaching the cafe, she peeked into the glass windows which decorated the faded paint of the outside. calum was inside, dancing to the music playing softly on the speakers as he cleaned the tables. luana smiled to herself and pushed the front door open, stepping inside. he greeted her, but quickly returned to his concentrated state. luana walked to the table she sat at yesterday and pulled out her sketchbook. she had a crazy dream and wanted to document it all on paper. her pencil found its way into her hand, and started creating smooth lines. a head, two eyes, a mouth and a nose formed under her fingers.

calum's large hand slamming down on the table interrupted her train of thought, the pencil dropping from her three fingers. he chuckled and mumbled an apology for scaring her, but she replied, saying it was alright. 

his fingers found their way to her sketchbook, flipping through the pages.

"w-wait, no," luana stuttered, attempting to close the book, but failing as calum's hands were much more powerful than hers. calum's giggle filled the air as he snatched her sketchbook from her hands, opening up to pages at random.

he stopped at one page in particular though, probably horrified by whatever was there; her drawings could get pretty personal. but to her surprise, his face broke out into a seemingly unstoppable grin, and he set the book back down on the table. inside lay a messy sketch of calum. this had been drawn a couple days ago, when she first met him. luana had been observing him as he washed the dishes. later, she imagined what he looked like while he was slouched over a computer screen, so that would explain the drawing of him playing video games.

"i love it!" he exclaimed, holding the sketchbook up like it was a trophy of some sort. luana blushed, as compliments weren't given to her that often. calum looked over at her like she was heaven on earth, and it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"thank you," she finally replied, fiddling with her fingers out of nervousness.

he laughed, "tell me a little bit about yourself, lulu."

luana blushed even harder. nobody had ever given her a nickname before. she chewed on her lip in nervousness because opening up to people she didn't know just wasn't her thing.

"well...what do you want to know?" she asked, playing with the strings of her hoodie.

"how'd you get into art? i mean you practically create masterpieces, so i assume it must've taken years of practice to perfect it."

"art is the only way to run away without leaving home. it took me away from my, erm, situations and helped me cope," she admitted, "...yeah, my childhood wasn't the best."

------

ALRIGHT HI GUYS THIS BOOK IS GETTING preTTY NOICE IF U ASK ME.

tbh the way they met was rlly random but go with it lmao pls

anyways, hey whats up how are you doing?

i'm ok thanks for asking

leave feedback here pls !!

anyways, i love you guys

~bella