10:53 [calum hood]

10

➸ c a l u m

"Cal, you're such an idiot!" she giggled, hitting me with a pillow. I feigned hurt and tickled her sides playfully as she shrieked with laughter.

Riley doubled over and nearly fell off the bed, gasping for breath. "Calum," she choked out. "Project!"

I stopped tickling her instantly and turned my attention to the notebook in front of us. So far we had gotten a sentence done, and we've been working for at least an hour.

"But look how much we have! I bet we could just hand this in and get an A," I smirked, picking up the notebook and showing her.

She rolled her eyes and snatched the notebook from my hands. "If he evens bother reading it," she muttered, making me laugh.

"But seriously, the whole entire book was Daisy's fault! Why would she be with Tom if she's clearly happier with Gatsby?" Riley asked, throwing her hands in the air.

I shrugged, making my bottom lip form a pout. "Maybe she was scared of what would happen if she were with Gatsby. Maybe she was too afraid of losing herself when she should've given him a chance. He was much better than Tom and she never noticed it." I said the last part quietly, hoping that she would understand that I was no longer talking about the book.

Riley stayed quiet before making a sudden leap for the pen sitting on my nightstand. She scribbled something down in the notebook, leaning it away so that I couldn't see what she was writing. I adored the way her tongue stuck out of the corner of her lips and she pursed her lips when she concentrated on something.

She handed me the notebook after she finished writing and I looked at what she wrote.

The main plot of Gatsby revolves around Daisy and the decisions she made throughout the story. She claimed that Tom was her only love, when she really never stopped loving Gatsby. Why would she make such a blind and unthoughtful decision, you ask? Fear. Daisy was afraid that things wouldn't work out with Gatsby, and Tom seemed to be her only outlet. However, I believe that if you love someone so dearly and they care about you so much that they take blame for your actions, they're worth it. Daisy should have held on to Gatsby because the love he had for her was evident, but she was too blind to recognize it.

I set the notebook down on the bed as soon as I finished reading and observed Riley. She chewed on the tip of her pen; a habit that I had knew she did whenever she was nervous. "This is amazing, Ry," I said finally, gaping at her. I always knew that she was a good writer, but I never knew that she could poor this much soul and depth into her writing.

"Thanks," Riley mumbled, taking the notebook back. "We better get typing. Here, take my laptop from my bag and open a new word document. I write, you type."

"That doesn't seem very fair," I joked. "Why do I have to only type? Do you think I'm incapable of writing a perfectly sculpted essay, because I happen to think my romantic side has been bottled up for way too long now."

Riley blushed and I could see her eyes sparkling. "That's not what I meant..." she trailed off, shaking her head.

"Relax, I was just kidding around. I'll type." She let out a sigh of relief before picking up the pen and scribbling down more thoughts. I padded across the room and to her bag, which was slumped against my closet door.

As I stared at her home screen, my heart did a small dance of excitement. The picture was of Riley and I when we were eleven, and we were set in front of a massive lake sporting huge toothy grins. My arm was looped around her shoulder and her arm was around mine, and our heads were cocked towards each other. It was a classic picture that eleven year olds would take and I remember the exact moment it was taken.