Sleeping With Calamity

Before

I always thought about love. Not in ways of romance and sappy love stories. I thought of love like the flickering candle. I wondered when I would meet my love, at a park or a movie, maybe at some thrift shop downtown. Never did I think I would find love curled up in the school's old library against the end of the A-B bookcases. But when I did; she was beauty. Even with tears smeared across her face. As she had made an attempt to hide her pain from me. I was two cases over, but before I could reach her, she was gone.

See, the thing about finding your love hidden in the library, like an old novel full of life, is that you can't just look at it and put it back, you have to find out all the secrets. When my love left before I could reach her it was like almost having your grip on something but watching it slip between your fingers, so it hurt. I had to find her. So that day, thirty minutes away from the end of the day, I set out to know this girl.

The hallways were empty so I figured it would be easy to find her, I was wrong. I saw her dart up the stairs at the end of the hall.

I took off. She was amazingly fast and for once I was amazingly slow. Finally, I caught up to her by the stairs. I grabbed her wrist and knew at that moment I messed up. I felt her fist before I realized what had happened. She was strong. I mean I've been in fights, mostly by people my size or close not by someone who barely meets the middle of my upper arm. I let go but looked down at her, and for the first time in awhile, I smiled. "Why are you smiling, freak? I mean what makes you think I want to followed through the school by someone who is unreasonably tall, cause in no way would I want that! I mean think before you act goddammit! That was a total serial killer moment and now you're just looking at me smiling like you finally have what you want. Listen, I will not go down by Mr. Giant over here. Like what the hell were you even thinking?" She was beyond mad and I deserved it, but god, she was adorable. At that moment I did what is probably the exact opposite of the right thing to do, I hugged her. She tensed but relaxed, I realized she was close to two feet smaller than me and like a third of me.

About halfway through the hug I realized, what kind of weird stranger just hugs someone? Clearly, the answer is me. As I had started letting go she tightened her grip around my waist. I smiled at held her closer. So, there we were, two weird kids, not in a class that we probably didn't care about, hugging in the stairwell. I felt her let go so I moved away. Then, she smiled, god it was so beautiful, "Thank you. Never realize how much you need someone to actually have it. Even if they chased through a school and haven't said a word to you." She laughed and awkwardly scratched behind her head. I looked away, "I'm sorry. Just you seemed so sweet, even when you yelled at me. I'm also not a freak, you are just small but you're cute like that."

"I'm not cute. Anyways, I'm sorry for you seeing me like that. Life's, uh, well life has been hard."

"Well, creepy as it sounds, I'm here for you. I wouldn't have chased you if not."
"How do I know you're not some psychotic killer or something? I mean, with this world you never know."
Look I can promise you that I'm not a killer. Pinky promise?" I held up my pinky like a child on a playground promising not to tell on my friend. She looked up and smirked, wrapping her finger around mine.

"Pinky promise."

We stayed like that for a bit just looking at each other, two weird kids with lives that were about to change. When the bell rang we walked to our lockers. "Oh, my name is Cal, well technically Calamitatum cause my mother thought I was the worse thing to ever happen to her. But call me Cal."

"Blaise. Blaise Jones"
"Blaise? That's actually really interesting. Well, what, how would you like to spend time with this wonderful disaster at Javva The Cupp?"

"Where?"

"It's a coffee shop. Basically full of nerds, hipsters, goths, emo, etc. All the "Weirdos". But they're the best, I promise."

"Sure. But I don't know where it is."
"Oh, well don't worry I need ride anyways, as long as you can drive...you can drive right?"
"Yes, I can drive."

"Good."

***

Cal hadn't been lying when she said it was full of "Weirdos". Almost any cliché you can think of that wasn't your jocks or preps were here. According to Cal, the place was originally one little room and the owner lived upstairs that was until business boomed and now the owner lives next door and now Javva The Cupp is two floors, plus a back patio. The place was weirdly decorated, lots of space themed stuff, but also it looked like every group there had decorated at the same time. Alone it was a mess, but together it felt like a comforting place somewhere I'm guessing a lot of people call "home".

"Well what do you want?"

"I don't really drink coffee."
"Boring. Well, I'll just get you one of my favorites. You like sweet stuff?"

"Sure."

With that she was gone. I watched her body maneuver around the crowd and to the register. She talked with the guy up front for a bit, almost flirtatiously. Eventually, she started to order. She was amazing, just how her body talked for her. She could just stand there, and you would know what she meant. After a while, she returned with two mugs in her hand, "You know you could've found a seat. Didn't have just stand around," she shook her head, "boys." She walked off and went to a table in a corner. There was a black light hanging above us, causing the splatters of neon paint to glow. She ran her fingertips across the splatters and smiled a little before sliding a mug across the table. Dark swirls mixed with the white cream, I think, I noticed that it was kind of heart shaped and there were bits of cinnamon floating around and sticking to the side of the mug. It almost smelled like a scene from a movie where the family is sitting around a fire on Christmas Eve. There was a strong cinnamon sting as it went down my throat that was soon replaced by a warm, creamy vanilla and peppermint flavor. "So, do you like it?"

"Yeah. What is it?"
"That's my secret. It's something I came up with a few years ago."
"That's really cool."

"Yeah." For the next few hours we sat at that table and talked. It was getting late, she kept checking her phone and looking scared. Worry must have be obvious on my face, cause she looked at while she was getting out of her chair. "Smile, this is your new life." With that she was gone. I guess I never noticed that she was staring out the window with a look at that seems close to fear. I should've realised something was wrong.