take it to heart » clifford au.

two.

↠ carmen ↞

"get your lazy ass up." 

carmen looked up, coming face to face with her friend sarah. a wave of anger swooped over her, but she was too sad and tired to do anything about her.

"oh hush up," carmen sighed bitterly. "i want to stay underneath the covers and listen to sad music all day. so go away and leave me be."

"damn, you're worse than i thought."

carmen snapped her head up and shot sarah the iciest glare she could muster.

"look, i know you want to win gold in sulking for the olympics. but you're better than this. you don't need you-know-who, not voldemort, in order to be happy. and yes, i know i sound like a damn daffodil right now. but you need some distractions to help you forget about him."

"fine. but you're buying me breakfast." she dragged carmen's body out of bed and ordered her to fix the rat nest upon carmen's head. sarah rifled through and tossed a pair of decent looking sweatpants, a random pullover, and a pair of dirty converse at the other girl.

after carmen finished changing and making herself more presentable for the public to see, the two girls started walking. silence engulfed both of them with only the sound of their sneakers scraping the concrete and the occasional deep sigh from carmen. as the pair sat in a old coffee shop name rosie's, which was around 6 blocks from carmen's apartment complex, carmen felt a pang of sadness wash over her as they shuffled toward the front counter to order. she didn't want to be outside of her dark apartment. she wanted to stay inside and wallow in self-pity until her supply of girl scout cookies and vodka ran out.

"one mocha espresso with caramel on top, please." sarah asked politely, "what do you want, carmen?"

"just a cup of black coffee, please." she answered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. the woman behind the counter nodded then rang them up. they shuffled to the bar stools and sat down to wait for their beverages. the second carmen plopped down in her seat, she dropped her head against the table and closed her eyes. 

"here you go, dolls." the woman reappeared with two mugs in either hand. she handed sarah her cup with a soft smile. she warpped an arm around carmen and placed the mug in front of her head. the lady rubbed carmen's forearm gently.

"chin up, darling. you'll pull through." she removed her arm from carmen and patted her messy hair. she walked away back into the kitchen door she came out of.

"well, that lady must be jesus in the flesh. why'd you order black coffee?" sarah inquired.

"black like the color of my soul." carmen replied without even thinking. she grabbed her mug's handle and stood up. she made her way to the small table of assorted creamers, sugars, and milks. her eyes shifted around until she found something she liked. she placed her hand on the peppermint flavored creamer, but so did a young male with bright red hair. they both looked up and locked eyes. carmen had this awkward yet vulnerable look in her eyes while the unnamed boy had a cold and mean stare to match his demeanor. carmen immeadiately retracted her hand from the bottle and interlaced her other hand around the warm mug.

"hey, i don't bite." the boy's laughter had a sadness feel with a mixture of bitterness and sarcasm. he poured some creamer in his mug. 

"sorry. i just-"

"don't worry about it." he cut her off in a clipped voice. the boy tilted the nozzle over the mouth of carmen's cup then dropped a stirrer in. he spun around on his black vans and stalked his way to the corner table of the shop. 

[edited]

a/n: yasss it's back. i'm updating more whoop. oh my god i forgot how much i love writing for this story haha. 

anyways, michael is introduced. he seems like your typical asshole. but hey he was also gentleman-like?? i could totally imagine him doing this lmao.

drop a comment or vote faster than a drunk white girl in tall heels AYYE.