boys will be boys ✰ 5sos

six

"she's 7 years old on the playground again

with a mouth full of rocks and blood that tastes like copper love

because boys will be boys baby don't you know

that's just how he shows he cares"

-

Iris's four foot and easily damaged body laid on the dirt of the playground again, her friend rushed over to help her up. She glanced around to see a tan boy running by who goes by Calum. She thought it was an unusual name and that's why she liked it so much, especially because she was stuck with 'Iris', a name those teased her for.

Iris can feel her torn lip, the first of many she'd be receiving, but she hadn't known that then. Her tongue runs over her pale pink lips and tastes the blood that was caused by the boy she had a crush on. She shuddered at the taste of copper pennies.

All of the other girls in her class get their pigtails pulled and colored pencils stolen, but they don't get pushed from a swing. 'Maybe it's because he likes me much more than those other girls,' she told herself as Luke helped her to the teacher while she ran a faucet of tears.

"Boys will be boys." The teacher kept repeating.

Iris is suddenly back home, telling her mom the story of what happened on the playground since her teacher failed to call home.

"Baby, don't you know?" Her mother laughs as she's tucking a strand behind of hair behind her ear. She crouches down and stares into her daughter's brightened eyes as she's listening carefully.

Iris doesn't like being pushed or pinched, but her mother tells her that it's his way of showing they care. It then all becomes something she gets used to.

She suddenly jerks and realizes she's in darkness. Iris looks around her bedroom as she had just been woken up from a dream of past events. She feels angry, like she wants to throw the picture frame next to her bed and shatter it against the wall, but she doesn't. She picks up her phone instead and, despite it being 1 in the morning on a school night, she calls Luke.

He answers with a very sleepy voice. It was deep and mellow.

She explains to him the dream and even though Luke is struggling to pay attention, he takes in every single word she says as if it's the most important information in the world. He tells her to go back to sleep, to push it out of her head. She says she can't and that's when Luke sighs into the other end.

They talk until 3am, until Jane falls asleep on the phone and her voice is no longer chattering into Luke's ear. He tells her goodnight even though she can't hear it and tells her that he loves her and hangs up. They always tell each other they love each other, and it's hard when Luke actually means it.