Sugar Make it Slow

Chapter 1-It'll Work Itself Out Fine

She always liked to stay up late. Something about the night calmed her. When everything is peaceful, and the city seems to slow down from its usual fast pace. Winters in Canada were normally cold, but this one seemed to drag on forever. Grey and windy. When you walked outside it felt like small needles continuously stabbing your face. She looked out of her dorms tenth floor window to the streets below, taking a long drag from her sixth cigarette of the night. The only sound was the quiet Van Halen record playing in the background and the faint sound of drunken people yelling somewhere down the street. Normally, on a Friday night, the typical nineteen-year-old would be out at a bar or a club having fun. But this nineteen-year-old has four assignments and three midterms in the next week to study for.

Paisley Lane, a second year Chemistry student seemed to spend most her winter nights all alone in the solitude of her dorm bedroom. At first, going to University seemed like the logical thing to do, but a few failing grades later, she soon grew to hate every second of it. At heart, Paisley loved to be wild and free. She loved the idea of travelling wherever, with good friends. Listening to music full blast with her long brown hair blowing in the wind in the hot summer air. She loved the summer, and summer nights hit different than these cold Canadian winter nights. Her love for music was overwhelming and was very apparent in everything she did. Her clothes, her record collection, her conversations. But it seemed in the mid 1980s, she couldn't find anyone to relate to. She spent most of her time listening to rock bands. With an open mind, Paisley loved to listen to everything, from Led Zeppelin, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Queen, and Motley Crue (to name a few). In fact, she had a hard time finding anybody to relate to her about anything. It seemed that everyone she met in school only viewed her as competition. After the first few weeks of attempting to make friends in her first year, Paisley eventually gave up.

She was convinced that the way she was feeling was far from normal. Was it normal to not feel passionate about anything at all? Except for music, nothing brought her joy. The city she lived in for University was bland and cold. When she chose to study Chemistry, it was almost just because she liked the sound of it. However, when she really began to study it, she felt nothing for the subject whatsoever. It was hours and hours of memorizing concepts that just didn't make sense. When she thought about her future as a "Chemist" she couldn't even picture it. What was she here for? She often fantasized about getting out of this city and pursuing a career in music. Most of her frustrations towards the world, towards the government, towards herself, she got out by writing lyrics. Sitting down and studying for hours with no result began to push her over the edge. Paisley spent most of the time in a constant state of stress, biting the skin around her nails, chewing on her cheeks and lips, pulling out her hair. It must be all worth it, she thought to herself. After all, she had worked so hard to get here, and most people around the world would be so thankful to have an opportunity to even get any kind of education.

Paisley didn't have a normal childhood to say the least. Indeed, her past incredibly affected how she viewed the world. Growing up on the west coast, she had loving parents and had a happy life. But when she was four years old, her parents and her older brother died in a tragic car crash. Being at such a young age, Paisley doesn't have much recollection of this traumatic event, as if she had pushed it out of her mind. But still deep down, she remembers the immense confusion she felt for years after and the deep sadness that she wished nobody else would ever have to experience. Quickly after the accident, Paisley was sent to live with her 90-year-old grandmother who then passed away when Paisley turned six. After this, until the age of 18, she moved from foster home to foster home in various cities. Never truly feeling home, and never truly feeling the sense of "family" again. Most of the families she stayed with had so many problems that Paisley never fully understood how they got approved to be foster families. She experienced every bad thing imaginable. From drunken foster dads abusing her, to her getting kicked out and having to sleep on the streets for sometimes weeks on end until she was moved to another family. Throughout this whole time, she attempted to graduate from high school as soon as possible to escape this seeming never ending nightmare. The only thing that got her through each terrible experience was music and distracting herself by burying herself in schoolwork. She truly only had herself to rely on. She eventually graduated with a scholarship to a University on the east coast of Canada. She moved immediately.

Amazingly, through all of this, Paisley was an extremely outgoing and bubbly person to anyone that met her. She was a very small person, with thick long brown hair and icy blue eyes. She could always plaster on this illuminating gorgeous smile that could fill up a room. Everyone that had the opportunity to meet her would be able to laugh so hard their stomachs hurt. She had such a relatable personality and had a very unique fashion sense. But no matter how close of a friend you thought you were to her, she was surprisingly closed off. You would think you knew her, but if you really thought about it, you knew nothing. This was exactly how Paisley wanted it to be.

Now, in University, Paisley just sat staring out of her window. Lighting up another cigarette, she felt the usual stress of doing nothing when she knew she should be studying. She felt nothing for this city, nothing for this life. Her life so far had just felt so...fake. She longed for the feeling of home, something so foreign to her she wasn't sure it existed. She longed for real friends, for dancing, for getting the fuck out of this city. And that was exactly what she was going to do.

**Hello, welcome to the book! The first chapter and most of the second is really just introducing Paisley and like seeing what she's up to, the boys will definitely be more involved soon I promise! Anyways, enjoy :)