runaways (c.h)

1- meeting you

Another fight with my parents had me walking out the door with tears on my cheeks for the 4th time this week. They're always yelling at me for not being "lady like enough" and "not living up to their standards" and to be completely honest, I'm sick of it. I'm 17 years old and soon enough I'll be out of their house and finding my own place, never even looking back. I don't need them and they should realize that. I have B averages in most of my classes in high school but apparently, that isn't good enough for my parents and I should be getting an A on every test I take.

After what seemed like hours of running, I finally reached my new favorite place in the world; the town park. My parents would probably scream at me again when I got back home but I don't even care. It was about 8 o'clock on a Friday night so it was pitch black out and only some kids were at the park, maybe about five 14 year olds.
I sat down on a swing, farther away from them and started crying again. I let the tears stream down my face not caring if they could see me or not (they most likely couldn't because it was very dark). I wiped my eyes and took deep breaths.
When I looked up the kids weren't there anymore, so I guessed I'd been crying for longer than I thought. I didn't have my phone so I didn't know what time it was but I didn't care. i just stared into the darkness straight in front of me.
All of a sudden, I saw the outline of a person walking towards me. But I was not scared or intimidated at all; even in this darkness, this late at night. whether that was a good or bad thing, I had yet to find out.

From the shape of the body and height, I could tell it was a boy. He walked slowly and nonchalantly with his hands in his pockets, staring straight at me. As he got closer, I could make out more features of his face with the help of the dim orange street lights above him. He had dark brown eyes, broad shoulders, thick eyebrows, plump lips, and brown hair with blonde highlights in the front. It was messily styled on top of his forehead. I liked his hairstyle and his whole face to be honest. He was wearing black ripped jeans with holes in the knees. He had on a light grey t shirt with a yellow smiley face on it and black converse. He was undeniably attractive.
I took in all these observations in the expanse of 30 seconds as he walked closer to me. I wasn't sure of what was about to happen. Was he going to talk to me? Was he going to ignore me? Was he going to kill me? In a time like this and the dark "scary" atmosphere, a normal person would probably run or be terrified. But not me. I was curious. And I know sometimes, curiosity can lead to problems, but I like new things and adventure.
So instead of getting up and making a run for it like someone would normally do, I sat there on the little kid swing as he approached me and was 5 feet in front of me.
"hi." he spoke softly to me.
"hi" I said back politely.
He sat on the swing to the right of me.

I was still in a pretty bad mood and probably looked like a mess after crying for hours, so I was a bit conscious of my appearance but silently thanked the darkness of the night for hiding my flaws.

"Are you ok?" he turned his head to me. I guess he noticed.
"I'm not happy." I answered and turned my head to face him. "But I'm not completely sad either. So I guess, yes I am okay. Just okay." he looked me in the eyes.
"I'm sorry to hear that, love. would you like to talk to me about what's on your mind? I have time. Let's enjoy this wonderful but painful silence around us at the late hour and focus on each other." the odd, yet intriguing stranger spoke so calmingly to me. The thought of him calling me love lingered in my mind. It gave me chills. the good kind.

As bad as an idea as sharing your life story with a stranger sounds, I'd love to spend hours talking to this boy. I wouldn't want it to be anyone else.
"okay." I said slowly. "I'll tell you what's happening in my fucked up life."
his face lit up at my words. He gave me a small smile which I returned.

"Wait. What's your name?" he said.
"I'm Lily." I gave him the slightest smile.
"I'm Calum." He smiled widely. I liked the way his eyes crinkled when he did that and how small creases formed in his cheeks because they were a little chubby. I thought it was adorable. I want to get to know everything about him inside and out. maybe he'll let me. we'll find out way through the dark together.
And so the conversation began.