b l a z e
books. books were one of the things that kept her grounded, except for her daughter. books let her escape to another world, all of her worries were gone when she would open the cover. so, of course, with her love of books, came the love of writing. she could express herself in the small ways a character would act. for example: the way she would pour her cereal, or fashion sense, or the same sheets on her bed. anything that she wanted to write about was at her fingertips.
but she had a blockade. not like your average writer's block. no this was the opposite. but her barrier was human. calum. he knew about lily. no one besides her mother and strangers she passed by at the park knew she had a daughter. but then, here come's calum from australia, easily finding out the secret she's been trying to keep hidden for years. but it was dumb as to why she kept her daughter a secret. she didn't want anyone to look at her differently. she didn't want to be known as the bad mother, or the only person on campus with a child. she didn't want people to judge her. her one biggest flaw. she cared about what people said about her, believe it or not.
so, lily was hidden, and she was the same girl everyone had always known.
-
"can we go to your dorm and study, mikey? melody's a bitch when i have people over."
okay, maybe she had a thing for the nerdy australian boy, but the part about her roommate being a bitch wasn't a lie. michael and blaze had what you would call 'study dates', but in the most friendly way possible. it barely held any studying, now that she thought about it. they would just throw their empty capri-suns at each other and talk about the latest episode of teen wolf.
"yeah that's fine, but calum's probably going to be there. he's been working on his picture for the dormitory walls."
-
"a dog? you're really drawing a dog for the walls?" calum's face cheeks grew pink at michael's words. she was laughing so hard she couldn't breath. she struggled for her breath as she gripped her stomach. per usual, there wasn't any studying taken place in the dorm. they were all spread across the room, her in calum's bean bag chair, that smelled greatly of him, michael at his desk, and calum in his bed.
the conversation had drifted to calum's 'masterpiece' which in reality was a dog. a pug to be exact. of course she wasn't appalled by the sketch, but the idea of him just drawing a dog made her howl with laughter. she didn't know calum that well, but she thought he would have drawn something more meaningful than a dog.
"yeah, why not. i mean, it's my decision so..."
calum's cheeks wouldn't budge from their rosy red. his head was bowed in embarrassment, like a puppy that was told to not jump on the guests. of course he was cute like a puppy, no doubt in her mind, but he could be literal sex on legs. and now was one of those moments.
he was biting his bottom lip and looking at her from underneath his eyelashes. it was extremely sexy and she had a hard time containing herself from pouncing on him and ripping off all of his clothes. but she didn't.
"weren't you two supposed to be studying?"
calum put his masterpiece to the side and squinted his eyes at the two lounging across the room. michael and blaze yet again burst into a fit of giggles. the thought of them actually studying was just bizarre. michael managed to collect himself and spoke.
"we never actually study. we just plan on it and it never happens."
calum huffed, and continued his wall art. blaze then spoke. "does anyone ever study anymore? i mean, everything right now is who fucks who, and whoever has the best drugs. nothing like school even matters to people these days." michael was nodding during her little speech, a smile on his face the whole time. "and just so you know, the kid brian a few doors down has great stuff."
blaze was shocked, to say the least, never in a million years did she thing that michael was into that kind of stuff. he wouldn't even smoke a cigarette. "and how do you know that?"
he brushed off her surprised tone and spoke. "have you not heard everyone say something about brian?" now she felt dumb, of course she heard about him.
"well whoever brian is, i don't care. i came here to actually do something with my life."
calum sounded irritated, and it was a very good look on him. the look with his tattoos out in the open, and his hair. and the muscles. it was very difficult for blaze to control herself. calum noticed her wandering eyes and looked down at his lap. the puppy returns.
"not that you guys didn't come here to do that. i mean, you guys are smart, well i don't really know, but i think you guys are. 'cause you wouldn't have gotten in the school if you weren't smart. or you could have bribed the school, do people still do that? i haven't meet someone who has, b-" michael interrupted him.
"well, i have to go to my history class. blaze, if you want you can stay here. bye."
michael picked up his back-pack filled with his books while he spoke. blaze nodded at his words and decided to stay, she wanted to get to know calum better. michael left the room and an awkwardness drifted around the room. calum started doodling in his sketchbook and blaze had no idea what to say.
she then realized how stupid her idea was and got out of the beanbag chair reluctantly. putting on her shoes and grabbing her things she walked to the door. "it was nice talking to you calum. goodbye." and she shut the door and left.
