Brown Eyes and Blinding Lights // c.h.

0.4

"I'm going to go find the drinks, you two can do whatever. Text Fable when you want to leave." Dawn looks at me before looking at Zen and we both nod slowly.

The sound of the music is louder than I remember it and the smell of alcohol, weed and sweat isn't anymore welcoming. I turn to where Zen was previously standing and notice they've already walked away. Before I am three steps farther into the house, I notice Calum from across the room.

He's sitting against the wall by himself, smoking a joint. The way the lights are illuminating his face make him look more attractive than usual.

The setting gives the illusion that this is the one scene in a movie, where the main characters find each other at a party and get to know each other's deepest secrets. I highly doubt anything like that is going to happen though. I push through the crowd and approach him, a smile on my face.

"Well isn't this unexpected?" I talk loud enough for him to hear, causing him to turn his head and look down at me.

"Well if it isn't the woman of the hour." He smiles, taking a few steps back to admire my presence. "Wait, why are you here? Do we have to study at a party? Or this lame excuse of one should I say."

I laugh at his rambling and grab his hand, taking him outside onto the back porch. This house isn't unfamiliar to me, since I spent almost every weekend of my sophomore year here. I used to be a big partier until a few things happened that led me to retract from all social gatherings.

"We're not studying you loser, I just don't know anyone else here that I want to talk to." I finally respond, sitting on the wooden steps.

The back yard isn't as filled with people as the front yard, it never is. There are a few people scattered across the yard but they usually keep their distance.

"Who did you come with?" Calum asks, taking another drag from the joint.

"A few friends, Zen left me randomly and I didn't bother with Dawn and Fable." I shrug, my breath creating a cloud in front of me.

"No boyfriend?" Calum looks ahead of us at the trees separating this house from the next.

"No boyfriend." I shake my head, my voice soft.

I'm not ashamed of my past but it's not my favourite topic. I don't think Calum would normally ask a question like that so he must be under the influence.

"What brought you here?" He tosses another question my way, this time his eyes are on me and I sigh.

"Zen got into their dream school so we came out to celebrate."

"You don't seem to be doing much celebrating. Did you even want to come?" He passes the joint to me and I take a hit, the sudden feeling of it causing me to cough.

"It's not that I didn't want to come out, I just didn't want to come here. There's a lot of bad memories here." Shivers are sent down my spine and I doubt it's from the cold weather.

I hand the joint back to Calum and he sighs, leaning back onto his elbows before speaking again.

"Is your ex in there or something?" He asks, referring to the two-story house filled with drunk teenagers who probably don't even know how they got here.

"They can't be in there if they don't exist." I laugh, causing him to sit up. His eyes meet mine and he looks confused. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just not what I would expect." He responds and I furrow my eyebrows, looking at him with the same amount of confusion as he's looking at me with. "You, Alora Brooks, the girl that has everyone in the palm of her hand not having an ex boyfriend? There's no way."

"Well first of all, I don't have everyone in the palm of my hand-" I begin to argue when he stops me, standing up. "What are you doing?"

I watch as he looks around as if he's searching for someone. He walks up to a group of people, grabbing a random guy's arm and dragging him over to where I'm sitting.

"Mason, would you date her?" Calum asks the boy who looks like he just saw a ghost.

"Yeah, why?" Mason responds and Calum lets him go, pushing him away from us.

"What was that you were saying?" Calum sits back down beside me as Mason walks away and I roll my eyes.

"That's just one person out of the hundreds on this property." I smile, shaking my head at his blunt reaction.

"Anyone in this place would drop everything at the chance to be with you." He responds, his voice quiet. I turn to look at him as he puts the joint out and turns to face me.

"Anyone?" I ask, glancing at his lips. "Even you?"

"Anyone." He whispers and I notice him glancing at my lips. I begin to lean in when my phone starts ringing, scaring both of us.

I pull it out of my pocket and notice it's Zen calling me. My mind automatically goes to all of the worst places as I quickly answer the call.

"Hey, what's going on?" I ask quickly but Zen interrupts me even quicker.

"Can you catch a ride with someone? Fable let me borrow the car and I just-" Before Zen can explain themselves I interrupt them.

"Where are you?" I quickly stand up, tapping Calum so he stands up as well.

"The first gas station on the way back." Zen explains, knowing I'll understand exactly where they're talking about with no other explanations.

"I'm on my way." I hang up the phone and turn around, facing the brown eyed boy that's well above six-feet and he seems shocked at my sudden movement. "Do you have a car?"

"Yeah, here you have to drive." He pats his body quickly and hands me a lanyard with keys on it. "I'll show you where it is."

We walk around the outside of the house and he points me towards a black car with tinted windows. I unlock the car and we both climb in, I patiently for him to fasten his seatbelt before I start the car.

The drive to the gas station is quick and silent, since it's a small town I wouldn't expect any different.

"There they are, you stay in the car." I quickly park in the very empty parking lot and quickly walk over to the car that I recognize as Fable's. I walk around the car, peeking in the windows when i trip over a pair of legs sprawled out from under the car. "Zen, what are you-"

"The engine stopped working or something like that, I don't know. Do you know how to work on cars?" They slide out from under the car and rise to their full height and I stare at them in a 'are you serious' manner.

"I live with my mother. No, I don't know anything about cars." I respond, irritated with their question. "I can ask Calum."

"You brought you boyfriend? Just when I thought this night couldn't get any worse." Zen places their hand onto their forehead and it takes every ounce of strength I have not to punch them.

"For the record, you're the one that broke the car. Also, I used his car, of course he's with me." I turn to walk back to Calum's car before speaking again. "And we aren't dating!"

I walk up to the small black car and bend down, looking in the window at a very tired Calum.

"Hey, weird but very valid question, do you know anything about cars?" I ask quickly, hoping he's sober enough to understand that there's a limited time slot.

"Yeah, why?" He slurs as he looks up at me, the moonlight dancing in his eyes.

"Good." I open the car door, reaching over him to un-fasten his seatbelt. I pull him out of the car and over to where Zen is standing. "Do you think you could figure out what is wrong with the car?"

He stares at Zen before looking back down at me. He walk over to the front of the car and pops the hood open, looking inside.

After a few minutes of messing with a few cables, he peeks his head around the side of the car.

"Try turning it on." He states, causing Zen to get into the driver side and successfully start the car. They both smile as I let out a sigh of relief.

He closes the hood and wipes his hands on his pants, looking at me. "It was just a few wires being loose."