tattoos || c.h.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғɪғᴛʏ ᴇɪɢʜᴛ

mia

6 hours ago

"what's the emergency?" i burst through the front door of my shared my apartment with my best friend. "i just ran two red lights to get here." i place my hands on my knees as i bend over to try to catch my breath.

"jackson is in town." june looks at me with remorse as she sits on one of the stools in our kitchen and i freeze at his name. "i was walking around and i saw him, i tried to walk away before he could see me, but he caught me. he told me he wants to see you and that he's actually trying to find a place to stay here in new york."

"no." i shake my head and repeat the same word. "he... he can not be here. he can go rot in fucking hell!" my vision becomes blurry with tears. no, this can not be happening right now. no. i won't allow it. no.

"mia, please try to breathe with me." june comes rushing to kneel in front of me as she tries to help me calm my breathing. "i know you want nothing to do with him, and you have every right, literally every right, but i needed you to know before you ran into him yourself and be caught off guard." she admits as she starts to wipe the tears that fall from my eyes.

"he always said he hated a busy city, so why the fuck is he here?" i talk more to myself than i do to june. "minnesota is the total opposite of new york. he said he wanted to stay there, so why is here? he couldn't have changed his mind. he was so set on staying out of busy places."

"hey, it doesn't matter that he's changed his mind." my best friend cups my face. "what does matter is keeping you away from him at all costs." she walks me to the couch in our living room and sits us both down. "this is going to sound bad, but i think you should either stay here or at calum's until we find everything out. i know you like walking around in your free time, but i really want you inside because i don't know how both of you will react when you see each other. especially, you. i love you, but your actions when it comes to this can be confusing and unpredictable."

"if i see that motherfucker in sight i will fucking beat his ass." i seethe at the thought of ever seeing him again in my life. he doesn't deserve to even be walking.

"you say that, but you've said that before about other stuff and you ended up crying and i had to rush you somewhere private." june brings back the memories of all the times i said i'd beat someones ass, but broke down into tears instead. "and i can't be around you at all times anymore, and i don't want that to happen for you."

"mia?" calum waves his hand in front of my face. "are you on earth with me?"

"yeah, just thinking about what j and i talked about earlier today." i try to give the smile i used to convince everyone with. "i'm sorry, what were you saying?" i pray cal allows me to switch the subject back to what he was talking about before i spaced back to a few hours ago.

"i was actually asking about what that emergency was." he tilts his head. julian's passed out cold after we gave him some zzzquil, so we're sat on the porch of calum's apartment. "what happened with your last relationship?"

"that relationship stays buried and is to never be talked about again." i shake my head, not wanting to share my past relationship. "that's why june and i never talk about it. why it's never brought up and why we always say my last relationship was in sophomore year."

"mia?" calum looks at me with more than just concern and worry. "please talk to me. you're ready to land reece on her ass, let me be ready to land this guy on his." i smile at his way of trying to convince me.

"how about if i ever see him, i'll point him out and you can land him on his ass?" i attempt to make a deal with my now boyfriend. calum examines my face, looking back and forth between my eyes. oh, i don't like this.

"okay." he nods his head and i let out a breath of relief. "but, if you ever need to talk to about what happened, i'm here. y'know that."

"mhm." i do my best at giving him a smile that i don't mean, but hope he doesn't see through it.

"if you're going to smile at me, let it be a real one." calum shakes his head as he takes my hands and kisses them. "you can do that for julian, but not me."

"okay." i nod my head and now he kisses the top of my head as he pulls me in for a hug. "thank you."

"i'm always here for you." he whispers in my ear as he keeps me in his arms.

"not just for that, but for not pushing me to tell you." i get myself comfortable in his embrace. "very few people would stop prying for the backstory of that relationship." i explain and he lets out a deep sigh.

"it's the least i could do." calum admits and i look up at him confused. "you never made me feel like i had to tell you what happened with reece, you didn't try to meddle into why i was a single dad and taking care of julian. you let me talk about it at my own pace."

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a/n

last chapter and this chapter are a hundred words shorter than usual and i'm sorry. this is really rushed, i know, but i want to get to what i have planned very briskly.