C.h -
"Cigarette?" She placed one in her mouth and held another one out to me. I took it gently from her hands. She pulled out a sparkly purple lighter covered in stickers and lit the paper between her lips. She lit mine as well and set the lighter on the table.
After hours of talking, we had moved to the balcony with the plastic white chairs. It was nearly nighttime now and the sky was slowly changing from a navy blue to a black.
"So Paige.."
"Yes Calum Hood?" She loved using my full name now that she knew it.
"Why are you... ya know.. here." I blew smoke in the opposite direction of the table. We had been taking mostly about me and the band and I realised although she was someone I had already felt like I knew, I really didn't know her at all.
She took the cigarette out of her mouth and set it in the ashtray.
She sighed and looked at me, tilting her head.
"It's a long story, Calum Hood."
"I've got time."
She gave me a small smile.
"About a year ago I was living with this guy in the city. We moved in together straight after high school. You know how that is - you meet someone when you're young and just because things are okay you think that's it. That's the one. We were dysfunctional together though. He was a little bit too much like me. And that's never a good thing. So we would argue. A lot. And things started getting a little too physical I guess you could say."
She looked over at me.
"It was just a toxic situation and I had to get out. So I took all my stuff and all the money I had saved and I ran off to the farthest hotel in New York I could get to. So here I am. That's the short version." She giggled.
I couldn't believe she was all alone and had to run from some guy who treated her like shit.
"I'm so sorry."
She smiled and stood up and walked up to the balcony. She rested her arms on it and looked up at the star filled sky.
I watched her as I smoked and noticed a small scar on her back just to the right of her spine. I stood up.
"Did he do that?" I blurted.
"What?" She said softly, glancing back at me.
I froze nervously realizing that's not something you just ask.
"Nothing sorry-"
"The scar." she whispered "Yeah." She touched her fingertips gently to her back.
I walked up next to her. "One night he uh-"
"Paige it's ok you don't have to-"
"He was really drunk. He swung the door open and I remember feeling so scared."
I swallowed and cleared my throat. It was hard for me to even imagine that anyone could ever hurt her, someone so precious.
Her voice began to shake. "He picked me up and slammed me into the wall. There was a nail from a painting that cut me, just a couple inches from my spine." Her eyes gleamed with potential tears.
I stared at her with my eyes wide, I felt like a dick for even mentioning it.
"I didn't mean to-"
"I know. It's okay." she smiled at me even though there were tears gently falling from her eyes.
I reached my hand out and placed it gently on the back of her waist and pulled her slightly closer to me, doing my best to comfort her without crossing a line.
"We all go through something." She spoke quietly to me.
"That doesn't mean we deserve to." I responded.
She looked up at me with wet eyes and placed her head against my chest. I adjusted my position and wrapped my arm closely around her like I wanted to from the moment I saw her. I hoped she couldn't hear how fucking fast my heart was beating.
"You're a really nice guy, Calum. I like you." She looked up at me again and gave me a sweet smile.
Everything in me wanted to kiss her but I knew this was not the right moment, and I hoped that moment would come.
I smiled back and held her in my arms as we both looked at our view of streets and cars and lights.
"For the record, I like you too."
