pretty chapped lips : malum :

2.6

part two of the double update. dedication: malumriots our new reader and a thank you for your kind words and i hope you enjoy x

Calum Thomas Hood was nineteen years old, he liked the colour blue, thought the fast and furious movies were over rated and football really was the way to his heart.

"Okay so, marvel or DC?"

"Marvel, duh." He scoffed, as if the question was that easily answered.

"Really? I'm more DC honestly." I admitted with a shrug, brushing my fringe from my eyes I still wondered if he thought was dumb.

"Are you kidding me? Marvel has Spider-Man, Superman not to mention Iron Man." He replied, staring at me as if I was insane (part of me wondered the same sometimes). "Plus DC movies suck."

"But DC has Batman." I pointed out but I couldn't help from laughing at the latter of his statement as I nodded. "True about the movies though."

We fell into silence after that, or maybe we didn't. For all I knew he said something and I didn't even notice for I was too busy trying to figure out how this happened.

Walking along the beaten up path around the edge of the park, we kicked at the stones that rolled before our feet and talked about things that didn't matter. He never once mentioned the fact my hands were shaky and the bruises that littered my arms when I pushed up my sleeves. We didn't talk about the fact the bags under his eyes made him look as if he was half way dead or the fact he smelled like drink and regret.

We didn't talk about the things I wondered about him, or about the things I wondered if he noticed about me. We just talked.

We wandered listlessly, talking about silly things that would never come up again until the sun started dipping low in the sky and I began cursing the world for spinning too quick and making every moment run away from me so fast. Neither of us really said a word on it when we started walking out of the old park. Scuffed shoes toeing at the tarmac as we turned at corners and walk along streets making our way to the road I first saw him as if it was nothing at all.

"Parents are gonna be pissed you never called, aren't they?" He asked me suddenly as we walked by old houses with pathetic potted plants as a stand in garden.

I simply shrugged my shoulders despite the fact the answer was an honest yes. My mother will have been worried, if my father was home he'll tell me I'm ungrateful for skipping the hot meal that my mother made for us like she cared anyways.

"Maybe."I responded with instead, letting my shoulders shrug once again like a puppets being jerked by the puppeteers strings. "Who cares."

"You do." He replied, as if the question wasn't rhetorical as we came to a stop at the corner that turned to my house which really wasn't a home.

I wanted to snap back, say I didn't care and he was stupid to think I did, act like he didn't touch a nerve. But I didn't, because I did care and it annoyed me how he knew without me ever uttering a word.So I just shoved my hands in my pockets, looking to my feet like staring at the ground for long enough would make it open up underneath me and pull me down to somewhere I can hide.

"If he asks just say you were studying." He said suddenly, causing me to wonder why he cared to give me an excuse and if it was just coincidental that it would be one I'd make up myself.

"Make it science," he said and I looked up just in time to see him lick his lips in the same way Luke does when he tells his mum that he didn't know where Jacks old jacket was when it was in his locker."Probably make the old man happier, yeah?"

"Yeah."I answered finally as he turned away, like his last words were his way of saying goodbye. "Science."

I watched him for a moment as he looked both ways before his head turned back to me with a smirk, feet stepping off the curb with his back turned to the traffic I knew was about to start up again.

"See ya round, Michael."

Fora second, I was scared. Because it felt like the goodbye I swore I heard the night he ran out - and for a second I thought it would happen again.

But he just ran across the road, and he didn't stop running when his feet hit the curb and he made his way down the street I see him across the nights he appears outside my very door. And as I stood there, I wasn't sure if I was smiling as he ran away, becoming nothing more than a speck of colour against the grey.

"See you then."

A/N I FELT LIKE A DOUBLE UPDATE I DONT KNOW WHY

anyways i hoped you guys liked those updates, finally some malum actually happening considering the fact this is a malum story id say thats pretty good.

oh and fun fact, we've reached the midway point after this - its just a count down to the end.

how did you guys feel about that? any surprise about calum, a comment on the fringeness of sixteen year old michael? whatever it is remember to vote, comment and whatever else you want.

until next time my loves

-rachel x