chapter 30: strawberry milkshakes

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the winner of the contest is...
smolbeanmuke !

congratulations! i just sent you a pm <3

thank you so much to all of the people who entered, i'll try to do another one of these before the end of the book!

•••
alexis

"This is stupid," I mumble to myself as I pace in front of my window, debating whether or not to sneak out and go talk to Luke. This has been a constant battle in my mind today, one that I am all too sick of enduring.

It's been three days since Luke kissed me. He's texted a few times, but I've assumed he has sent these only to ensure that I am still alive. I haven't responded.

Many different thoughts cloud my already foggy mind, each one contradicting the next. For one, I don't like Luke like that. He's been a good friend to me. And even if I did, there is no way that I am ready to date again; I don't know if I ever will be. Now that I am past the initial first stage of heartbreak, I am beginning to notice the ripples in my life that Calum's actions have created. How will I ever trust somebody again? And with him being here, and all of this shit being dug up, the last thing I need is this.

And even if all of this weren't in the picture, nothing would matter anyway: I am leaving in a month and a half.

The realization hits me that in only a month, this place has become more of a home than Seattle has ever felt to me. Perhaps it's that I've never gone to school here, and so this life is just a fantasy version of what it would truly be like to grow up here or just the change of a backdrop, but LA has really grown on me. The orange splashed sunsets aren't a bad thing by any means and the way the skyline of the city looks at midnight fills me with content.

I thought I'd hate it here.

I thought I would hate the stigma and the smog and the people, the traffic and the blaring music. But I don't, not even close. Then again, I don't think that this has anything to do with the city itself. Perhaps it is the people that you surround yourself with.

After this short amount of time here, I can't even imagine going back home. Too many memories were made there, and an overwhelming percentage of them were bad. I cannot think of home without remembering the pain that I endured there.

But even so, no matter how much hell I went through, the good memories will still haunt me and back home I am constantly reminded of the person I used to be. And the person I was constantly with.

It hurt to drive by the diner downtown that Calum and I would get strawberry milkshakes from at three in the morning. It hurt to see the coffee shop by school, where Calum and I always bought cold brews after class. We'd spend a couple hours in there, procrastinating our homework and getting free refills. Or we'd take the drinks to-go and get lost in our heads somewhere, like the city or the beach.

Even just driving around town, I was reminded of him. I would miss a certain boy who would sit in the passenger seat, making sarcastic comments and critiquing my driving as I tried my best to stay between the paved lines of the lane. He always told me I had trouble staying between the lines, but it wasn't until a long time after he left that I would understand what this meant to the fullest extent.

Being home hurt mostly because all of my good memories involved Calum. There was not a time that I was happy when I was not in his presence. He was constantly overtaking all of my thoughts, all of my being.

and then you left // cthWhere stories live. Discover now