abyssal ❦ lrh

02 ➝ surfer boys

"I can't believe you."

"Me? What did I do?"

"You ruined the surprise, dumbass!"

"Oh,"

"Yeah, oh," Michael rolled his eyes at the boy, turning to Elise with a huff. "Anyway, Lisi, meet my roommate that you already know," he gestured to the boy monotonously, with an overwhelming sense of disappointment. "Calum Hood."

"I was still surprised," Elise pointed out faintly, hoping to ease the small amount of tension between the two boys. It had been more than a few minutes since the anti-climactic revelation and her best friend had yet to let it go.

Huffing, Michael crossed his arms. "It was gonna be better. I had this whole thing planned and- ugh. Whatever. Too late now, I guess,"

Calum sent him a weak smile. He hadn't meant to foil his plan and he certainly hadn't meant to upset him. Michael had always had a flare for the dramatics; especially surprises and especially with Elise. Something about bringing a smile to her face, he'd said. A real one.

"I'm sorry, Mike, seriously," the boy apologized softly, an unintentional red tinge to his otherwise tanned cheeks. "If I would've known you were surprising her...I wouldn't have come by-"

Michael sighed, the shake of his head stopping his softer-spoken friend. He was more sensitive than most and he often forgot he needed to tread a bit more carefully. "No, it's okay. It's my fault for not telling you about it,"

"We can do a do-over! I'll go wait in my room and Elise-" he turned to the girl, eagerly. "-you come in and act like you don't already know I'm here, okay?"

"Bro, she's not five,"

"Yeah, thank god. Five-year-olds can't act."

"You guys," Elise interjected softly, a faint look of amusement on her features. "It's really okay. You don't have to go all-out to surprise me,"

"I know," Michael sighed, resting his elbows on the counter and sinking his palms into his cheeks. "But I still wanted it to be more climactic than just bumping into him in the hallway," he muttered.

"To be fair," The boy with the dark hair and the red cheeks pouted as he piped up. "I did try to pretend it wasn't me,"

"Oh, yeah, how could I forget?" Michael rolled his eyes lightly. "She said 'Calum?' and you said 'no'. Genius. Top notch improv. Can't believe she saw through it,"

"I said I tried!" Calum frowned. "I never said I succeeded,"

Elise shook her head lightly in amusement, looking to Michael. "It was still a surprise. I would've never guessed Cal was your roommate," she mused. "I thought it was gonna be a stranger,"

Though surprised, Elise was pleasantly relieved to find that it wasn't. Her nerves had been twisting and pulling at her stomach ever since Michael brought it up, skeptical if she'd ever get an escape to her best friend's with a stranger as his roommate, but she was gladly mistaken.

Calum Hood was no stranger. The boy- with his dark curls and his chiseled jaw and his signature blushing cheeks- was a friend. An old one; someone Elise hadn't seen since her junior year of high school, where he and Michael had remained seniors- just a year older than her, but still close enough to call a good friend. It was after the boys' graduation that Calum's family moved away, and far from their place on the west coast.

New York, to be exact. It had been a long time since either Michael or Elise had seen him, for he'd chosen his schooling on the east coast for over two years. She still hadn't known what made him transfer across the country- to his high school best friend's University no less- but she wasn't complaining. Elise was thrilled.