condom - l.h [discontinued]

2.1

A very long and pleasant conversation was exchanged between Hazel and Molly (the nice girl with the blue hair whom she had met at McDonald's), simply about what brought them extreme joy and contentment, and also about what caused them to be completely frustrated and enraged. How much they had in common really did surprise Hazel, and how easily the conversation seemed to flow surprised her even more.

What caused her to be surprised was the fact that Hazel always seemed to mess up during discussions and would end up offending the other person with absolutely no intention of do so. This was one of the reasons why Hazel had little to no friends left. But whenever she said something wrong (which would offend every other person she'd meet), Molly would laugh, and high-five her next.

Hazel was glad she had actually spoken to Molly and acknowledged her, because she wouldn't have finally made a friend, whose relationship with her was 100% platonic.

After consuming a couple more meals, Hazel excused herself as she felt tremendously somnolent and drowsy. Who could blame her, though, it was three am. The pair casually exchanged phone numbers before setting off in different directions; Molly to her apartment, and Hazel to hers (well, technically, it was her dad's apartment. Hazel just sort of lives there because she's broke as fuck).

The long walk home made Hazel even hungrier for asleep, if that was even possible. All she desired was to lay down on her not-really-comfortable-but-she-didn't-mind bed and cuddle with her pillow, that made her feel a little less lonely, with her large, warm duvet wrapped around her. And so, after unlocking the door to the apartment and lazily pushing the door open, carelessly slamming it behind her afterwards, she did just that.

Around five hours later, the very loud and obnoxious sound of her alarm clock, that she had set earlier, began ringing, making her aware that today would be the day she'd hopefully be finding a job. That annoying voice in her mind urged her to just press the snooze button and go back to sleep, as it attempted to convince her that there were so many other days for her to go look for job.

Normally, this would work immediately and she'd just end up pressing the snooze button innumerable times until she'd just end up turning the alarm off completely. But for the first time (in her life probably), Hazel turned off the alarm completely before getting up.

She was done with being useless and irrelevant. She was always told that she'd be making it nowhere, which was honestly a nightmare to her back then, and now, that nightmare was her reality. Hazel was so full of life and had high expectations for herself and goals so brilliant that were shattered so easily by her just giving up on herself.

Honestly, all she ever did was whine about how much her life sucked, unaware of how much potential each human possessed. She'd simply given up on life, well she was exceptionally close to doing so. Her life literally consisted of her depending on every single person surrounding her for everything. She had had enough of just relying on her father to keep her alive, and continuously pitying her for being a loser. She was sick of the fact that she was using Michael every chance she received for a glimpse of the affection that was clearly so scarce in her life. She was sick of the fact she needed Luke for the happiness and attraction she was in desperate need of, and unwillingly developing feelings for him during the process that are ought to tear her apart for good.

And so she was off, with very little confidence. Her head was hung low as countless busy locals pushed her out of their way rudely and aggressively. It wasn't any different than any other day; the streets were crowded with impolite people (who always seemed to be in a hurry), the weather was unrealistically terrible as usual, and the air smelt of freshly smoked cigarettes and gasoline (two scents that Hazel didn't completely dislike).

With the different pedestrians obnoxiously speaking to one another and pushing their way through the crowds, and the cars that were continuously honking due to traffic and impatience, silence was impossible. Silence and calmness never existed in such a busy city; everyone was hastened to go to work or to get something important done and so much stress radiated off of everyone.
That was why Hazel absolutely hated it outside there and preferred laying at home, because nobody would ever stop in the city to admire how truly extraordinary the atmosphere was, and whenever Hazel was far too busy doing that, there'd be that one ass of a person that would push her out of their way.

She saw absolutely no store with a 'help wanted' sign of some sort, but wasn't giving up just yet. Hazel then passed that small record store her friend Ashton, who just so happened to be in the same band as Michael and Luke, worked at, and she thought it would be perfect. It was quite cliche, though; the music-loving and helpless girl gets a job at a record store because she had no where to go. But who gives a fuck? Life was completely cliche in the most wonderful of ways. Plus, Hazel was accepting any job offer she can get. She would rather live in a small apartment, living off a small amount of money than be completely homeless with no money to spend for human essentials. Actually, that's sort of a lie because Hazel would really enjoy living in a massive mansion with twenty butlers doing everything for her as she goes on random trips to different parts of the world on her private jet than that. It is completely possible, but it did require a heck load of work, and she just wasn't about that life. And she was too lazy.

After walking in, the familiar loud and joyful voice, which belonged to Ashton, could be heard as he said, "Hey, Hazel!"

Eye-contact was exchanged, followed by a small smile before she shuffled quietly to the counter he stood behind, which he was previously busy dusting.

"How can I help you?" He asked, the professionalism in his current tone came quite surprising to Hazel as he was usually very chirpy and noisy - in a very good way.

Hazel explained her situation - how she was in desperate need of a job, as it would not only help her start earning the money she doesn't possess, but that it would help her keep herself occupied and her mind off of different things. But she mostly emphasized on the fact she really needed some money.

No, her father was not suddenly bankrupt. He earned a fair amount of money that kept him alive throughout his adulthood, and which kept Hazel alive for nearly twenty one years. She, unlike her father, was broke and spent the money she earned magically on incredibly stupid items that were no where near necessary.

Ashton - being the kind-hearted fellow he was - immediately offered Hazel a job at the store, as he claimed he fully understood her situation. "You start tomorrow, kid."

*****

YOYO FRIENDS i'm pretty sure everyone is on winter/christmas break now which means i have loads more time to do nothing which also means i'm going to try to update once or twice every week like i did before instead of twice a month lol

AGAIN thank you all so so so much for every single thing you have done to support this book even though it sucks ass YOU ARE ALL THE LOUIS TO MY HARRY I LUV U