Come What May

21. lilac

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

LILAC

—

• thursday, april 15th •

A genuinely angry Storm isn't a sight that I get to witness often, but when I do, it's terrifying.

Not because their shoulders get tense as they sink their nails into their palms, probably to prevent themself from saying something that they'd regret, and not because their jaw visibly ticks and their eyes get darker.

Only because they finally live up to their name.

It isn't just a storm that brews behind their eyes, it's a hurricane, an avalanche of unadulterated anger, and I hate it.

I can't remember the last time they were this angry about something; sure, when we first met on the plane, they were mildly miffed. Back then, I thought that that was their anger, but now I've learnt that that was annoyance at best.

Then, the time when they spoke to me about their parents for the first time. They were definitely angry then, but it wasn't a white hot rage, it was more an ice on blisters rage.

The nude shoot. I'm almost certain that they were angry then, the white hot rage kind, something that sends my heart racing now, but they covered it up well. They're good at that. Covering things up.

Two days ago, when we were drunk and they were telling me about their life. They were angry, but not extremely angry. Not like they are now.

Now, they don't seem to be too keen on covering it up.

"Please stop fucking calling me," they hiss into their phone, clearly not intending for anyone to hear them, but with how loud they're being, it's hard not to. Taking a seat on one of the chairs that we always have lying around during shoots, they sigh. "I don't want to talk to you. Please."

Silence. But only for a moment, a moment in which they clench their jaw and run their hand across their freshly buzzed and dyed lilac hair.

I don't want to believe that they went with purple because of me, but that's exactly what I believe.

The crush has only grown. I thought I could stomp on it by convincing myself that they could never like me, but somehow, having an unrequited crush doesn't seem to be a deal-breaker for my heart.

So, when they groan and say, "Please leave me alone, I don't care whose fucking phone you're using to call me, I want you to leave me the fuck alone", their voice cracking this time, loud enough for every single person in the studio to hear, my heart breaks into a million pieces.

Having bad parents is something that I'm extremely familiar with, but having bad people as parents isn't. There's a fine line between the two, and the foster parents that I was dealt with when I was younger never crossed it.

It's clear that Storm's parents are bad parents and bad people, though.

And it's made even more clear when they practically shout, "Oh my god, fuck off. No, I'm not giving you the money that I make, and no, I don't care if money's a little tight, you should've fucking thought of that before you blew all of it on different remedies for my sins."

That does it. That manages to send a sharp ice spike straight though my chest, and usually, I can pull it right out and go about with my life, or worst comes to worst, I wait until it melts, but now, I can't.