𝑀𝐸 𝑀𝘠𝘚𝐸𝐿𝐹 & 𝐼 || 𝟱𝗦𝗢𝗦 𝗔.𝗨.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧: 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬

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|MACKENZIE.|

I COULD FEEL MYSELF STARING INTO THE OCEAN AS ALL MY SENSES NUMBED INTO OBLIVION. I was dissociating, I could feel it. I closed my eyes, my knit sweater sleeves draped over my finger tips, meanwhile as I hold my arms out into the flow of the wind. I was getting ready for this wave of its own when it came to dissociation.

"It's nice isn't it." I hear an Australian boy with a deep voice say from beside me suddenly.

"Huh. And you were supposed to be where now?" I asked over the sound of the calm waves crashing.

"Nowhere in particular. Well besides here. Where else am I gonna go? I'm practically stuck here for the next two months. And apparently, so are you."

"Luckily got to stay in that room downstairs in the basement with Jess. As for everyone else, I think they've got accommodated in whatever deadbeat hotel they've got in the city."

"That's Santa Monica for ya."

I sat on the sand, pulling my knees to my chest as I patted my long white skirt awkwardly.

"Where are you from?" He asked.

"The suburbs. Small Town, several miles out of here. Angelus. You?"

"Sydney. Australia. Well, was. It's a lot of here and there being a band, basically around the world actually."

"Huh. Japan?" I inquired quizzically with a suspicious brow up.

"Totally. Love Tokyo." He nodded in this humbling way.

"Canada?" I asked again.

"Hell yeah." He said.

"How about the Appalachian mountains?"

"Maybe one day." Luke implied with a chuckle.

"Interesting. Canada, Japan, and not the Appalachian mountains. One day, the Appalachian mountains." I went on. I looked him in the eyes, and his eyes were clear this morning, all signs of bloodshot just diminished. "I don't know what else you want me to say to you." I said honestly.

"You can say anything you want."

"Well, space cadet smartass, it wasn't very nice of you to show up half-drunk on set like that yesterday. You're lucky we've got a day off today." I felt offended, I didn't know why, but I just did.

"Look, if anything, I came all this way to apologize about all of that Mackenzie."

"That's assistant to the director to you."

"I never said you weren't." He smirked, tilting his head as he laughed, doing a playful twirl before he sat down on the sand next to me.

All of a sudden, I went silent. The ocean waves looked like spiked grassblades, and the sky looked like creamy paint. Too much. I took a sharp breath, trying to recollect myself. It felt like the thought hit me like a baseball in the face.

"You alright?" He asked me, looking at me in confusion.

I sighed, before nodding. "I just got sand in my eye, it's okay." I dismissed the situation. Luke seemed to be on the edge of words, before I dismissed him again. "Now this thing." I said, rummaging through my book bag before I pulled out the cigarette he gave me yesterday. "Do you want it back?"

"No? Why would I?"

"Well... I was just asking. Geez. That was rude." I felt a bizarre twinge in my mood, that suddenly it didn't feel right to be sitting next to Luke, let alone talking to him like this for this long.

"What? How was that rude in anyway?" Luke wondered.

"Nothing. Nevermind." I dismissed again, feeling like a concave shell. "What we should be doing is getting ready to film for Me Myself & I."

"If it's about professionalism, you've already broken the bounds. At this rate, you'd be fabricating good reality tv." He said honestly, and I rolled my eyes.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, I like you. I think you've got spunk. You could be my friend if you'd like."

"I.. I can't. Look, Luke. Nothing of the sort happened here. We're acquaintances." I rubbed the space between my eyebrows as I got a light wave of a headache. My head felt tense.

Dammit, I was supposed to take my meds a few hours ago. I realized.

"I've gotta go." I said. "I'm sorry."

Before Luke could say anything else, I cut him off by waving a hand at him before I got up and walked away speedily.

My eyesight blurred, and those thunderstorms in my brain pinged. The very sea of doubts doubling in my very senses. I feared they'd triple. I breathed shallowly, feeling tears prick at my eyes though despite so, I fought the urge to cry right then and there.

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