sweetheart

lana
prologue

"hey lana." jenna somer, the owner of plain talk, greeted me as i walked in the little book-shop-slash-cafe. just as she did everyday when i stopped by.

"hi jen."

"the usual?" she asked. i sighed and shook my head no, loose brown hair falling in my face.

"no i, uh, i lost my job. can't afford luxuries at the moment." i said, scratching the back of my neck. "you know, it's dumb, can't get a place to live without a job, can't keep a job without a place to live."

"jenna, order her usual," a man said as he cut in front of me. as he stepped aside i saw a twenty on the counter. "and if i could get a green tea with some honey, that'd be lovely." he added.

" 'course calum. it's nice to see you again," they went on to chat, but all i took in was the man in front of me. with brown eyes and messy brown hair, he was quite a bit taller than me, and he looked barely out of his teenage years.

curiosity filled me as i watched him drum on the counter with his fingers. he was wearing a crew neck sweatshirt, a beanie, and black skinny jeans. black glasses framed his face nicely. suddenly, he looked over at me and caught me staring. he smiled and pushed his glasses up. i looked down towards the ground and my gaze stopped on my wal-mart canvas sneakers.

"here, lana, was it?" the now familiar voice floated towards me. i looked up and saw the boy called calum holding out my medium chai.

"yeah, lana," i nodded. "thank you, but you didn't have -"

"i didn't have to, i really wanted to though." he cut me off.

"why's that?" i asked, genuinely wondering why someone would take time out of their day to buy my tea when they don't even know me.

"sit and talk with me for a while and i'll let you in on that, yeah?" he smiled. it was a nice lopsided smile. he pushed up his glasses again, and i thought about informing him that he should get them tightened. instead i went out on a limb and simply agreed.