F*cking cliché

I step out of the car in the parking lot I should've went to in the first place.

I lock my car and walk over to the other car where a confused boy rolls down the window.

The honey eyes stare right into mine as the wavy ash blond curls move in the wind reaching it through the window.

'What's going on?'
'Do you remember the beach where we watched the sunset after our first date?' I ask calmly. 'Yes?'
'Can we go there?'
'Where's Levi?' 'I'll explain it there.'
'Hop in the back.'

My eyes go down to my twitching hand when I try to open the door.

'Take your sweet time.'

I shake my head, open the door and sit down.

'What genre music do you want?'
'What do you mean?' 'Come on you do still listen to music right?'
'Why do you want to put on music?'
'Calum it's a two hour drive to get there and I'm not going to drive in complete silence for so long.'
'Pop punk,' I mumble.

He laughs and hands me over his phone.

'I got you covered fam, I have thousands of playlist with poppunk, poprock and whatever else comes close, pick a song you like.'
'We bonded over our music taste didn't we?' I ask as a reminder.
'The fact you helped me study, both theorywise as practice, helped us too.'
'I used to be stronger than you.'
'At first yes, later I just enjoyed ending up underneath you.'

I take a few minutes to think while mumbling along with the song.

'So you finally admit you let me win?'
'It was the only time we got somewhat intimate, we would almost kiss, but you would chicken out or we would be interrupted, it was great until you abandoned the whole thing. You never told me what happened, it surely can't have been all because of your mom.'

I take a deep breath and finally tell him the truth.

'My dad tried to make me straight through therapy and this woman she was.. horrible. Eventually I gave in, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have treated you the way I did. It wasn't your fault.'

This time it's Grayson who keeps his mouth shut.

'Sorry can't fix the feelings you crushed back then, but.. it's alright your brain had been poisoned.'
'That's a weird way of p..'
'Calum are we good?'
'I think we are.. depends on what you think,' I respond. 'Then we're good.'

'You're going to hate me again after what I did to Levi though.'
'You handed him over didn't you?'
'Yeah..' I admit.
'I knew you would, that's why I offered him to stay at my place, but he was to afraid he would drag me into this. Calum I might me younger, but I don't need to be protected.'

'So how's Sky?' 'You always change the subjects don't you? Anyway he's fine just getting older, I'm sure he misses your cuddles.'
'He's a good boy.'
'He sure is, he's my buddy, I'm not planning on letting him go.'
'He loves me.' 'And I loved that.'

'Are you over me?' I ask after a few painful minutes of silence.
'I guess, I don't know. Levi is an alright kid.. he will take care of you and protect you if you just.. join us, please join us Calum.' 'Gray I can't I..'
'Freedom right? That's what you get out of this right? Use that freedom to quit and join us.'

The car comes to a stop.

'How do you know that?'
'There's a microphone in your car.. I put it there.. just in case I could do something. I couldn't do anything though, the whole area was blocked off,' he sighs,' Why did you need to plan it this well?' 'I didn't, my dad and coworkers did everything I only knew where to drive to.' 'Get out.'

I get out of the car and am met with a beautiful few of the sea.

'It's even more pretty at daylight.'
'You want to go down there and get our clothes all sandy?'
'No I want to get down there and catch up with my old pal.'

He laughs shortly.

'Don't use pal that's making you sound so much older than you are.'
'You always accused me of having an old brain in a tiny body.'
'In the past, now you just say things that make you sound old.'

The soft smile, I admit to have missed  quite a bit, appears on his face as his hand slowly makes his way down into mine.

'Levi seems like a tough guy, but he's actually really sweet.. he's like a dad or a brother to all of us. He will forgive you, I'm sure of it.'
'I'm not.. he begged and I still.. let them take him.'
'He begged?' 'Something like it.'
'Shows he cares about you.'

His hand moves away again and we walk onto the beach.

'Ask him what you can do for him, he wants you on our side so he can fully be with you, Calum he's mental about you. Ask him what you can do and do it, give him proof and everything, let him know you're serious and willing to sacrifice things for him. I'll help you if needed.'

I take a deep breath as I look at the waves crashing onto the sand like a madman slamming a hammer into someone's skull.

'I'm sure he's going to ask me to leave as soon as he sees me.'
'Calum he won't, behind the wall of fire there's a heart.. you just have to put out the flames.'