destruction is a form of creation

“I tried. It doesn’t end well…”

“Why doesn’t it end well?”

"We fight. I cry. Then we go to sleep and act like nothing happened."

Brynn opened her mouth to argue when he took her sketchpad, but she had been a few seconds too late. The blonde watched curiously as he flipped to an unmarked page and handed it back to her a minute later, grinning and rolling her eyes when she looked down. “How is this going to help?” she chuckled, picking up the pencil and writing an ‘o’ in another square. “Cal, can I ask for boy advice?”

“How would it not help?” Cal playfully retorted, haphazardly penciling an ‘x’ in another space. “Things don’t work out when you try to force ‘em — Sometimes you’ve got to take a break.” It was true for music, creatives… anything. Her next question, however, caused him to pause and glance her way with a quirked brow. “I suppose… There’s not someone I need to go an’ try to threaten for you, is there?”

She huffed and placed another 'o' before handing the pencil back to him. "I hate how you're always right sometimes." She shook her head quickly, looking over at him. "No, no. It's about Topher..." she sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "It scares me how much I like him. But he won't let himself get attached to me because of his past that I don't even know but now that we're living together and we see each other like, all the time, I'm starting to like him more and more and I don't know what to do."

“Just try not to take it all personally. I know that it’s hard but it isn’t your fault. You have to remember that,” he looked at her as he said it.

She shook her head, taking a sip from the glass. "It's not even about that part of it. It feels like he's sending me mixed signals. One minute he's really into me and is super sweet and then the next we're fighting and I know it's because of his past but sometimes it's like I care more than he does."

“I swear I’m not. I can’t lie about things like that. Part of my job is being overly critical, remember?” Brynn pointed out, putting her sketch pad down with a sigh. “Terribly. She wants a Victorian era shipwreck without it looking Victorian. But the piece she has on her other thigh is an American Traditional style lighthouse so really either I make the shipwreck Victorian with washed out colors or I make it not Victorian at all so it can match her other piece.” Sure, she didn’t specialize in American Traditional tattoos, but she was damn good at them, even though she would forever refuse to admit it.

Cal remained quiet while the girl explained her current dilemma, appearing to be pondering something until he finally spoke up. “I have an idea,” He insisted, already snatching away her sketchpad before he had permission to do so. Flipping to an unmarked page, he drew out a small tic-tac-toe board and placed an ‘x’ in the center before handing it back with a self-satisfied grin.

Brynn opened her mouth to argue when he took her sketchpad, but she had been a few seconds too late. The blonde watched curiously as he flipped to an unmarked page and handed it back to her a minute later, grinning and rolling her eyes when she looked down. "How is this going to help?" she chuckled, picking up the pencil and writing an 'o' in another square. "Cal, can I ask for boy advice?"

“It is, but it sucks because I can see how much it’s hurting him and seeing him hurt kinda breaks my heart but I can’t do anything to help…” she sighed, walking over to his liquor cabinet before looking over at him. “May I?”

Nathaniel looked at her, “buts it’s all his choice. And maybe it will work out better than it seems.” He nodded his head without hesitation, “of course. Take what you want.”

"I know..." she mumbled, opening the cabinet and pulling out a random bottle and pouring herself a glass. "I feel so pathetic, honestly."

“But you can’t control who he chooses to be with. Just because she had a thing for him their friendship shouldn’t be ruined because of you. That isn’t your fault.” He looked at her as he said it, “you can’t blame yourself.”

"I know... I just feel bad because their friendship may be over because of me..."

“As long as you don’t regret this…” she mumbled.

“I don’t.  You need to relax, Brynn.  I said I’m handling it, and I am.”

"I am relaxed I just feel bad. That's kind of what I do."