#michaelgclifford

‘surviving’ might have been the best term as the duo entered their preteen years. because while calum stayed scrawny, she was getting a lot of attention from boys suddenly. she thought she was over max years ago, but boy oh boy, when he came up to her after school and asked if she wanted a ride home on the handlebars of his bike, she couldn’t say no. calum got on the bus alone that day, and while he didn’t know it yet, the best word to describe him then was ‘sulking’.

as their final schooling year approached, the tides turned. calum filled out because of his love and talent for football, and growing a foot helped him out with the ladies as well. on the other hand, she had earned a false reputation because max lied after they broke up, saying that they’d had sex when all they’d ever done was kiss. calum knew the truth, but the damage had been done to everyone else by that time. she was branded the school slut, who didn’t deserve to be best friends with the golden boy. as hard as they tried, it was hard to stay close with the entire school trying to rip him away from her. even harder when calum dated lexi van plasse. lexi was one of the worst shamers in the school. 

‘heartbroken’ described her best, then.

they found each other again the summer before university. calum was going to flinder’s university on a full athletic scholarship; she had gotten a guaranteed acceptance into her program due to her high test score. they ran into each other on orientation day, and caught up over coffee in the library after the presentation was over. calum and lexi had broken up by then, and she was dating a guy she had met at her job. although quite a lot had changed since the day of the peanut butter sandwich, they were able to talk as though nothing had. on move-in day, they discovered they were rooming in the same building, which left them both jubilant. 

freshman year, they spent a good portion of time together, as much as two busy university students could. sharing an on-campus job in the rec center office helped that as well. they’d talk about classes and professors, roommates and RAs, and reminisce about all the times they’d shared and spent apart. calum got to meet her boyfriend, sam, a few times, and while he seemed perfectly nice, there was just something off about him to calum. or maybe it was something off about them. they just didn’t seem suitable for each other. 

and over the next year, calum’s word became ‘concealing’. he didn’t like hiding things from her, he hated leaving any part of his life unshared from his best friend... but he knew if he didn’t, it would ruin everything. they had just become best friends again, and he wouldn’t lose her a second time, not over a silly little crush. that wasn’t silly or little or even a crush. it was far more than that, so much more that he had to call it a crush for fear of acting on his feelings. she was happy with sam, and that was that. he wanted her happy, and jeopardizing that and their friendship was unbearable. she was too important to lose, so he resigned himself, and convinced himself he was happy.

until the night she was in his dorm, laying up on his bunk while he tried to finish his essay on philia versus pragma vs eros at his desk. she was texting someone, probably sam, though calum tried not to think about that, and watching some crime drama on his tablet. she had shown up at his door ready for a night out, but once he told her about the essay, she quickly pulled on a t-shirt of his and some football shorts, completely fine with a night in. and he was getting along with the essay completely fine until he reached the part where he had to combine all three and compare them. (now might be the time to mention that philia means friendly love, pragma means practical love, and eros means passionate love). he had to name the point where they might intersect, and no matter what he typed, the only word he wanted to use was her name.

finally, he sighed, saying, “want to help me with something?”

“sure,” she replied, pausing the episode. “whatcha need?”

“i’m writing about--” he paused, deciding how to phrase it. “--kinds of relationships, and i was just wondering what word you’d use to describe us. like, our relationship.”

“damn, that’s loaded,” she responded with a little laugh. “um... uh... any word? can i use a phrase?”

“i’d prefer just one word, honestly,” calum answered.

“okay, um... enduring,” she said. 

“...enduring.” he repeated her flatly, spinning his chair around to look at her. “enduring? that’s all?”

“well, what do you want, calum?” she asked exasperatedly. “you wanted my opinion! i think we’ve gone through and ‘endured’ a lot together, don’t you?” and as dumb as he knew it was, that dumb word was the breaking point. enduring. 

“felicitous,” he said in return. “unerring. ardent. veracious. perfervid. impetuous.”

“calum, you might want to speak english,” she said, rolling her eyes and jumping down from the bunk. “i don’t know what part of my answer wasn’t good enough.” she crossed her arms then, taking a step forward. while she and calum bickered all the time just for fun, she seemed to realize that there was more to this than just fun. which is what completely pushed him over.

he leapt up from his chair and closed the distance between them with two short strides. before she (or he) could fully process what was happening, he had reached for her jaw, holding her head as he crashed his lips into hers. as he did, he could feel every part of him tense and relax, and all he could think about was this, and her, and them, and how her hand was touching his chest, not pushing him away, just resting there, feeling his heart as it attempted to beat out of his chest. 

slowly, they broke apart, lips lingering and foreheads pressed together. it had just processed in calum’s brain, the whole ‘that just happened’ wave that goes through someone’s brain after they kiss, when quite suddenly, she did push him away. his eyes flickered open, and he was shocked to see the look of anger on her face. before he could say anything, she spoke.

“what the hell was that?” she spat, eyes wide. he chest was rising and falling rapidly as she stared at his speechless form. after a moment of this, she scoffed, leaning over to grab her things and make for the door.