thin walls / calum hood

2.0

Hayley

It wasn't an every day thing for Hayley to wear a lot of make up. Partly because she had no damn idea what she was doing, and because she'd only get frustrated when messing it up. Mascara and some winged eyeliner worked fine for her. With Calum's party getting closer, though, she'd been stood in front of the mirror for a long time.

She had to look good enough for Calum to see her.

Make up brush in one hand, and with her eyes darting between the tutorial playing on her laptop and the mirror, Hayley gave her best attempt at a smoky eye. If it went wrong, she could just smudge it up and pretend it was meant to look like that, anyway. Or say she got punched in the eye on the way to the party.

She'd tried to tell herself that she was putting all this effort because she wanted to feel good about herself. But that would be a lie. She was doing it for revenge. She wanted to walk past Calum and Alyssa, and show him she had moved on as well.  It was playground tactics, but Hayley didn't care. Broken hearts didn't always make great decisions.

Michael showed up just as she was putting her shoes on. He froze when he saw her.

"You look different," was all he said, his eyes moving over her face, making Hayley feel a bit nervous. She wished he didn't think anything about her make up. She'd tried her best to make it look okay. Hell, she'd even contoured. Who even did that?

"Thanks," she smiled. He looked nice, dressed in skinny jeans and a new shirt she'd helped him pick out in the shop the other day. Unlike most of his shirts, this one didn't have holes in it.

There was a smell of alcohol as he pulled her in for a hug. He'd already been drinking, and was carrying the rest in a bag. "Ready to leave?"

"Yeah." Hayley grabbed her purse and keys, taking a breath before heading out the door, closely after Michael.

Luke's place was crowded when they arrived. The party had already been going on for a few hours, so it wasn't exactly surprising that most people were tipsy already.

Hayley kept close to Michael's side. There, she would be safe, and if Calum appeared, she wouldn't have to deal with it on her own. Although she had been getting ready for a majority of the night, and told herself that the make up would give her more confidence, she only felt more nervous.

"Drink?"

"Yeah, thanks," she said, accepting the cup he held out for her.

She wasn't planning on drinking much, but after spotting Calum and Alyssa at the back of the room, Hayley found herself finishing her fourth cup. It was either that or stab herself in the eye with a plastic spoon. As the tingling feeling was starting to kick in, her body got a bit lighter than before.

Body guard Michael turned out to be terrible at his job, and left her when Luke engaged him in drunken conversation about some new video game. Since Hayley was tipsy and emotionally unstable, she tried to stay clear of any humans, and kept drinking on her own.

There weren't many places to hide, though. Not long after Michael left, she made eye contact with Alyssa. She smiled and waved, walking over to her. "Hayley!"

Was this the moment to reach for a blunt object?

"Hey, when did you get here? Why are you sat here alone, come join us in the other room!" The tiny brunette hugged her, and Hayley felt awkward and stiff with Alyssa's arms around her. The most annoying part about her? She was actually a decent human being.

"While ago."

She nudged Hayley, giggling. "You look really nice, you on the pull tonight?"

"Not really."