Kryptonite

L U K E Calum and I were walking side by side. Our footsteps on the pavement provided a sort of beat as Calum hummed under his breath. It seemed like he'd be doing that the entire way, until he suddenly spoke. "Hey, did you know that milk from hippos is pink?" "Where did you even learn that?" I raised an eyebrow at him in amusement. Calum was always full of weird, little facts. For me, it was normal to hear those kinds of things from him even if they were out of the blue. "Ashton told me. I searched it up. Apparently, it's true." He shrugged. I took out the packet of cigarettes I had in my back pocket. "Speaking of, how's Ash and his new boyfriend?" I asked, placing a cigarette in between my lips and fishing for my lighter. "They're okay. Ash told me Michael reminds him of you." Calum nudged my elbow with his own. Once I was able to light my cigarette, inhaling the smoke before huffing it out, I turned to see him patiently waiting for me to answer. "What do you mean?" "This Michael guy has tattoos too. And smokes." He glanced at the grey cloud of thin smoke in front of us, quickly disappearing. "He dyes his hair different colors, though." "Sounds like a cool guy." "Still, he doesn't have as much tattoos as you do." Calum chuckled, eyeing my left arm which was right next to him. Once we reached our destination, Calum and I didn't hesitate to sit down on the dewy grass. He sat with his legs crossed while I leaned against the trunk of a giant tree. The park was our usual hang out place, besides Calum's own house. Being in the park calmed me, whenever we went it was always so peaceful. The fact that it was near both of our homes made it even better. "This place is always empty for some reason," Calum commented, looking directly at the playground area filled with zero kids. I shrugged, staring upwards at the branches of leaves swaying gently with the wind. "When we come here it's usually after school. This place is brimming with people during the weekends, adults and kids everywhere you turn." We quieted down for a moment, letting the breeze fill the silence. "Those still smell so gross." It took a moment to realize that Calum was talking about the cigarette between my fingers, his nose all scrunched up. "It's not bad once you get used to it." I stated matter-of-factly, throwing the cigarette away and crushing it with my foot. "You really should stop. You told me before the reason you sarted was because of the people you hang with sometimes. I'm with you all the time yet I never wanted to try." He shook his head, adjusting the wayfarer-style glasses that framed his face. "You shouldn't, it's not good for you." "It's not good for you either, but you still do it," Came Calum's retort. I barely shrugged in response. This conversation's one we've had tons of times before. Calum started picking at the small grass. "How are things with Chelsea?" Unlike the fun facts he always shared, his question wasn't really out of the blue. I knew he had been curious for days now. I mentioned the girl only once before going completely silent on the matter. He'd try bringing her up a few times in the past week. "Broke things off with her." I was only a little guilty that my voice lacked all emotion. "Of course you did." Even though he had been curious, Calum didn't sound surprised at all. Probably because I've only known Chelsea for less than a month. We met at a party, and all the time I've spent with her was filled with going to her place whenever we were free. It was clear to both of us that a relationship was definitely not what we wanted. "She wasn't my type." I thought out loud, my statement causing Calum to snort. He moved closer to me, leaning against the tree trunk as well. "Nobody's your type." And that was that. Both of us continued to stare at the sky, the sound of leaves rustling quite loud in the silence. Since it was already afternoon and the sun had started to set, the sky was left in a mixture of yellow and orange. "I've never noticed how detailed that was." I tilted my head so that I was facing Calum, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "What?" I followed his gaze and realized he was looking at the tattoo above my wrist. It was a rope that went around my arm and then made a somewhat infinity shape. It was turning out to be one of my favorites. I agreed with Calum, it did look fairly realistic. "The guy who did it said he'd done a bunch of designs like this before." I was only halfway through my sentence when Calum took my arm and started tracing the pattern with his thumb. I felt myself relax, closing my eyes and leaning back once again. Maybe other people would find it weird, but Calum did this quite often. He would admire whichever of my tattoos caught his interest, then he'd trace over it gently, almost as if he's afraid that he'd hurt me if he pressed too hard. I loved it though, and he most likely knew that. There was something about the entire thing that just put me at ease, the feeling of being tense fading away instantly. "Lukey, you know what would go with this infinity rope thing?" "What?" "An anchor." He was talking about those anchor tattoos we'd seen on the internet before, with the rope wrapped all around it. "I don't know, Cal. It doesn't sound like something I'd want on my body, you know, forever." "Maybe I'll get it tattooed." Calum grinned, finding his own idea comedic. "Then we could have, like, a couple's tattoo." I was thankful that Calum was still eyeing the design. I could feel heat spreading across my face, and I'm certain he didn't need to see me blushing. "Nah, they look better on you." Calum looked up just then. I didn't fail to realize how close our faces were. He didn't seem fazed at all. "I think tattoos would look good on you," I mumbled, my mouth working before my mind could keep up. Calum just shrugged before eyeing my arm again, which was currently resting on his lap. He was still tracing over the infinity shape, lips pursing as if what he was doing took a lot of concentration. It was adorable, really. "I love this one." Calum pointed to the small smiley face, located just above the rope. It was a fairly simple one compared to the others I have. In all honesty, the smiley face reminded me of Calum. Cute and always smiling. "You like all of my tattoos." "Not like, Luke. Love."