The back of her head was pressed against the rough bark of the tree. She was supposed to be working, but with the guitar in her hands all she could think of were the chords of one of her favorite songs. She played the song over and over and over again. Her eyes were closed but her fingers blindly found their correct placements. She had been playing guitar for so long that this was nothing to her.

In hopes of finding inspiration and to get a breath of fresh air from her dingy, house studio, Aurora was now in her local park and feeling the heat of Los Angeles encompassing her. She was not used to this just yet. Everything about California was different from her home back in Chicago. It was January and in California, she could wear shorts and sandals and sit outside while trying to write. In Chicago, her family had just received two feet of snow.

It was not Aurora's fault that she stayed up until 4 a.m. to finish what she had to for work, but she still was not able to finish. Her deadline was three days away and she had hit a writer's block. After being up so late, her brain felt like mush and she had to finish this song. Instead, now she was playing the intro to "Therapy" by All Time Low on repeat.

She had been working with Alex Gaskarth the night before and now that was all she could think of. Working with him had made her preteen emo dreams come true. They were working with Halsey on her new album, since Halsey wanted to go for a "punkier vibe".

The Chicago native could easily write for any genre, especially since she had so many musical influences in her city. Aurora had also written for numerous artists, ranging from Shawn Mendes to Khalid to 5 Seconds of Summer. The only genre she had yet to have a hit song from was reggaeton, but she was supposed to be working with Bad Bunny and Normani in two months.

The thing that helped her the most with being a great songwriter was that she made every artist she worked with sign a nondisclosure agreement. Aurora would use her pseudonym, Estella Vega, and they would get a hit song. Sometimes, the artists would want to meet her and help, but other times, such as in the case when she wrote for 5 Seconds of Summer, she wrote the song with people such as Alex and would hand over the song to the band. To be fair, the song she written for them was the only song they did not write on their last album. Their management had bought the demo from her as soon as they had heard it.

Truly, Aurora was thankful for her job. She was able to do what she loved while keeping her anonymity in a city as big as L.A. This city could become too superficial to her, so the fact that she had a few solid friends, had the best job, and got to work with some of her favorite artists was truly a dream to her.

At first, when she had started her new job, Aurora was traveling between her apartment in Chicago and her hotel room in Los Angeles. It then became increasingly difficult to book flights and be on planes when the demand for her was increasing. Now, Los Angeles was almost like a second home. It still was not her favorite place, but it was bettering itself. Nothing would be home compared to Chicago.

It felt weird being away from home, especially since it was the longest she had gone without seeing her family. She saw them over Christmas and New Years, but before then it had been two months. Latino families were not used to being far away from each other and Aurora had felt extremely overwhelmed at first.  She missed her mom and her dad, and even her three older brothers. Well, she missed her niece and nephews the most. Her brothers were not as important because she loved spending time with their children the most. She missed babysitting them.

Specifically, she missed her niece, Valentina, who was four-almost five. Valentina was the youngest of her nieces and nephews, and Aurora had a soft spot for her. Especially, since she was the only girl just like Aurora. Aurora had been the only girl of four as well. Valentina was even her lockscreen. She was holding a bubble wand and her cheeks were blown up. Aurora could easily remember that day and she missed it.

Aurora had not realized she had zoned out until she realized she was no longer "Therapy" and the new song she was writing had replaced it. When they were writing, Halsey said she wanted her album to be a feministic, punk album and Aurora immediately fell in love with the concept after hearing her describe it.

She had her notebook sitting next to her leg and she was scratching out certain lines that she had once loved. Her professor, when she was in college for that one semester, had told her that sometimes when it came to writing, you had to kill your babies. He meant that you had to remove your favorite lines and maybe something new would come out of it.

Aurora had been working for hours and so far, she had the chorus down. It had the words "siren", "femme fatale", and "temptress" and Aurora loved it. She was trying to work in the words "nightmare" but she was not sure if it would work. Halsey had managed to write the second verse and Alex had helped with the bridge, but the pieces that actually made it a coherent song were missing. It was chunky and Aurora hated chunky. She was scratching out certain words, but it was not getting better.

"Duke, come back!" a raspy voice yelled.

Aurora barely paid attention to the words that were being yelled, just assuming that it was someone else trying to get their loose dog again.

It was a yap and two tiny paws on her notebook that brought her out of her deep concentration. Aurora looked up from her notebook that was laying on the floor and the first thing she saw was fluff and a lot of it. Four white paws, followed by white legs, a small white body, and then a small, husky face. The dog's ears flopped over and seemed to overtake the dogs face. The dog placed his paws on Aurora's leg rather quickly and he did not hesitate to lick her face. A red leash dragged behind him. She was not sure if it was her lack of sleep or if she had been in the heat for too long, but it took Aurora a second to realize that it was not the dog talking.

"Hey bub," Aurora said, scratching behind his ears. He was a really cute dog and Aurora may be in love with him. He yapped again and licked her face again. It was her biggest pet peeve when owners would let their dogs lick their face, but she would let it slide for him.

"You're really cute." Aurora could not help but giggle as she petted him.

Soon after, behind the dog was a pair of black Nikes and Aurora let her eyes skim up in the same way she had done to the dog. Brown legs, black running shorts, a grey lycra shirt, and two dark brown eyes were all put together in front of her in the form of a really cute boy. A really cute, tall boy. She wanted to see the height difference between her five-foot-one self and him.

His muscles were taught and tight in his shirt as he crossed his arms across his chest. The red leash was now back in his hands as he reached down to pick it up. He got relatively close to Aurora and she could not help when her breath hitched. It was when his eyes landed on the frazzled girl, that a smug grin placed itself on his face. He could not help but inspect her.

Her hair was clearly not brushed but instead, thrown up into a curly mess of a bun. She was sitting on an old blanket. She was wearing a massive, yellow t-shirt and he could not exactly tell if she was wearing pants. Her guitar was on her lap and she had her notebook sitting messily next to her. She at least had a bottle of water and a package of Oreos sitting next to her, so at least he knew that she was partially taking care of herself.

Calum normally would not have walked up to a girl at a park, but there was a first for everything. He would not say he purposefully let Duke loose, shoving him in Aurora's direction, but if she asked, he would admit it. He promised his pup extra treats if he did it correctly. Calum was just glad his dog did not end up running to the bald man one tree trunk over.

"Duke, you have to stop leaving me to run up to pretty girls," Calum scolded, actually very happy his dog had left him. It gave him an excuse to talk to her.

"Oh, so he runs up to other pretty girls all the time?" Aurora interrogated, her lip quirking up at what she had heard the cute boy say.

"No. Just you!" Calum interjected. He did not want this to seem like a lame pickup line trick that he used all the time. Again, there was a first for everything.

"My name is Aurora," she said, introducing herself. Duke had now perched himself in her lap and she was casually petting him. It seemed like his dog was actually hers.

"I'm Calum and that is Duke," he said, motioning to the pup in her lap.

"He's really freaking cute," Aurora said, still not letting go of the puppy.

Calum could not help but coo at how cute the two looked together. Duke could always use a stepmother.

"He is my pride and joy. He also keeps me on my toes if you could not tell," the boy said.

"I can only imagine, but Duke is worth it." Aurora smiled, moving to put her guitar down all the way and to fully pick up the dog. "I love him already."

Calum grinned widely as he saw the way the two were interacting. Duke was not that trusting right away, so the fact that he trusted this random woman in a park, Calum knew he could trust her too. She was scratching behind the pup's ears and then looked up at his really cute owner. Aurora was feeling bold today. Most likely from the lack of sleep.

"Do you want to get coffee? And maybe lunch?"

Calum nearly dropped Duke's leash once again.

***

First chapter is up! It felt really good to write again and I am so excited to see how this story plays out. Aurora is basically songwriter!badass!latina! and Calum is in awe of her already. There was a lot of backstory this chapter and there will be more next chapter when they finally get to know each other. I hope you love it! Hopefully, I will have another chapter up in the next two or three days.

-malumwritings