Words: 650
Song: Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons

Weep for yourself, my man,
you'll never be what is in your heart
weep little lion man,
you're not as brave as you were at the start
rate yourself and rake yourself,
take all the courage you have left
wasted on fixing all the problems
that you made in your own head

but it was not your fault but mine
and it was your heart on the line
I really ******** it up this time
didn't I, my dear?
didn't I, my...

Azzo sat and stared at his cell phone sitting on his desk. He’d gotten it back from Marlo obviously. The puppets in his room hung limply and the growing Merlin sat there with his head on Azzo’s leg, the white pup gave a soft whine at the boy.

Azzo blinked when he heard Merlin whine and reached down to scritch the pup’s ears. “What am I suppose to do Merlin?” He asked curiously laying his head on the desk one arm still rubbing Merlin the other used as a pillow.

He’d been thinking about what Grams said and he’d been thinking about it, but... Things just seemed weird. His honey brown eyes were narrowed sadly he couldn’t really bring himself to even think about asking the question that’d been eating at him.

The pup at his side tilted his head as Azzo’s hand ran down the pristine white fur. The pup then jumped up to lean on the desk front paws resting near Azzo’s hand, the boy didn’t draw away until the dog decidedly licked Azzo’s face. “Mer stop that.”

Azzo pushed himself away from his desk and moved over to his bed, falling on red sheets the phone in his hand. The pup followed and jumped up swiftly to lie beside his master, nudging the phone in Azzo’s hand, Azzo batted away the wet nose.

“Stop Mer.” He muttered, should he call her? Would it just make things weird? His eyes watched the stringed puppets hang from his ceiling lifeless. Would things always be this way? His life was too full of disappointment as it was what happened if this was another one.

He looked at the pup, “Should I call her?” He asked eyes glancing out towards the window on the other side of the room. “She’s probably asleep.”

The pup whined again, Azzo looked at Merlin. Who again nudged the phone, “Mer I said stop that, your nose is wet.”

Azzo took a breath and scrolled through his short list of numbers in his phonebook. “What if she answers…” He paused looking back towards the pup. “I don’t think I could explain why I was calling this late.”

Merlin shook his head and got up when he heard something in the kitchen. Obviously Grams was baking something as the aroma of cinnamon and ginger was floating upstairs. Azzo closed his eyes as he felt the bed shift with the dog’s weight leaving it. He’d left the lights off in his room, and the light flooded in as Merlin pawed open the door to see what Grams was doing.

“I guess the only way to find out is to call.” He muttered softly as he watched the black light on the phone fade away again to a screen saver. He frowned, this is stupid, the thought crossed his mind, what do I have to be afraid of?

He sighed and called the number, wondering if the blonde would pick up or if it’d go straight to voicemail. He waited as the phone rang; sitting up eyes falling to the hardwood floor of his room when the voicemail picked up and he heard her voice saying to leave a message.

“Hey Mel…” He started and paused swallowing, “I was just calling to see how you were. You’re probably asleep… so um… Heh call me?” He was about to hang up. “OH Yeah. This is Azzo… I er… have something to ask.”

His cheeks flushed as he hung up. Obviously it was too late to call her or she was busy. She was probably with her cello practice, Azzo shook his head. “Why’s something so simple seem so hard?” He muttered getting up to cross the floor to the window, dragging his chair over so he could look out it…

Azzo took up his Ipod from the desk and turned it on and hit play, Listening to Little Lion Man.