Through Painted Eyes and Pastel Tears

Chapter 3: I Will Follow You Into the Dark

Jazz.

I thought to myself, the name of the person sitting right next to me in a ride sharing car. Cute, edgy, punk. You showed me colors in little to no time.

I was on my phone looking up every color I've ever heard of just to get to see what they look like. Pink, red, yellow, blue. With the few minutes of silence we initially had in the car, that's what I did. Occasionally, I'd look out my window and up at the sky, burning my eyes a bit from starting too long at the sun. For the first time in my life, the heat of the sun felt much warmer knowing its color now.

I put my phone and camera back in my bag after taking a few photos. She sighed, and leaned into me, checking the screen over my shoulder, "Tingin nga nung kuha mo sa'kin?" She said, I obliged, "Do I look pretty in it?"

I showed her the screen on my camera, the photo I took of her displayed. Her blonde hair waving and dancing against the sunlight, a halo around her as well, glowing, making her bronze skin glisten.

"I feel like you're the type of person who never has bad photos taken." I said, while the driver up front smiled at what he heard. "Diba, kuya?"

"Few hours of meeting you, sure na akong bolero ka." She turned her attention to the driver, "Diba kuya? Bolero tong soulmate ko eh."

The driver agreed, complimenting Jazz with her hair, I nodded in approval.

"Sa music, hilig ka, dapat mahilig ka song writer future jowa mo eh?" She asked while taking out her earphones and plugged the jack into her phone. I smiled, nodded. She put one bud into my ear, the other in hers. "Good, I wouldn't want my soulmate to have bad taste in music. Let's listen to some of my favorites. I never share this okay?"

She clutched her phone, feigning defensiveness of it before chuckling and pressing shuffle on her playlist. It was December Avenue's "Huling Sandali."

"Sulat ko yan." She grinned proudly. Somehow, I felt a sense of pride for her too.

"Talaga ba? Ganda naman. Parang ikaw." I said, purposely trying to flirt with her. Within a few hours of having met my soulmate, somehow I've already felt comfortable with her. "Yie."

"Kupal. Ano ba." She said, wiping her palm onto my face. A faint shade of red crept up on her cheeks again.

"Excuse me, sir. Sa MoA tayo ano?" The driver asked, looking at me through the rear view mirror with a smile.

"Yes, kuya." I answered.

She chimed in, "What's in MoA? Ang teenager ha, sa mall tayo mag-tutuloy ng date?"

I nudged her playfully and responded, "Secret. I, also, am feeling kinda hungry. Lots of choices there."

She nodded slowly as the song shifted to Ebe Dancel's version of "Prom." She started singing along, I joined in. She leaned her head on my shoulder and sighed, saying, "Sana di tayo magkasakitan, Tommy."

That hit me hard a little, knowing her parents' story. But I felt my heart flutter, my stomach twist in a knot but in a good way. Her hair smelled like lavenders, which I know the color of now. I found you, Jazz, now I can see clearly. I can see the colors that have only been stories, fables to me; a figment of my imagination right before I met you. As she leaned on my shoulder, I knew, right then, how it felt like to have the weight of the world on my shoulder. This girl, still unsure, would be my whole world.

She took my phone from my hand, snapping me out of my own monologue. "Picture tayo, Tommy." She held my phone out and snapped a pic of us, then a few more with wacky poses. She stifled her laughter, but insisted on a few more. "Awkward mo naman magpapicture, magaling ka ngang photographer. Clueless about posing though."