Blue Souls

Chapter 15: Red Birthdays

"(singing) I'll always be here for you."

"Wow. That was..." he starts to say.

"Cheesy, I know."

"That, and it was also adorable."

"You'll be the adorable one when you start singing this song."

He looks at me with confusion.

Oh shit.

"No, that's not what I meant!"

"I know, I'm kidding, haha."

I was just letting him listen to the song I just wrote. Well, I may have lied a little. I did write that song but it wasn't the one I was currently working on. I didn't want him to hear that dramatic song. It's not written as a duet and performing it at the open mic wouldn't be so appealing.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's start rehearsing. Shall we?"

***

I gotta be honest, it's been a breeze rehearsing with him. It's easier to have someone who knows how to read music. Given the little time we had to rehearse due to exams and all, he quickly picked up the song. All that's left to worry about is the outfit.

"Seriously? You're going with that?" I ask, surprised by the look he picked out.

"What's wrong with wearing a coat? It looks fancy."

"Yeah, too fancy for a casual party. Don't you have anything... simpler?"

"I have a red flannel."

"No, no, no. Red is my color."

"Oh yeah. I haven't noticed it before, but your room is just full of red."

"All except the blue stuff I recently got on my birthday. Jessica really knows how to annoy me," I gestured to the bag, shoes, and the shirt on my table.

"Hmm... If you wear red, what should I wear?"

"White would do just fine."

He searched for a white shirt in the bag of clothes he brought to my room. In it, he found a white long-sleeved button-up and showed it to me. It looks decent but not too formal. I just shrug and nod.

"About your birthday, I didn't really get to greet you. So, I'm going to greet you now. A super belated happy birthday to you."

"Haha thanks, but it doesn't matter that much now anyway."

"Okay, but can I at least get you something?"

"Sure, but what?"

"We could go to watch that movie that has been waiting on the sidelines?"

"Oh, right. I forgot about that. Alright."

"Great! There's this really cool movie I wanna watch but I'm sure you'll enjoy it as well," he says reluctantly.

"Fine by me. We can watch it online."

"What do you mean online? We can just watch it at the cinema."

"Oh, the cinema...," I say, a bit discouraged.

"What's wrong?" "I don't go to cinemas."

"Why not?"

"My, uh... my parents- parent, I mean, doesn't allow me to go there."

"Don't worry, they won't find out about it."