oneshots + short stories b.e

sharks and stolen glances 3

i stared in the mirror, looking through myself. bea stood behind me on a stepstool, playing with my newly dyed hair. "do you like it?" she murmured, splitting it down the middle and starting to braid it. i nodded slightly. i liked the blue, i did. but id always had a complicated relationship with mirrors, and now wasn't an exception. i gripped the sink harder, and tried to recognize my reflection.

sighing, i began to examine myself. i looked the way i always did, tired. i've always thought i looked a bit like a tim burton character, like the corpse bride. even more now, with my newly blued hair. it's not that i don't like what i see in the mirror, it's that i'm completely detached from her. i look through my reflection, and i don't know the bruised, tired face looking back at me.

my dad came home for the first time in weeks two days after christmas. i climbed out the window with bea, but when i came home, he was still there, and i realized there was nowhere i could run where he wouldn't be waiting on the other side, seething and expectant. he told me after, that my school called him, and i needed to dye the silver away.

and that's how me and beatrice ended up in the  hair dye isle of walmart, in complete silence, hand in hand. i watched as she picked out a blue, and gave me a small, hopeful smile. and then, we ended up here. her braiding my damp hair, and me trying to learn the words to tell her what had happened when i went home, even though i knew by the way she touched me like i was delicate, that she already knew.

"i think i like this even more than the silver" she mumbled, wrapping her arms around my waist from behind and resting her head on my shoulder, planting a soft kiss on my neck. i hummed in response, nodding softly. "finneas chose it. the silver i mean." i told her, and immediately realized how confused she was. "uh, my brother. the redhead" i mumbled, and watched her nod softly. "the first thing i noticed when i met you was your hair. i thought it was really fucking hot" she admitted, and i couldn't help but laugh softly.

beatrice swearing had to be one of my favorite things. it was always unexpected, and always sounded unnatural coming from her pink manicure or the soft, curled hair that fell down her back. bea was like a heart shaped lollipop. she was the softest person i'd ever met, in every way.

somehow, dying my hair felt like a reminder that the real world still existed, and in less than a week i would have to say goodbye to waking bea up in the morning with a kiss to her forehead, to having her with me all the time, to the peace i had only just tasted for the first time. and i would soon have to say hello to the stares i get in the hallway, to feeling small and insignificant and insecure the moment i step foot through the doors, to accusations and insults and slaps from rose.

and worst of all, me and bea would become secret again. we would go back to the way we were. and i dreaded it more than anything. at the thought of it, i felt a pang in my heart and i pulled bea close to me, wrapping my arms around her waist. "baby." bea cooed, wrapping her arms around my neck, and i felt my heart flutter. "you're so fucking beautiful" she murmured, and i looked at her, surprised.

"you think i'm beautiful?"