Chasing Blue

Chapter Twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY
INDIGO

Henry opens up my door when we get back to the house, and extends a hand out, helping me out of the passenger seat of his car. "I had lots of fun tonight," he tells me as we walk to the front door. The security light flickers on, and we are promptly cast in a luminous glow.

I nod, my heart beating with the rhythm of a thousand drums in my chest. Is he going to kiss me? A part of me wants him too, just to see. But the other part of me, the larger part, is so repulsed by the idea of kissing anyone other than Kolby, I just want Henry gone.

"Me too," I lie.

"Yeah?" He asks. We're on the porch, the front door inches away. "So, maybe we can do it again sometime soon, then? A night when you don't have stuff to do the next morning?"

Look, Henry, he's a nice guy, a great one, even, and if I wasn't so caught up on a certain Bradford boy, I would honestly be over the moon to be asked out on a second date by him. Especially after being such a shitty date. With that all in mind, I word my response to him very carefully.

"It would be fun," I say, "Ask me again later and I'll give you a for sure answer, okay?" His face doesn't change much as I reply, other than the tiniest twitch of his lips downward.

"What if I could change you're mind?" He says it so softly, I wouldn't even consider it a whisper. If I wasn't so tuned in right now, so wracked with nerves and stress, and regret, and basically every awful feeling in the world, I probably wouldn't have heard it.

"How do you think you'll do that?" I whisper back, barely loud enough for me to hear over my own beating heart.

I know whats going to happen before it does, I have only been anticipating it since we left the theater. Now it's my turn to have clammy hands, to be so nervous my chest rattles as I breathe in and out. But unlike Henry, I'm not nervous because it's a kiss, a first one between complete strangers, but I'm nervous because I don't want Kolby to find out. Ever. It would kill him.

But still, I let Henry Quincy press his lips to mine.

They're chapped, rough against mine as they move in a new and unknown pace. They're too big to fit comfortably with mine, his top lip overpowering mine in an instant. His hands tangle in the hair that lays at the nape of my neck, and he uses this to tilt my head sharply upward. There's nothing soft, or loving, or passionate about this kiss. It's just that, a kiss.

I pull away first, making a show of wiping my lips, ridding them of any trace of him. "Like I said, ask me again later."

He smiles after me as I open the door, nodding his head, looking slightly similar to a child on Christmas Morning.

I quickly step inside, shutting the door. warmth envelopes me, and it's like my body knows when I'm home, because the tears come so quickly.

I basically run up to my room, keeping my sobs as quiet as I can. It's only a little after ten, there's no way Sadie's asleep, if she's even here, that is. There's stuff on my bed, and I almost totally and completely loose it when I see what Kolby Bradford must have meant when he said he hoped I liked it.

A new round of tears, this time from joy prick my eyes as i grab they huge bag of Sour Patch kids. I mean, the bag is at least the size of my head. This boy went of his way to get me such a meaningful gift, and i just kissed someone else. No, I will not being going on another date with Henry Quincy. I open the bag and stuff a handful of candy into my mouth, smiling widely through the tears that run down my cheeks.

I catapult myself onto my bed, and search blindly for the TV remote. When I find it, I turn on my secret -- it's a recording of one of Kolby's games from this last season. One of the few games they had actually won. Kolby had gotten interviewed after the game.

I skip to my favorite part, and there he is on-screen. His blonde curls are sweaty and matted to his forehead, from wearing his helmet. His black face paint, instead of it's original thick back lines, is now just black stains covering the entirety of his cheeks. he doesn't seem to care, as he smiles so wide, I think for an instant his face may split in two.

"Tell me, Mr Bradford, what do you all do to prepare for this game? You all have played like never before tonight!" The interviewer shouts into his mic, before handing it off to Kolby, who grasps it, fumbling it only slightly.

Kolby flashes a smirk at the camera, "We came ready, definitely. We worked as a team. And, also, my sisters best friend just got dumped, so I think I took all of anger out for that whole situation out on the field."

The interviewer laughs, and I smile. I remember the game so clearly, partially because all we had done all day was eat ice cream and talk a healthy amount of trash on Greer.

"You definitely did something different! Now tell me --"

I hit the back button and turn on a rerun of Friends. Nothing like Kolby dishing Greer to make me feel a-okay again. On TV, no less. I hadn't gone to the game I had been so heartbroken, but that was the first time I had managed to smile in the days after.

Ross and Rachel pop on screen as I go in for another of Sour Patch kids, when my phone buzzes.

Kolby.

KOLBY: WOW, I DON'T EVEN GET TO SEE IT ON YOU? HURTS A LITTLE BLUE, IT DOES

I frown, see it on me? What does he mean? How does one wear candy?

The other thing on my bed. Duh. How dumb can one girl be in one night? Very, apparently.

I scramble off the bed and grab the other package. This one is an actual package, like one that comes in the mail. It's addressed to me.

I raise a brow as I open the package and pull out the item inside of it. A black, lacy, lingerie set.

Grinning from ear to ear, I strip out my dress, and slide the thing onto me. There are straps in places I didn't know needed straps, lace literally everywhere. I look hot. Or, as Sadie would say, fuckable.

And there's no way on earth Kolby's getting a picture of me in it. At least, not my entire body, anyway.

I lay flat on my bed, and arch my back a little, puffing up my chest. I raise my arms above my body, and snap the picture. I examine it closely, ensuring it only has what I want it too in it, and then send it to him.

Just my throat, the flat plains of my chest, and the slight curbe of my cleavage, along with the slightest sliver of the black is in the picture.

KOLBY: TEASE

a/n: shut up cuz i eqully love and hate this chapter. i hve reavhed the part where i'm writing just so this book is over. 

thoughts?

Also been hella considering going live when writing on tiktok. so ya.