Beautiful, Grey World (Trillie)

9

Saturday, February 18th

I spent the rest of my boring birthday doing absolutely nothing. It was a really fun way to spend my 24th.

But Saturday, oh boy, Saturday was going to be way more exciting.

I woke up, thinking that today was gonna to be another boring repeat of Friday. But when I checked my phone to see what time it was, I saw a text from Mike.

hey I'm coming over to ur house w/ Kevin and tre at 12 to test smth k?

What? Ok? I guess I was having guests over? I looked at the time to see how long I had to get ready. 11:54. About 6 minutes. Would it really be worth it to rush my morning routine? No. I'll just change out of my clothes, take my meds, and then wait for Mike. And that didn't take all that long. I was dressed in about a minute.

A few minutes later, my door was open and three men were inside. Time to see what Mike wanted to test.

"Okay, Billie. I want to get whatever you and Tré have going on figured out. Tré says he can see color, you say you can't. So I'm gonna test it." Mike stated, giving me no time to say anything. He sat me and Tré on my couch, Kevin in a chair on the right, and then himself on the left. He had a bag of stuff on his lap.

"So, I'll take something out of here," Mike gestured to the bag, "and just say what color you think it is. I can tell whenever you," pointing at me, "are lying, so tell the truth. Even if it is just 'grey, grey, grey, and more grey'. Oh, and Kevin and me will just confirm whether Tré's answers are right."

Man. I just woke up. I don't wanna do this. But whatever. Mike's already drove here with all this testing stuff, why not.

Mike grabbed the first thing out if the bag. A shirt. Wow. "Billie, what color is it?" He asked.

"It's grey." I sounded incredibly bored. I was.

"Tré?"

"Yeah it's a grey shirt." Wow. Another thing I can see correctly. Awesome.

"Good. You're both correct. That was just to see if one of you would lie."

This probably would've gone better for me if I had coffee. I can't believe I forgot to make my morning coffee! I mean, its my house. I can just get up and make it while Mike does his thing, but that seems rude.

Anyway, the test took like, 8 minutes. Which is 8 minutes too long without coffee. Once Mike got done, I rushed over to my kitchen, making the lovely caffeine drink. I sat back down, feeling better.

"So, Billie," Mike had directed all his attention to me. He even moved his chair to face me. "Considering the facts that you never lied about what you were seeing, and that Tré is 100 percent certain that it was you that caused him to see color, than I've come to a conclusion. I think you're colorblind."

The room was silent. I let what he said sink in. Colorblind. Forever. I'd never see anything in color. Never the sunset, never the trees and grass, never my guitar. Never Tré's beautiful face. Never.

"Now, there's a very tiny chance that you're not. So, just to make sure, I found, like, an eye doctor or something to check. He specializes in soulmate stuff. If you wanna go, I'll take you." I was barely even listening to what Mike was saying. All I could think about was all the things I've been told were beautiful in color. I could still experience it, but would it be as spectacular as other people say?

The only positive that I could find was the fact that Tré was probably my soulmate. I could think he's pretty without feeling guilty about it. But even then, what if he didn't want to deal with me?

"Fine. Take me to the eye doctor person. But... uh... can you come with me?" I asked Tré. If this doctor person confirmed that I couldn't see color and it wasn't just a mistake Tré made, I wanted to see how Tré would react.

"I was going to. When Mike said that he thought you were colorblind and was going to take you to a doctor, I wanted to see if you really were." Tré sounded... off. Like he still didn't believe that I wasn't lying.

I looked away from him and back to the rest of my living room. "Well, when are we going? If its today, then sorry, I am not going." I really didn't want to have to drive to a doctor today. That'd make this day go from somewhat less boring than yesterday to way more boring than yesterday.

"Nah, we're going tomorrow." Mike said, "We being me, you, and Tré. Kevin has to work, sadly." He looked longingly at his boyfriend. Why can't I have that? Why can't I have a boyfriend who I wish could come with me to do stuff but can't because of stuff he has to do?

Well, maybe after I go to the eye doctor, Tré will want to be with me. I hope he does. I hope he wants to take me on a lot of dates. I won't think about the negative outcomes that could happen. I don't want to think about them. What if the bad things come true if I think about them?

"Mike, I think we should go. I wanna spend more time with you before you gotta go tomorrow." Kevin said, already standing up. Mike followed him, waving goodbye as the pair left my house. It wasn't until a couple minutes after they had left when Tré spoke up.

"They were my ride here. Fuck." He sighed, drumming his fingers on the couch. "Well, do you want me to stay a bit? Or do you want to just drive me home now. Cause you're my only choice."

Ok. Options. Spend time with Tré or don't. Now, he's been kinda mean towards me and does think that I'm a liar, but maybe he'll think I'm a nicer or better person if he spends the rest of the afternoon with me. But what if he was just being polite by saying I had options? What if he actually wanted to go home but didn't want to outright say it?

"I mean, I want you to stay a while, but if you want to go home, then I'll take you." There. He can tell me if he wants to go home now.

"Well, I don't have classes I need to go to, so I'll stay." Yes! More time with Tré!

Now what? Surprisingly, there's not a lot of interesting stuff at my house. I should really buy something that makes me not bored. Like a Playstation or Xbox or something.

Maybe I could ask about the college he goes to. I never been to one and I've got barely any idea whats it like. But what if I sound like an old relative asking how's school been? How do I not sound old?

"Um... so, what's college like?" Is that a normal thing for 23- no, 24 year old sounds like?

"Eh. Its fine. Kinda just feels like an upgraded highschool. Highschool plus. I only really like my art classes, since that's what I'm good at. And the art professor is really nice. It's still kinda boring, but maybe I just don't get invited to parties."

Yes! I'm getting him to talk! I get to hear his amazing voice some more! "Any other classes you like?"

"Nope. Other classes are just boring. And also don't help me in any way. Except maybe geometry. Geometric shapes are in art." He drew some shapes in the air with his finger, I guess to prove his point.

"So, I guess you want to be some sort of artist for a job. But what kind? Like drawing/painting, graphic design, maybe even tattoo artist?" I ask. As I said the last part, I looked over his tattoos on his arms.

"Just someone who draws stuff and then sell whatever I draw to someone. So, a 'normal' artist."

We kept talking for a couple hours. I actually felt like we were bonding! I wanted him to stay for long, maybe even the night, but he did have to go.

"Should probably head back now. I'm sorry, but I'll get to see you tomorrow." Tré said, standing up. He motioned for me to get up as well. I forgot that I had to drive him.

The drive to his dorm wasn't long. I dropped him off outside, watching as he left before driving back home. I hoped the results of tomorrow could change what our relationships was.