COLOUR BLIND

CHAPTER 17

Ian asked if I'll like to read at his house after school and I agreed to do so.
      There were a few things I hadn't noticed on my first visit to the white mansion.
There was a large portrait of Ian's Dad holding a bottle of branded whiskey.
He stood with some older-looking black men who wore suits and looked like they were his business partners.  There was also a small model of the Scottish flag on Ian's window. Tartan clothing wrapped on the small table in Ian's room and small objects Ian had collected from his travel around the globe in a small glass container he put on the table.

"What are you looking to read?". I asked Ian who seemed to be searching through the numerous books on his shelf.
He unbuttoned his school shirt and flung it on the sofa beside the bed I was sitting on. I couldn't take my eyes off him.
" science?".
"No", he turned to show me a book he picked from the shelf.
" The unrivalled poetry of Robert Burns".He walked to sit by my left side.

Ian read a few lines from the book and even though I only understood some words from what he read, I paid attention to all his body movements.
   There's this spark in Ian's face whenever he talks about the things or people that come from his home country. It's like I can feel everything he felt there and see all the things he's seen.
He was about to turn to another page when I leaned closer and pressed my lips on his.

He held back for a second, my heartbeat got louder. He rubbed the tip of his nose around my cheek while slowly tracing his lips back to mine.
He grabbed me and sucked on my lower lip until it felt like I was been hit with a million jolts of electricity. 
I was trying to take off my shirt when he gently pulled away from me.

"I think we should stop".
" What?", I asked in a breathy whisper.
"The-the last time we...", he stuttered.
"I don't want to hurt you again".

I don't know what the boys of my age do with the girls they like but this moment right here made me understand that it didn't matter the person I chose to be with.
Having someone who put me first is what made it all worthwhile. A person like Ian.

I moved a little backwards and lay my back on the bed with my eyes facing up at the ceiling.
" what are you thinking about?".
"You", I answered calmly and turned a little to my left.
" why me?", I asked.
"Why stick with an insignificant person like me?".
"You're way more than that", he looked back at me, his eyes stuck around my lips as he talked.

" you live in a beautiful place called Bloomfield. you play the drums at the church and still manage to do well academically. you like peach-flavoured drinks even though you might be the only person I know that drinks them, you even want to study medical sciences because of your grand plan to build cancer awareness programs in the world, Luka, I could write a book about you".
"What does that mean?".
" That you're nothing close to insignificant", he answered.
He moved his hand on the bed and found my left arm. He put his palm on the back of my hand and gently stroked his fingers against my skin.
"You're amazing", he muttered.

I spent the rest of that day at Ian's place listening to his stories of the festive visit to Scotland.
I came back home late in the evening and saw my Dads car parked outside of my Aunts house. He'd come to see my mom.
I heard from Ivy that they talked while I was away and he even apologised to my mom for everything.

"Do you want to go back home?", my mom asked as soon as I came back to the sitting room.
   I looked at Ivy and saw the happiness on her face. She's closer to my dad, I understand why she wanted to go back.
My mom had to have a husband too so even though I wasn't ready to go back to my Dad's house, I said 'yes' because I wanted our family to be together in one place.

We went back to the house that night. My dad asked me to invite Ian to the church on Sunday.
Perhaps that's his way of saying 'You can be friends with whoever you want'.