Color Me.

Oregon

-THE NEXT DAY-
I couldn't sleep at all. My excitement kept me up all night. I'm leaving for Oregon today! Away from the horrible heat. Away from the bustle of LA nights and mornings. I take my suitcase to my car and drive to the shop to get breakfast.

"Hey Daniel want anything before you're off," Scott asked me as soon as I walked in.
"Yeah. Can I get a white chocolate mocha? Oh also some of Stell's lemon vanilla cookies?"
"I'll whip you up the mocha, but we ran out of cookies. Stell's baking so-
"HOT COOKIES COMING THROUGH! FRESH FROM THE OVEN!" Stell yelled as she came through the kitchen with a tray of her famous lemon vanilla cookies. She set them into the the window and Scott began to wrap some up for me.
"How much is it Scott?"
"You say that as if you've already forgotten how much everything here costs. Plus it's on the house. Stell said so"
I chuckle as I hand him a five and two quarters and I tell him that I'll give it as tip. He tells me that my coffee will be out soon and I decide to wander into the kitchen. I'm welcomed by the smell of lemon, vanilla, and coffee. I see Kayla slaving away at some vanilla coffee chunk cookies. I smile and make my way over to her.
"Hey Kaybird, whatcha doing?"
"Dan-Dan! I'd hug you right now but I have dough all over me!"
"It's okay, you need any help?"
"No but thank you anyways."
"Of course Kaybird," I kiss her forhead and make my way out of the kitchen when I hear Scott telling me that my coffee's ready. I grab my coffee and cookies and yell goodbye to everyone as I walk out the door. I'm about to leave when Stella stops me.
"Daniel before you go I need to give you something!"
"Oh Stell, I couldn't take anything else from you."
"Oh hush, it's just a little present from Kayla and I." She hands me a small black box and inside I find a intricately woven bracelet. I smile in awe of how beautiful it is. I thank her, put it on, and get into my car to start the long 10 hour drive to Portland. I plug in my phone and play the Blurryface album by Twenty One Pilots.
~9 Hours Later~
I'm humming along to the acoustic version of Hooligans by Issues. I have one hour left of this drive, it's currently 1:35 and I'm ready to be in Portland. A while passes by before I'm driving into the city of Portland. I see this little cafe called Java Bandits that reminds me of The Simple Bean and make a mental note to visit there while I'm here. Five minutes later I pull into the driveway of my Aunt Rosaline's, who is already outside screaming and hollering at me, house. I get out and she attacks me in kisses and hugs. She ushers me inside where I'm greeted by her two younger kids, Benji and Lauren, and their dog Max. I give Benji the rest of my cookies telling him to share with Lauren, while I play a little with Max. After Max runs off after Lauren, I go out to my car to retrieve my suitcase when I see Patrick, Rosaline's eldest son coming over.
"Daniel, let me do that. You're our guest now. Just relax, you're probably really tired from your drive."
"Thanks Patrick!" We both walk into the house and Aunt Rosaline says, "So Daniel did you want to go for a late lunch? There's this new cafe, I don't remember the name, but I heard it's great, well from what Patrick says. You might have passed it on the way here actually."
"Are you talking about Java Bandits?" Patrick says. She nods and we all decide to walk over to this cafe.
"Mommy I wanna hear the story of colors!" Benji cries out.
"What's the story of colors," I ask inquisitively.