INDIGO

PART NINE

"Mom, do I really have to wear this?" I complained, shuffling in front of my mirror. "Yes, honey, you have to look nice for the workers!" My mom combed through my hair. Indigo was still changing into what my mom had chosen for him, and when he walked out of my closet, he had a cheeky smile on his face. He walked towards me with a confident stride, and I couldn't help but smile back. "I wanna wear like this more!" he said to my mom, who corrected him, "dress like this, you mean. You should have told me that before we went shopping, Indie!" "Ow, mom, my hair-" I winced as she hit a tangle. "You don't know the true pain of hair..." Indigo said grimly, reminiscing about when I first tried to brush his. Once we were done getting ready, we headed outside to the car where my dad was waiting.

"You sure you'll be okay, In?" my dad asked empathetically as Indigo hesitantly sat down next to me in the back of the car. "Yeah, yeah, I'm not a scaredy-cat," he announced back, buckling his seatbelt quickly. I snorted, prepared to have him latch on to me when we got on the highway. He was always nervous about riding in the car, which eased as he got older, until he had to start driving himself... "It's not too long a drive to the office, you'll be okay, sweetie," my mom looked back at Indigo. He nodded, and we were off.

It was a boring interview, they just kept asking questions that were either obvious or I didn't know the answer to, like stuff about his appearance and anything detailing what he's told me about his past. When Indigo came out of the office after me, he looked really down. "Did it go badly?" I asked as he sat down next to me and my mom went in next. "No... they just talked too much, my head hurts, and my- my heart," I could tell he was struggling to find the right words. "Your feelings?" I asked, and he nodded. "What'd they ask you?" I pried, insensitively. "I dunno, a lot about my family or... what happened in the city," he answered vaguely, fidgeting with his fingers like he usually did when he was uncomfortable. "But they were nice," he added, seemingly to ease his own mind.

We were only there for a couple hours, though being my age I was immensely bored, and when we left, we stopped for some fast food. Coming home, all I thought about was how many more tedious talks I'd have to have with the serious adults, but, as it would turn out, we wouldn't get anything back from them for another month. My mom called them religiously to ask about the progress, if not to ask about the fostering license my parents were working towards. During this month, I spent more time with Indigo than ever, we were literally side by side every moment of every day. The more time passed, the more it dawned on me what was to come. Before, all I had been concerned about was losing Indigo, or even not being able to see him as often, so anything that meant he wouldn't leave made me happy. But now that my parents were getting closer to being able to officially foster Indigo, I realized that that would mean we'd be foster siblings.

'Siblings'. I repeated the word to myself. Brothers, with the same parents, maybe eventually the same last name. I didn't like the thought. In fact, I thought it was weird. In the past, I had compared him to feeling like a brother to me, but more in the sense of how close we were, rather than how I felt about him. But with the thoughts of not wanting that, came the question of why. Finally, after months, no, maybe even a year since we first got close, of contemplating that feeling in the back of my head, the idea of a 'crush' popped up in my head.

"What are ya doing?" Indigo popped into my room. "W- what?!" I called back, being cut off from my train of thought. "Pfft- did I really scare you? I didn't even mean to!" he giggled at the door. My face was already red from the idea I had just concocted, but now, seeing him smile unknowing of my thoughts just made me all the more embarrassed to have considered them. I was a kid without much of a filter, and hadn't really grasped the concept of shame that much. "Have you ever liked someone before?" I spouted out of nowhere. "Liked someone? Obviously!" he skipped over to me, "You, and your mom, and your dad!" He looked up in thought, "And the lady at the counter in the food place we go to!"