Colour Blind

chapter six

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After we've been driving for around an hour, I start to get a tad concerned.

"How far away are we going?" I ask, sitting back in the seat and sighing, looking over at her.

"Well, I was just thinking, why just go to the next town? No, we're going where it all happen; in the big city." She says, smiling sideways at me, her eyes shining with a sort of childhood fantasy about the city.

"Oh, cool." I say, looking out to the road, as we pass a sign which indicates we still have around fifteen minutes of driving left until we get there, not including the major city traffic.

Honestly, the city is okay, but overall, it's just a large space filled with tall buildings, way too many cars, trucks and busses, trains, a maze of streets and roads, noise and pollution. I don't know what Violet thinks happens here, but I know it's not as cool as she thinks it is.

"So, what do you want to do in the city?" I ask, breaking the silence which has fallen upon the atmosphere.

"I thought we'd just see what's there, what jumps out at us." She says, smiling at the road ahead, "the thing is Alec, life has a plan for us, and we have to follow it - even if we don't want to."

"That's not entirely true, we can never know. Our life is effected by our decisions and actions." I reply, raising my eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, whatever." she says, sighing, and then she lowers her voice - thinking I can't hear her, "but sometimes, others make the choice for us."

I look away, my gaze shifting to out the window, pretending I didn't hear. Whatever she means by that, I'm guessing it's something to do with her past, which she conveniently never mentions. I guess everyone has their secrets which they never share.

The rest of the car ride is silent, as I guess we're both just... Thinking - about anything and everything except the awkward atmosphere in this very car. The faster I wish for this silent car ride from the gods of awkwardness to be over, the slower time seems to pass in my head.

When she finally finds a park on the side of the crowded street, I almost let out a sigh of relief. I push open the car door and am immediately met by the constant harp of city noise. I dislike the whole city thing; it's just a bunch of tall buildings, too many people with not enough space and an atmosphere of polluted air.

"So...?" I ask hesitantly, "what now?"

"I dunno. Lets walk along the street!" she says, wrapping her fingers tightly around my arm and tugging me off through the sea of people, a wide grin on her face.

"Uh, Violet! Slow down! Excuse me, sorry." I say, switching between telling Violet to slow down and apologizing to all the people she was dragging me into.

I groan and dig my heels into the pavement, refusing to walk another step. Violet jolts back and turns to face me, her expression unreadable.

"Why'd you stop?" she asks, her tone sharp, indicating that she is a tad pissed off at me for slowing her down.

"Because you're dragging me along the street whilst I'm crashing into people, annoying the heck out of them and questioning my own sanity!" I say, sighing and running a hand through my hair, "I thought you said we were going to have fun."

"We are going to Alec." Violet sighs, biting her lip before looking up at me with mischievous eyes and her signature smirk, "I promise."

And then we're off again, Violet pushing through the crowds, dragging me behind whilst I follow in her wake, apologizing to all the pissed off business people. Violet finally halts to a stop out the front of a small, retro looking cafe. She pulls me inside and I am met with the sweet aroma of coffee. I can't help but grin as we sit at one of the wooden tables, this cafe is so cool.