The Colours of Us

Chapter 15

Monday 12th of November 2023

Being without Sloan was a little bit like being without the other part of my soul. He would rarely come to sleep at my place, and I never went to his house. Not that his parents didn't like me, but it was never something either of us asked to do. We saw each other either at my job or in class. It had been hard to find moments just to ourselves.

"Yo loser," Ugo smiled as he walked into the coffee shop.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Do you need me to remind you that I can defend myself, now?"

"I mean, technically, you always could, you were just too much of a scaredy cat to do so," he laughed.

I stayed silent, because I did not have the courage to say anything. I did not have the energy to fight, even less with Ugo of all people. "I saw your girlfriend with another girl," he said suddenly, a fake face of worry painted over his laughter, "You should be careful."

I rolled my eyes once more, "How about you fuck off?"

"Oh, baby you don't wanna start with me," he chuckled.

I froze. Ugo had just called me 'baby', right? I wasn't hallucinating, right? I looked at him for a solid thirty seconds, until he frowned, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Did you just call me 'baby'?"

I watched in horror as Ugo blushed from his forehead down to his neck. What the actual fuck was going on right now?

"What the fuck?" I whisper-yelled, unable to have anyone notice me.

"Shut up!" he answered, half yelling and turning away from me. "I shouldn't have said anything," he mumbled as he walked away.

I grabbed onto my coworker's arm as he passed by me, "I need to take five, like right now."

I didn't wait for his answer and went to follow Ugo. I couldn't just let him leave like that. I needed to know what was going on. I grabbed his arm in the street and made him look at me.

"What the fuck, Ugo?" I repeated.

"Don't start," he threatened, violently pulling his arm out of my hold.

I watched as he blushed once more, as tears filled his eyes and as he bit down his lip. "You didn't see anything."

"But I did. And I don't understand what's going on."

He looked around, pushing his hair back with his hands. There was no one in the street, just the two of us and this secret I had never thought could exist.

"I have been in love with you since we were five is what's going on!" he yelled, his tears spilling on his cheeks. "Why the fuck do you think I have been so obsessed with you and everything you do?"

I couldn't say anything, because there was nothing to say. There was not one world in this language or any other that could express how horrified and disgusted I was.

"So you betrayed and abused me because you loved me?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

"I didn't know what to do! You know how my parents are, I couldn't just admit it!"

"So instead you decided to bully me and hit me and go with my brother? Is that how you try to get over your stupid crush?"

"It's not just a crush! Do you think I want to have this conversation right now? I am deeply and desperately in love with you, and you chose that asshole of a fag?"

I grabbed the collar of his shirt, "Don't you ever insult Sloan."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "but why did you choose him? Why can't it be me?"

"Look at yourself in the mirror, and you'll know why. This conversation is over. Don't you dare try to talk to me or Sloan ever again. This goes for Ian too."