Cherry Red Water

1. Unexpected

The sky was a dark gray colour, filled with rain clouds as they circled a corner shop. It was a gloomy day, like all days seemed to be then.
The only pop of colour was the fiery red hair of the person sitting on the step outside the corner shop, along with his bright blue eyes reflecting the gray
atmosphere.
He seemed out of place there, in a dark world like that but he was all too used to it, that was what his life was, from the day he was born, that colour was meant to fade out.
Cars rushed past on the road as he stayed there,
sipping at the bottle of fanta he held.
Any day now.
He thought as he sat there, looking down at his hand.
It was stupid for him to think that, he never cared about it in the first place, it meant nothing to him. Still, he sat there, staring down at his ring finger, waiting.
Why did he begin caring all of a sudden? Since he turned 15?
A soulmate string.
There was a small chance he wouldn't even get one and for some reason the thought of being alone forever scared him, not in an obvious way, but he knew he was scared to be alone. In contrast, he had never liked the idea of love, soulmates, being bound to someone regardless of if you actually loved them.
How could the string be right every time?
What if when he saw the girl he was meant to marry, he didn't like her? What if she was rude or shallow?
What if he just didn't like her?
The string that could appear around his finger would decide his destiny from the second it appeared, he
would know who he was meant to love.

"Chuuya!" A boy with silver hair called out as he ran up to the boy sitting at the door.
He looked up from his hand, with blinding blue eyes that took all light from the world.
"Shirase!" Chuuya called out, a girl with pink hair turned around the corner right after,
"Shirase, wait up!" She called out.
Chuuya smiled at his two friends, two people just like him.
"Yuan, you should work out more." Shirase laughed as she caught up, out of breath,
"You're just fast and you know it!" She panted.
Chuuya looked at the two of them before looking down at his hand, none of them had any strings, maybe people like that were just meant to be alone forever, no one wanted them.
"You still haven't gotten it, huh? You're just like us, welcome to the single club!" Shirase teased once he
saw Chuuya looking down at his hand,
"Good, like I would want to marry some stranger, anyway." Chuuya laughed, though he could tell it didn't sound genuine, it was nervous.
"Chuuyyaaa, Do you secretly really want one~" Yuan sings,
"What- no. Don't be ridiculous!" Chuuya snapped.
But he did.
He wished, partly, that he wouldn't be alone forever. No amount of friends could replace someone he would be bound to, no scissors could ever cut it, no matter where he went, it would be with her.
Whoever she was.
Looking down at his hand one more time, he felt dissatisfied but still scared. It could always be wrong.
He drank the rest of his fanta while Shirase and Yuan talked about their day, both of them went to the same school while Chuuya got into a different one. One he probably shouldn't be able to afford, everyone there looked like they had more money than he did but that wasn't hard.
"You seem really down over it," Shirase looked over at Chuuya, "you're not that good at hiding it."
"I know I'm shit at it but I really don't want one. It's fuckin' stupid, I'll get stuck with some rude bitch knowing my luck!" Chuuya shouted angrily,
"So you're scared?" Yuan smirked, "Chuuya, scared of love? Did I hear that right?"
"That's not it, I just don't wanna get stuck with someone I don't like. If I do, that's fine." He snarled,
"Well then, if you get one, it'll be okay." Shirase tried to comfort him, "If it doesn't, you still have us."
Chuuya didn't want to be there any more, he didn't want to hear his friends go on about it, the thought was enough to make him unsteady. He knew that loving someone was hard, that things went wrong most of the time and that's why he pushed everyone away.
Not many noticed but Chuuya didn't enjoy talking to anyone for that long, he spent most days sat alone and if a person came near him he was just rude.
All that and yet two people didn't run away, they didn't leave him. He tried to make them, he was horrible to them at some point. It was clear he wanted to be alone but they didn't let him. Instead, they were patient with him, they ignored when he yelled, when he cursed, when he tried to start fights.
Honestly, he didn't think he deserved people like that. Even if they wanted a friend, to be his friend, it didn't make what he said or did okay. They had every right to stay angry and leave him. Chuuya wouldn't blame them.
He took his place on the corner shop step once again, "Aren't you two meant to be home?"
"We just wanted to check up on you." Shirase smiled, "Cya later!"
"Yeah, bye!" Yuan added as they both turned to leave,
"Bye, you two!" Chuuya called out after them, his voice still not right. Still nervous, still quieter than he would like.