Just once

the Coat

It was 9:00 am. Colin woke up, yawning and stretching his limbs. His messy hair was even messier now, and his blanket was on the floor.

"it's been ages since I slept that well...." he thought. he sat at the  furthermost side from the header, and picked up his fallen blanket. his slippers were nowhere to be found. lazily he got up barefoot in search of it. he then came across a green bottle of wine lying on the floor. strangely, he couldn't recall anything. the last thing he remembered is the names of Nathan and Eve, who they were, and His brief conversations with them.   

Eve's face flashed through his mind. Her sweet voice rang in his ears, making his flush. His cheeks felt red. but there was another presence in his mind, a presence of someone else...like this person meant something to him, or he built a connection with him/her. he decided not to think to much about it, and so he picked the new toothbrush and toothpaste kept in the bathroom as service, like any other hotel. This wasn't really a hotel though, it was another world at night. 

Colin also noticed something different. His mouth felt weird,. He started recalling fuzzy memories, all mixed up and hazy, so he couldn't even tell when or what these memories were about. memories of...some dark-blue headed person entering his room?

there were only two people with bluish-black hair. Eve, and Nathan.

abruptly, his phone rang, breaking the peaceful silence of the morning. It was an unknown number. Colin wiped his mouth, and dashed towards the dressing table to pick it up. 

"Colin? halloo?" a loud voice burst out of the phone

"yes, hello?"

"Colin you left you're coaaat. Come down and take it or i will! it's a nice color you know! where did you-"

Colin cut the call. It was none other than Nathan. He was annoying him in the morning, he paused when an abnormal realization took place in his head. "Wait a minuet...when he get my number?!" Colin dashed down to give the rascal a thrashing when he saw him calmly sitting in the bar, on a  bar stool, one hand holding his coat, other supporting his head with his phone

"when did you and why did you get my number?"

"you're not gonna ask how?"

"you probably dialed 'emergency call' from my phone and called you're phone. then you saved the number."

"wow, you're smart" Nathan chuckled in a mischievous way.

Colin almost sounded like a different person. well, this was his usual self , its just his usual self is far from his drunkard self. his drunkard self smiles more, is a bit idiotic, and last but not least... is cute.

"shut up Nathan" Colin said in a demanding way and leaped to take his coat back

"nah, not so easy boy" 

"give it...its...important" Colin's face turned submissive. it seemed like it was actually kind of important to him.

Eve was watching from a distance. in the night she served drinks, but in the morning, she managed the hotel room service, and did shifts.

"hey Colin, why's this important to you?" Nathan said while holding his coat away from Colin from a safe distance.

"...." Colin looked down. he didn't give an answer. "looks like it's about to rain, I'll be checking out" he changed the topic, he turned his attention away from Nathan, slid the keys on the reception desk , and ran towards Nathan to snatch his coat back. he wore his coat in one motion, and stepped outside to book an Uber.

Nathan looked confused. he was just having fun, no hard feelings. "he probably never had a childhood, did he?" Nathan thought.

Eve walked slowly towards him "what did you do?" she questioned "his face almost completely changed when you didn't give the coat to him" she said, rubbing the her back of the hand anxiously.

"he wasn't angry, he just looked like he went through a lot of pain....."

It started drizzling. Colin still had his face turned away from the both of them. Nathan, as a note of apology, stepped closer to him holding an umbrella which he took from the umbrella holder next to the reception.

"here, take this" he tapped the umbrella on Colin's shoulder

"I don't need it" Colin said in a very low tone, as if he was speaking to himself. he pushed the umbrella of his shoulder.

"take it, it's gonna rain heavily, I'm sure"

"I don't need it" Colin said again, but with a slightly raised tone. it was as if he was threatening Nathan that if he did it a third time, he would snap.

Nathan stepped back. He was about to say something, when suddenly Colin spoke-

"I...I don't need you"

it was in a very low tone, as if he was telling this to himself, but you could hear it at that moment. This was because the place was silent, pin drop silent, and there was nothing heard except the raindrops and Colin's voice.

Colin still didn't turn his head back. A black car came in the lane from the right, and in a convenient place so Colin could just open the door and hop in from right there.

When Colin sat in, He closed the window, and took one last look at Nathan.

you could see three emotions on Colin's face, all mixed up in different ratios-

sadness, anger.....and regret.

the Car drove away, as the rain intensified. Colin rubber the windows of the car.

"where to sir?"

"strait, keep going" Colin's voice had turned cold. he had one thought.

was meeting Nathan a mistake?

Eve and Nathan were still standing in their positions, they didn't move an inch. however, A lot was going inside Nathan's head. He probably didn't make the right choice. he was pissed at everything, at himself, at The weather...at Colin, just a bit.

"how long are you going to stay?" Eve said.

"I'm going now." Nathan said with a determined face.