blue pools x pink skies

3

SEAFOAM BLUE

im eating days-old chinese takeout when you burst through my apartment door, camera in hand.

you yell something at me, but i don't hear you. i am shocked at how beautifully ugly you look, with red eyes and the darkest lilac sleep circles. your face is so pale, it's translucent enough to see the veins around your eyes and mouth.

i only hear you call me your muse.

the next thing i know, im letting you strip off my clothes and replace them with blue lingerie. you explain how it's art, how it's our art now, but i can't erase the blooms from my cheeks.

you don't even care that im embarrassed; you just say it makes me look more innocent and tell me how to pose.

I fall asleep in the lingerie, curled around your waist as you go through your pictures over and over again, laughing and smiling. i don't hear you delete any.

II

two weeks later, you show up with a pile of negatives and a flashlight. you tell me how beautiful i look naked, as if that can be said in a friendly manner. I say thank you so many times, it feels like it's stuck in my mouth.

it's just then that i realize that you don't know anything at all about me.

You don't know about the cuts that i picked at until they scarred, or that I don't even like the color blue.