Bleeding Color

4. Possibilities

It's Sunday afternoon and Christina and I are on our way to the comic book shop that my mom had told me about. "There it is." Christina sits up eagerly in her seat. "The Negative Zone Comics." I turn into the small shopping center that the store is in. I barely manage to put the car in park before Christina jumps out of the passenger seat.

By the time that I make it to the door, Christina is already in between two bookshelves, sitting on the floor. Stacks of volumes of comics surround Christina, and she has one opened lying in her lap. Her attention is cemented to the comic as she pulls her thick blonde locks into a ponytail.

I make my way to the bins of single-issue comics and start browsing through them. I pull out the ones that interest me and place them on top of the bins, dragging them next to me as I go along.

I see a figure appear in the corner of my eye, but ignore it. I figure that it's someone else browsing. "You know," the person almost startles me, because I wasn't expecting them to speak. I look up to see Logan wearing tight, dark jeans, and a black leather jacket overtop of a loose gray top. I gulp, and then cringe once I realize the gulp is audible. "They're staring." Logan doesn't look at me. She just browses the bins.

After I fail to respond, her fingers pause their movements and she makes eye contact with me. I swear her vibrant blue eyes can see right through me. She arches an eyebrow and motions her head towards the counter. There are two guys behind the counter, one standing across from them on the other side of the counter, and two more guys behind one of the display stands. I look around at all the guys, each of them averting their eyes as soon as I make eye contact. They all appear to be fairly around my age – the oldest can't be older than 21, and the youngest no younger than Christina.

Logan is looking back at the bin of comics. "They're not used to girls here. Well," she pauses again to looked up to send me a small grin, "at least not girls as beautiful as you."

I quickly look away from her, and to the bin in front of me. I know my cheeks are reddening, and I try to hide my blush. "What are you doing here, Logan?"

"I could ask you the same." Logan moves closer to me, making my stomach do flips. I move away from her as casually as I can, moving onto the next bin of comics to my left.

"Comic books are kind of my safe haven." I answer, not looking at her.

"Ah," she takes another step closer to me. I wonder if she can feel my nerves going crazy with every movement she makes. "Like your fortress of solitude."

"Exactly." I turn to my right to face her. She is standing a lot closer than I had originally thought. Our close proximity forces me to look up at her. She is only five inches taller than me, but those five inches suddenly felt like fifty. "Except you can't really call it solitude if someone else is there." I stare her down, faking my confidence.

Logan smirks at me, and I have to use every ounce I have in me to keep my composure and not collapse right then and there. "Fair enough." I take a step backward, and she remains planted where she was. I half expect her to follow my lead and take a step towards me. It's somewhat disappointing that she doesn't want to close the gap between us.

"You never answered the question." I break the silence that is beginning to form. She furrows her eyebrows, unsure of what I mean. "What are you doing here?"

Her eyebrows relax. "Business." She answers quickly. I arch one of my own dark eyebrows at her, but she cuts me off before I can ask any further questions. "I should actually get going." She raises her thumb to point behind her towards the door. "But," she pauses and lowers her hand back down, "maybe you'd like to go out sometime? You know, when your fortress gets a little lonely?"