Synesthesia

Orange) Josh)

I walked back to my station, smiling like an idiot. My face felt frozen, I couldn't stop smiling. I had never seen anything like that before, the burst of color all around me. Never before had I felt something like that either, my heart beating almost out of my chest, a tingling sensation all throughout my body. My hands still shook from excitement, my heart slowly returning to its normal pulse. She was the most beautiful human being I had ever seen, she sent shivers down my spine every time I pictured her face. A thought occurred to me. I didn't have any way to reach her. No number, no address. Crap. I ran over to my boss and almost tackled him, asking if I could take my break early.
"S-sure, I guess." He stammered, surprised.
I called a thanks as I swerved through customers in line. Running to the door, I threw the doors open and stuck my head through. I spotted Christina's dark sweatshirt in the crowd next to some other girls. I ran up to her and put my hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn around.
"Did you want something?" The girl scowled at me, annoyed that I had interrupted her and her friends.
"Oh crap... sorry, I thought you were someone else," I took a step back. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and turned around, continuing to walk away from me. Looking around, I searched for Christina. She seemed nowhere to be found, hidden in the mass of people. I jogged over to the bridge, looking out over the crowd.
"Christina," I called, cupping my hands around my mouth. I saw her head turn toward me, about to leave the bridge. Our eyes met and again I shivered as color and warmth spread throughout the scene. I raised my phone to my face and lowered my arms in a confused gesture. Christina turned to her friend, said something, and came running over to me.
"What are you saying?" She asked, her face flushed from the effort of running across the bridge.
"I can't call you, I don't have your number," I laughed, handing her my phone. She passed hers onto me and we added each other into contacts. My navy blue phone seemed big in her hand, while her pink and yellow case seemed out of place in mine. As we passed back each other's phones, her face turned pink. It wasn't from being out of breath this time, just from blushing.
I flashed a smile at her and turned to walk back to the coffee shop. My break had lasted a little over 15 minutes and if I didn't get back soon the boss would be mad. On my way back, I looked at her contact. She had put herself in as "Chris" with a blushing emoji.
Slowly, everything returned to its normal black-and-whites state. I jogged back to the coffee shop, watching as the vibrant red of the bridge faded to a rusty brown and finally back to dark grey. I don't know how I lived my whole life without seeing seeing color.
I finished my shift, in a daze. As I drove home, I couldn't help but picture her face. I fell asleep with the vision of her blushing on my eyelids.
"Wake up, idiot. You're late for work." Brendon shook me awake.
Jolting awake, I hit my head on the ceiling. "Ouch," I grimaced, rubbing my pulsing head. I crept out of bed and walked over to my dresser. Pulling out a light tee and a pair of jeans, I walked over to the dark kitchen counter. I looked over at the clock on the counter and realized that there wasn't even any point in going to work. There was only a half an hour left in my shift. I picked up my phone, checking for messages.
Darn. I was hoping Chris would have texted me. Shrugging, I set my phone down and walked over to the shower. I set my clothes on the toilet beside the shower and turned on the water. My muscles tensed as I stepped into the cold water but they slowly relaxed as the water got warmer. The water grew to be scalding hot but it was exactly how I liked it. Absorbing the hot water, I let the droplets run down my face. I turned off the water and stepped out onto my black rug. After drying myself off I put on my clothes and walked over to the counter in the kitchen where I had put my phone to charge before. Turning on the screen, I saw that I had a text from Chris.
Hey
I did a little happy dance around the counter before realizing that if she checked her phone right now she might notice that I had seen her text and not replied. What if she thought I was ignoring her? I ran back over to my phone and leaned against the counter, carefully typing back a simple "Hello."
Chris: So, I was thinking... is that whole color thing going to happen every time I see you?
Me: If that's the case I'm never going to leave your side. :)
Me: wait, that sounded creepier than I meant it to be
Chris: lol its ok, I know what you mean
After a minute or two of small talk, I decided to ask her to dinner.
I don't mean to be sudden, but would you wanna get dinner tonight? My treat.
She wrote back, "Sure, pick me up at 7:00." I did my happy dance again and set to picking out where we would eat. One of my favorite places was right by the bridge and it overlooked the river. Perfect, I thought to myself. Glancing at the clock, I noticed that I had three hours to kill. Brendon had already left for some date, my shift had already ended, and it was too late to eat lunch. I decided to sit on the couch and watch TV. After experiencing color in such an amazing way, it was so boring to see everything in black and white. Despite living in a colorless world for 17 years, everything just seemed so bland and mundane. I kind of just zoned out and browsed social media for a while.
When I saw the clock turn to five thirty I thought it might be a good idea to make a reservation at the restaurant I planned to take Chris to. Thankfulness lly my favorite table was still open. I sighed and breathed a "thank you," before hanging up. At about 6:30, Christina texted me her address. I plugged it into google maps and it told me that it would take me about 18 minutes to arrive at her house. I waited another 5 minutes or so before grabbing my keys and heading out.
Her house was huge. As soon as she walked out the whole yard filled with color. I was overtaken by the vibrant green grass, rusty brown bricks, and her beautiful coral dress flowing in the breeze. She stopped on the steps and gasped. I got out of my car and walked across the grass to her.
"Breathtaking, right?"
She nodded. "It's just," she murmured, "I lived here for 16 years of my life... and I have never seen it this beautiful before." We walked over to the car and I opened the door for her.
We rode most of the way in silence, both of us basking in the purity of color. I found out that she too had grown up in this town and I wondered how our paths never crossed. She thought out loud how she had always lived a colorless life. We pulled up the restaurant and, once again,  I opened her door for her. I was feeling gentlemanly. Walking into the restaurant, I told the lady at the front desk that we had a reservation for "Josh." I looked over and smiled at Christina, but she seemed to be staring off into space. Touching her shoulder, I asked if she was alright.
She smiled back and said she was fine, but I was worried that she might be having second thoughts. Instead of looking around, Chris seemed to be staring at the lady leading us to our table. I don't think she was doing it consciously, but kind of without knowing that she was even doing it. I hoped that once we sat down she would focus a little more. Still the colors around me shined brightly.