Beth woke to the blaring sound of her alarm clock in her ear, sounding like the fire alarm from back in high school. She buried her face in her pillow and screamed, then proceeded to roll out of bed onto the cool stone floor. After some groaning and choice cursing she climbed to her feet and began her morning ritual. She stumbled to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, and then combed through her hair with a brush. Shed been told it was a beautiful shade of 'red', but who was she to know? Her mother had described Beth to herself on many occasions saying, "Elizabeth your hair is the color of an angry sun, your eyes are like melted chocolate. Your skin looks like a jar of cream and your freckles are like sprinkled sugar." Beth just smiled and nodded while gritting her teeth. Of course her mother didn't know any better, it had been years since she'd had to live like this. Beth couldn't even imagine a world with colour, let alone even know what color was, or what it looked like. She'd been born and raised in this, a world full of fifty shades gray and no red. No green grass or blue skies, there was no such thing, it all looked the same.
She washed her face and put on some mascara, the only makeup that made a visible difference to her. She'd tried blush once, but her mother said it made her look like a clown so that was the last time for that. After she was ready she stumbled out into the living room and smacked her roommate Bee on the leg.
"Buzz Buzz! Time to get up Bee," she half yelled, as she made her way to their small kitchen. Beth yanked the fridge open and pulled out peanut butter, jam and some bread, all done to the soundtrack of Bee mumbling inaudibly. Her roommate shuffled into the kitchen and smacked Beth on the ass.
"Ouch!! What do you need?" Bee look her straight in the face and with a voice that sounded dead said, "coffee." Beth hopped out of the way of the Keurig machine and began to make toast, peanut butter for her and jelly for Bee. Only when her grumpy roommate had her coffee firmly in hand and a plate of toast on the table did Beth dare to start a conversation.
"Sooo...what did you do last night?" Bee smiled and took a bite of her toast, scrolling through her instagram feed with her legs tucked up under her on the chair. Beth smiled into her peanut butter, Beatrice reminded her so much of a little bee sometimes, fitting into tiny spaces and flitting around the room. Bee ended up answering after she was done chewing.
"I went to a party." Beth laughed aloud and said, "Of course you did. How'd that go?" Bee frowned and stared into her coffee. "Bad." Beth reached out an arm to hold her hand and asked, "What happened?"
"Everyone was hitting on me. All the football players and even some of the girls. They were all drinking alcohol and it was just bad. I wish I'd never gone and stayed home with you, but Evelyn invited me and you know I have a tough time saying no." Bee finished with a sign and absent mindedly twirled her hair with a finger.
Beatrice Duncan-Taylor was by far the prettiest girl on campus, not including what she must look like in color. Her hair was long and straight, and from the comparison of hers to Beth's considerably lighter, the adults often described it as blonde, which of course didn't mean anything to the girls. All the boys, all the teachers, some of the girls and all the high school kids were constantly flirting with her, and she'd been asked out multiple times each week.
Except, there was one problem. Bee, Beth's roommate and best friend, was asexual. She didn't want a relationship -no matter how serious- with anyone, all she really wanted was someone to take her to the movies and cuddle with. She'd developed a reputation around school as the serial dater, as in, she killed your hopes before you even had any. It'd be so much easier if Bee could just come out to people, but in this society, asexuality was frowned upon and highly unusual.
Beth tried to shield Bee from the worst of the blows, but due to her kind hearted nature and reputation as a people pleaser Bee usually ended up accepting a few of these dates. But when they eventually got worse and out of hand, Beth was usually the one to step in and save her friend.
Snapping back to the moment, Beth squeezed her friend's hand and gave her a kiss on the top of her head as she cleared their plates off the table. Bee giggled at Beth's motherly behaviour and helped her wash the plates and set them to dry. Both the girls got dressed in a flash and Beth was ready to step out the door when Bee rushed out of the bathroom holding Beth's rose. "Elizabeth! Don't tell me you were going to walk out that door without a rose." The utter dismay in Bee's voice made Beth choke back a laugh as she tucked the rose into her breast pocket. "It's not like I need it anyway," she muttered cynically. Bee stuck her tongue out at Beth and adjusted the rose on her own shirt. "Don't be silly Eliza-beth! One day you'll meet that special person and you will just know, and thats when youll want your rose. We all know that red is the first color you see." Beth rolled her eyes and ushered her out into the hall, locking the door behind them. As they walked down the narrow hallway of their apartment Bee began to sing.
'Red rose, red rose,
Oh what you mean to me
Red rose, red rose
Please come set me free'
Beth watched her roommate, and wondered how she could still have so much hope. Bee had had her rose for 4 years, and as asexual she had slim hope of it ever turning any color but grey, but she still wore it everyday with a smile on her face. Beth smiled sadly and whispered to herself as Bee sang,
'Red rose, red rose
My burden let me be
Red rose, red rose
One day i won't need thee'
Beth looked to the ceiling and bit her lip as she sent a silent prayer, 'I hope to god i won't need thee.'
//hi guys!! This is still being edited (by my awesome editor Alexandria) but i hope you enjoy!! I love feedback, so let me know what works and what doesn't :) //
