Shatter Love [FP Sequel]

[6] andromeda

conrad's POV

I had always had a taste for Greek tales, because at least they didn't lie that fairy tales weren't reality.

And for what they were worth, they didn't usually portray life as an easy journey where happiness was found at the first sign of love. Loving and caring for people came at a price, and sometimes even the wealthiest of people couldn't afford to pay their debts.

That was the infuriating part of Mr. Roland's therapy sessions. His sense of love had long since vanished, evident by his bony fingers which ceased to wear a ring. His wife had supposedly left him seven years ago because of an affair, and if his cold eyes told me anything it was that love had never again found its way into his heart. That much made me hesitant to share my own dealings with love.

I had a theory that my reluctance was the very reason why I couldn't be healed by therapy. Guilt always clung to the atmosphere like Mr. Roland's expensive perfume clung to his body, but I could never bring myself to divulge the real reason why I was so fucked up. Why would I, when it had everything to do with love, the one thing Mr. Roland wasn't proficient in.

Hope seemed like a very far away object.

I went through the motions at school, the only thing brightening up my day being Maya. But she was too smart, noting every time when something was even a little bit off with me. I was failing her, not just by giving up on therapy. I couldn't even let her keep her promise of us healing each other. She had always been a great actress, but her eyes gave her away.

I would make it up to her soon.

As I entered my fifth period class, AP World History, I was not only in a bad mood, but I observed my classmates (as I always did) and found a face that was somewhat familiar.

The auburn-haired girl.

She sat alone in the corner, and whereas most people were engaged in conversations she was quiet, fingers moving furiously across a page. Only briefly, I could see a wisp of color beneath her fingertips. She looked up quite a few times, but her gaze was never fixed on me. Her eyes glanced over to a girl, I think her name was Darya, and stared hard at her features, before lowering her head again. Suddenly, Darya's blonde hair appeared on the paper.

Oh. So that's why she looked over at us.

A fleeting feeling of anger arose as I continued to glare at the girl, and eventually her eyes lifted to mine. Her cheeks flushed slightly, and her lips parted. Her eyes widened in terror, like she thought I would come up and confront her. I briefly considered actually doing so, but in the end I realized it was more trouble than it was worth, and decided to avert my eyes and head to my seat.

More trouble than it was worth, that went for most things these days.

But you could never say it aloud because otherwise you were left with nothing.

* * *

Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised when the auburn-haired girl followed me out of the class.

The few times I'd looked over at her during the period, she'd been squirming in her seat, and I figured she would've been happy to make a quick escape. But when she instead followed me, struggling to keep up, I had to arch an eyebrow.

I stopped in the middle of the hallway and moved over towards the wall, and she followed my movements. When we were face-to-face, I noticed that her lips were chapped and bitten, and her eyes were filled with nerves. I looked at her with a bored expression, wanting to get this over with.

"Look," Her voice was small and diminutive, but extremely clear. "I, uh, probably know what you're thinking, and I wanted to clear the air with you."

"There isn't much air to clear, is there?" I said lightly, frown still present on my face.

She shifted from foot-to-foot, glancing away. She was embarrassed. "Well, um — "

I decided to put her out of her misery. "You're an artist, I guess, huh?"

She visibly relaxed. "I'd like to think so, sure." She said softly, kindly.

I gestured to the notebook she held against her chest. "I think it's only fair if you show me some of your work, what with you making a portrait of me without my permission and all."

The embarrassment returned in full force. "Sorry about that. Generally I don't like to ask people because I'm pretty shy, and I don't want them to get the wrong idea about it."

I wanted to ask what the right idea about it was, but didn't get a chance as she lifted her notebook and flipped it open. There were pages upon pages of nameless faces in it, people who I came across once or twice in the hallway but didn't really know. Their features were bright and colorful, true to life in some aspects but not others, and utterly incredible to look at.

The pages stopped flipping all of the sudden, and my eyes landed on a large depiction of my face. My eyebrows were dark and knitted, clearly upset with something out of vision. My eyes were exceptionally light, a caramel shade of brown I wished I had instead of my nearly-black ones. My nose was dusted in splotches of red, and my lips were purple-pink, like a bruise. My entire face was coated with shades of blue where the shadows lurked, making me look dangerous and imposing, the type of person no one wanted to mess with.

I couldn't stop staring at it.

"You can have it if you want." The auburn girl said quietly. Immediately after she spoke, her face flushed pink again, like she thought that maybe I hated it. If that was the case, she couldn't be more wrong.

"This is amazing," I murmured. I looked her straight in her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Andromeda." She replied.

Andromeda, it rolled off her tongue like she'd spoken it millions of times, or rather, like it had been inquired of her millions of times. Maybe I wasn't the first person to have caught her.

"I'm Conrad," I offered.

"It's nice to meet you, Conrad." Her eyes lingered on me curiously.

You too, I didn't get the chance to say, before the bell rung and we were both late.

* * *

Hey guys!

Conrad is certainly not having an easy time right now. How do you feel about Andromeda? Yay or nay? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Hope you all enjoyed and love you all!

xoxo,
twyla