The Moth

Chapter Sixteen: Days In Color// The World Through Another's Eyes

Chapter Sixteen: Days In Color// The World Through Another's Eyes 

"Chocolate or vanilla?" Lyon held both out to me as I walked up to the bench under the dim streetlight.

I plucked the vanilla cone from his hands and perched on the bench next to him. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. You like vanilla, huh?"

I shrugged. "Between chocolate and vanilla, I do."

"But it's not your favorite."

I smiled to myself, hearing the slight disappointment in his voice. "I like it well enough." I turned around and leaned against the armrest, the cold metal pressing against my back. "But pistachio is more my favorite. You?"

"Eh. Vanilla, chocolate. Don't really care either way."

I stretched out my left arm and gripped the back of the bench, watching a trail of vanilla ice-cream make its way down the side of the cone and pool on my thumb.

"It's dripping."

I nodded and licked it away.

"How come you asked about my eyes on Friday?"

I raised an eyebrow, my eyes still set on my ice-cream cone. "Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I mean...most people just...stare the first time they meet me, and then avoid talking about it."

I shrugged. "Never noticed."

"But how?" He finished his cone and turned to face me.

I thought about it. "I...I dunno. I just..didn't."

"...Drew stared at me like I was some kind of freak."

"Who?" I wiped my hands on a napkin I found in my jacket pocket and launched it in the trash bin a few feet away from us. Score.

"Drew. The guy who sits next to you in Math."

I shook my head. "Really?" I laughed. "I literally have no idea who you're talking about."

He smiled, removing his glasses and looking down at me. "You're not very observant, are you."

"That's not a question, is it."

"No."

"Then, no." I swung my legs, feeling the wind tug at my hair. "I'm not."

"...He looks like a human version of Lightning McQueen."

"What?"

"Drew. Red sports jacket...average height for a guy...dark brown hair swept up with hair gel. If sunglasses were allowed in class, he'd have them perched low on his nose or up in his hair."

I laughed. "That's a pretty specific description." I took a deep breath, looking upwards. "Hmm...wait. Is that the guy who bumped into me in eighth grade?"

He made a flabbergasted noise. "How am I supposed to know? I wasn't here in eighth grade."

I turned to him. "He has a slight dimple in his chin? Carries like, a pencil to school? Doesn't even keep paper? That guy?"

He snorted. "Sounds like him alright."

I chuckled. "Heh...Lightning McQueen."

"Aye. Don't make fun of me."

I shook my head, smiling. "I'm not. Just kinda...surprised."

"At what, my descriptions?"

"Yeah. Who else looks like cartoon characters to you?"

He kept quiet. "Not many people. It's not really that cool. You just don't watch people."

"Psh. Stalker."

"No, I just—"

"Do it again."

"What?"

I pouted. "Describe someone else."

He chuckled and I watched the sky.

Evan looked like Woody from Toy Story. Erin looked like Leigh's sister, even though they weren't related. Mrs.Tony was an aged tree, standing tall and grand but worn down. The girl in Chemistry skittered around like a mouse. The people and things around me became animated, and rose to the sky like stars. Maybe this town wasn't as boring as I thought. Maybe I needed to see it through a different lens. Or maybe... I never really saw the people around me to begin with.