The Moth

Chapter Twenty: Days In Color// Like A Luna Moth

Chapter Twenty: Days In Color// Like A Luna Moth 

I swung my legs over the back of the bench and watched the sky. They seemed to get closer every day.

"You look like an idiot. You'll fall." He swatted my knee and I waved my leg, trying to kick him. Failing, I stuck my tongue out and raised my camera to my face. "Aye, make fun of me and I'll take a shitty picture of you."

His lips turned up mischievously. "I'm so scared, Cecilia."

"You should be. Pictures last forever." I snatched my camera up before he could touch it and snapped a picture. He turned away and covered my camera lens when I clicked the shutter again.

"Okay, okay. Don't do that."

I blew a raspberry as I clicked through the pictures I'd taken. His face showed up blurry, with his hand coming towards me. I made a note to delete it later. Clicked back once more and stared.

"Oh hey. This one came out pretty nice." I flipped the camera around to show him, impressed with myself. "Though your outline is kinda blurred still."

He studied the picture. "Not bad."

I smiled to myself, smug. So I don't suck.

I sat and traced the curves of my camera, feeling the cool plastic curve and dip under my fingertip.

We sat in silence.

"Listening to people talk about color is like watching everyone fall in love and standing alone not understanding why they're smiling." He kicked a pebble from the sidewalk.

"Oh." I lowered my eyes.

He shook his head and nudged me. "Not you. You don't... look down on it."

I pursed my lips and frowned at myself. "But I still should stop bringing it up so much."

He was silent for a bit.

"Describe green."

I looked up. "What?"

"Do it. Tell me what green looks... feels like."

I watched his face, unsure of what to do. He sat back, eyes dancing.

"Can't do it, huh? Maybe you're not as much of an artist at all. But you keep carrying that camera around."

"Aye, don't insult my art. Fine." I bit back a smile.

Tilting my head back, I looked up at the stars. "Green..." I took a deep breath. "It's..."

He shifted slightly in his seat.

"Grean." I swallowed, tasting it in my mouth. "It's... the color of leaves in the spring. Dark green is like...unborn royalty. The smell of dawn and nature in the morning, right as the sunlights starts to filter out from behind the clouds. Green... means go. Running through the hills, drinking emeralds like others breathe air. It's the color of intelligence and cleverness."

I smiled. "Or like other people put it, simply: green means go. Go out and do everything they said you couldn't because now they're watching, and you can't afford to fail."

He sat in silence for a bit.

"Like you."

"Hmm?" I pushed my hair off my face and turned to look at him again, slightly disappointed at his less than enthusiastic response to my answer. "What're you talking about?"

"Ever seen a luna moth?"

I shook my head, not sure where he was going with this.

He looked around. "They grow around here. They're green too." He cleared his throat and muttered the rest.

"They grow around here," I mocked him. "They're not plants."

"Oh shut up. I made a mistake. Dang." He swatted my shoulder. "My point was they're like you. Annoying and only come out at night."

"Like me."

"Green like a luna moth. I've heard they're green. They look... almost like they're glowing." He chuckled. "You usually have one foot in reality and the other somewhere else."

I smiled to myself, hearing that. Maybe I could keep him around a bit longer. It gave me something to do, and he was... alright.