Red and Gray

Fortress Walls

It was hard to pinpoint the exact moment Gray knew he was in love with Red.

Even harder was trying to figure out why he still is. 

They went to Red's house, as planned. She lived with her cousin, Dee, who was five years older, and Dee's husband, Frank.

"Dee's pregnant, seven months now," she said like she was commenting on the weather. "So tiptoe around her, 'kay? And keep the three-humped camel jokes to yourself."

"Jeez," he said, a laugh gasping out of him. There was a time when he would have rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically, 'Jeez, it's like she sees to the bottom of my soul,' but this wasn't that time. That was past.And she remembered, because she looked at him strangely for a second, and then turned back to the road.

How does he love her? What a poem that would be.

All he remembered was the way his eyes were so drawn to her, that day in the record shop. Even then she'd had this quiet gravity that drew the eye to how she moved, how she looked. All the black did nothing to camouflage her. And even after three years of friendship, he was still almost getting to know her. Her mind was an endless maze, her personality had more layers than Shrek's onion. 

Her heart had more walls around it than a castle. What an impenetrable fortress. But he couldn't blame her. After all the crap she'd been through...

For all her mystery and gravity, Red was a loner. He should have picked up on that, given that she came in alone, walked alone, drove alone. She had no friends, only the same group of people she talked to and stood near at rock clubs and concerts. Later she'd tell him she never felt comfortable around other people, that the last best friend she'd had was when she was eight. Then they'd ended up huddling together for warmth on an icy road on a winter's day, and then she had him. He had her.

She was so warm.

"Dee?" Red's key scratched in the lock, and the door swung open. "You home?"

She threw her bag unceremoniously at the stairs and went into the kitchen. Gray buried his hands into his pockets, looking around curiously. He knew Red's house as well as he knew his own - and it looks like it's changed, too. The wallpaper was a warm shade of yellow, the pictures multiplied. A few landscapes, probably done by Dee's husband, hung near the windows.

Red came back out, holding a beer can, a bottle of Coke, some Twizzlers, and a pink sticky note. "Dee's at the baby store," she said, holding up the sticky note. "Frank's gonna pick her up after." She said their names comfortably now, her mouth even twitching up fondly. He could see the beginnings of a worried frown on her forehead, thinking of her pregnant cousin out alone.

A lot really has changed. Gray remembered how her lips used to twist bitterly, how she thought she was a burden to her cousin and she knew it. They'd talked a lot and yet he could sense that was just one drop of water ib ana ocean.

That night was the first time she'd slept over at his house, layers of cloth between them, yet Gray hadn't gotten a single wink of sleep.

"Dee's a trooper, even with another trooper in her," he said quickly, watching the debate in Red's eyes. "She'll be fine."

Red's face cleared. "Yeah - you're right," she said, folding the note and pocketing it. She tossed the can at him and headed up. "Come on, then."

He picked up her bag on the way, rolling his eyes and grinning in spite of himself. She'd never really liked pomp and ceremony, had she?

Some things never change. 

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