Purple Hearts

Chapter 4

I didn't get up from bed the next morning. I stayed in my dorm while Hunk left for class, so I was alone. The only sound in my room was the humming of the air conditioner, and my nagging thoughts. I couldn't stop thinking about Keith. He was on my mind since the party. I looked at my wrist multiple times to see if he wrote anything. Nothing. I checked my phone for text messages too. Nothing.

I figured that Keith was just as shocked as I was, so he chose not to talk to me. But at some point we'll need to talk again, because we can write to each other on our wrists. It won't be that easy to just walk away.

The entire time I was lying in bed I couldn't stop thinking about the party. I met the person I'd wanted to meet for a while, but completely fucked it up by making a fool of myself. Now, Keith's invision of me is a scrawny 17 year old boy with attitude problems.

While I curled up underneath the covers of my bed, I rolled down my sleeve and stared at my wrist. It was empty except for smudges of leftover ink from the last time we wrote.

I jerked up from my bed and grabbed a marker from my bookbag. I had a newfound confidence to be the first to break the ice. I was tired of not talking to him. After all, the only way we can solve this is by talking.

I took my marker and started to write. I let the words just flow out onto my wrist, and I didn't think much about what I was saying. I just wanted to tell him my feelings. "I'm sorry about everything. I know I was douche at first and you were probably surprised to find out that was me, but I'm sorry. I promise I am not the person you saw at the party." I wrote. I was running out of room, so I finished my apology with "I hope we can still be friends." then left it at that.

I put the marker down and stared at what I wrote. I don't know why, but I was hoping that Keith would answer right away. I was picturing him staring down at his wrist in pain, and suddenly seeing my blue ink spill onto his wrist. The sight of my words would make him smile.

But that wouldn't happen. He probably didn't stay in his dorm like me, and he isn't feeling as sad about this as me. So I was surprised when I saw an almost immediate response in bright red ink. "So we were friends?" Keith asked.

I smirked and grabbed my marker again to write back, "Of course."

There was a moment when no one wrote anything, but Keith eventually replied "I accept your apology."

I did a silent dance in my bed when I read that. I didn't know why I was so happy to still be friends with a guy that I'd only known for about two weeks, but that didn't matter. I was just too happy to care.

When I looked back down at my wrist, I saw Keith wrote something else. "I've had this weird... pain in my stomach since the party. I don't know what it is."

"It's called feelings, dude. Everyone has them."

"No" Keith continued, "It feels more like a connection, like I am sensing something painful. It stopped just now, but it was bothering me all night."

I cocked my eyebrow and wrote back "That's weird. Tell me if it happens again."

"Okay." Keith replied. Then after sometime he added "Pick up your phone."

I quickly turned on the screen and noticed there were 5 texts from Keith, trying to contact me another way. All of them read something like "Hey, let's talk this way" or "Pick up your fucking phone." I laughed at the texts and replied "Sorry."

Keith ignored my apology and went right on to what he wanted to say. "Why were you at Shiro's party?"

"Uh because Shiro is only the best party planner ever. It's normal for people from other universities to go to his parties. You're close to him right?"

"Yeah, he's my best friend." Keith said.

It wasn't news to me. I haven't heard a lot of people refer to Takashi as Shiro, so when I heard Keith call him that I could only assume they were close. I felt some sort of importance knowing I was friends with someone who is close to Shiro. Even though I knew it wasn't that big of a deal. And I wasn't that close with Keith to begin with.

"Cool." I replied casually in an attempt to not look like an idiot. I already did that too much.

"Well I gtg. Me and Shiro are going to the movies and class is almost over. Ttyl." Keith texted back.

I frowned a little at my phone and replied "See ya" before turning my phone screen off and placing it beside me. I sat in painful silence after that. At least now I don't feel like the world ended for a stupid reason. The only thing I felt was relief.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. I got up from the bed and opened it, to see Pidge smiling up at me. "Let's go do something!" She cheered.

I looked at her questionly "What?"

"I know you are still frustrated about... well whatever it is you're angry about... so let's go do something else. Your choice."

"I don't know, Pidge. I'm feeling better so there isn't any reason to do something for me. It's fine."

Pidge's smile quickly turned into a frown. "I left class early for this so you better think of something for us to do."

I laughed and started to consider possible options. We have done plenty of things together, so there was very little we hadn't done. Just when I was about to give up on choosing a place, a thought popped into my head. "Hold on Pidge." I said.

I went back to the phone lying beside my bed and pulled up me and Keith's conversation, then started to type. "Where did you say you were going again?"