Cold Colours (EDITING)

Chapter II

(F/N)'s face flashes across my phone screen, showing the smiling face she herself had set to pop up when she called. At the time we had been in the middle of our senior year. The picture had been taken on a late night after a football game, which was obvious with the way makeup ran down her face in a very unattractive way. It was one of the last games of the season. All tensions were high, as well as tests pouring. Regardless of the time, my best friend found a way to look like a princess.

Looking at the photo I felt a part of guilt slam against me. It was like a wave to the shore on a stormy day, completely blowing everything else from my mind. All I could see was my best friend. She was smiling so happily up at me, our friendship not even questioned at that time. What had happened?

My finger hovers over the decline button, shaking as I thought over the decision. It felt like a betrayal to not answer her. After all, she was my best friend. Even after our fight, she was the closest person to me. I sigh, moving my finger to the accept button and — without letting myself think about it anymore — I press the little green thing.

"(Y/N)? You busy?" (F/N)'s voice echoes through the air quietly. She hadn't even given me a chance to press the phone to my ear before she had spoken. For a moment I stay silent, eyes trained on the small timer below her name. One second, two, five, eight seconds. Silence filled the air for these few moments as my body stays frozen. Father from shock or regret I wasn't really sure. After glancing around the hallway for a few moments, I raise the phone to my ear.

"No, What's up," I answer curtly, looking down at my feet. It was not an uncommon occurrence between us, these random calls. One always seemed to need or want something from the other. Sometimes it was as simple as wanting to her the others voice; others it was waiting in a line for hours to pick up their medicine. Either way, it was pretty much to be expected.

Yet I couldn't help the way my hand curled in a fist around the cold metal of my phone. Nor could I hate the way my toes curled up in my too tight shoes. Tensions were high between the two of us even if we didn't show it. We both assumed that's how friendships were sometimes.

"Oh, that's great! I actually have a favor to ask of you." I force a smile at her words, looking up and down the hallway of the hospital. People rush here and there with little purpose to their movements in my eyes. Suddenly the hallways seemed too close in on me. Everyone seemed to be too close; their ears listenjnf  for every last word I would say. I wanted out of this place.
My eyes shift to the covered window of my mother's room. The overlaying shades matched the putrid lightness of the baseboards. It was offputting. One could only imagine what it looked like after meeting your other half.

With a small nod to the unconscious women, I step away from her, making a mental note to visit again soon. The past few weeks had been void of mom time. I needed to change that before it was too late.

My eyes strictly state forwards as I step down the long hallway towards the big red exit sign. At the moment, I couldn't bring myself to see the other sickly patients and their caring visitors. Not when I was turning my back on my dying mother for a best friend who had been mistreating me.

"A favor?" I speak into the phone as I open the doors of the hospital. Cold brisk air hit my face at one, sending shivers down my spine. My hair flew behind me in whisps, the stingy strands reaching back to my mother. They asked me to turn and meet her once more. They asked me to hang up the important call, returning to the person that had taken care of me long before (F/N) had.

"I'm sorry for getting so angry with you earlier." (F/N) speaks slowly, her words rather labored and hesitant. It seemed as if she was watching every word as she said it. Obviously, she was very invested in the outcome of the conversation. "We both said things we didn't mean and I'm sorry for it. But I really need you to do this one thing for me.

I walk around the stairs of the hospital. Cold wind wrapped around me, completely going against the bright sun they seemed to stare down at me in pity. It was mocking me with its promises warmth. I could hear it's laughter flow by in the cold wind.

"(F/N) just ask." I mumbled, leaning against the cold concrete of the hospital stairs. My feet were pressed against the rather narrow stretch of sidewalk. Outside the hospital wasn't exactly spacious by any means. One could walk from the door to the busy road outside in little more than fifteen steps. I guess it was one of the few disadvantages of living in a city. Everything seems to need more space.

After my words, silence falls on the line. Annoying bubbling static fills the air between us, making me tap my foot impatiently. Of course, I understood my best friends hesitation. Years ago I had felt the same after one of our arguments. They had been far and few between the past few years, so this one hit harder than our biggest during high school.

"I need you to pick up Eren up from work." My best friend mumbles. Her tone was almost too quiet to pick up on, her words slurred and mushed together. She didn't want to ask this of me. If there was one person who knew how little I liked Eren it was her. "Because my car broke down and I'm stuck at the repair place."

I can hear (F/N)'s sigh from the other line. Knowing her she would be anxiously pacing in the room she was stuck in, completely unaware of the people's toes she was stepping all over. Her hand would be curling and uncurling by her side. Clicks and snaps of her joints would probably annoy anyone close enough to hear them. I had been beside her when she was anxious many times and it never seemed to get any easier to handle.

"Why can't he drive himself?" I ask, looking down at my watch. It was getting rather late. Surely far too late for Eren to be getting off work. He was usually home around dinner time, and it was half an hour past the normal eating schedule of my best friend.

"(Y/N) please! You don't understand how much this would help me. I'll have no time to get to the office before Eren gets off." (F/N)'s words blurred together as she spoke, her voice was so low. If I hadn't been friends with her for years I probably wouldn't understand a word of what she trying to say. "He sure as hell doesn't need to stay there longer than he has to."

I do a double take at the last words. One thing was for sure, my best friend almost never cursed. Even when she had been stuck with me in the middle of traffic for hours on end she hadn't once cursed out of anger. Hearing even one word from her spoken so nonchalantly made my lips tug into a frown. More than that, my interest peaked with that one little word. What was so bad it made my best friend degrade herself to curse?

"Okay, I'll pick Eren up. He's still living with you isn't he?" My feet kick at the concrete below me in frustration. I was supposed to be angry at her and yet I was doing favors for her? It seemed wrong. Almost like I wasn't doing justice to myself for giving in so easily. But what sort of friend would I be if I didn't?

"Yep! We live together in my apartment! Oh (Y/N) thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me!" My best friends squeal of happiness was heard from the other line, earning a chuckle from me. For a moment we were teenagers again. I had told her the newest gossip and she had replied with one of her famous screams, all but bursting my eardrums in the process.

For a moment we were simply friends again. There was no Eren, no soulmates, no colors, no worries. (F/N) and I would face the world once again, or so it felt for a few moments.

"Yeah whatever, bye (F/N)." I hang up on my friend curtly, the happiness of the moment quickly cut off by my actions. Once more the world was grey and unjust. There was no us; there was only me.

I pull my warm fleece jacket tightly over my chest. Wind wipes around me in small freezing whisps of unwelcome weather. For a moment I didn't even want to unfurl to slip my phone in my purse and grab my keys. When I did, however, my entire body resulted to shivers.

My eyes glance behind me, the ugly and dated walls of the hospital seemingly staring at me. They were judging me. Judging me for leaving my mother behind. Judging me for giving up my life for a dying soul. Judging me for everything I've ever done. Yet I turned my back to all of it. With a final small nod to the hospital that was to save my mothers life I had slipped into the car, Eren's big corporate job lighting up on my GPS.