Cresswell

All I See Is Blue

Thorne hated this. Most of his friends were out galavanting in the pool, but it just looked murky to him. They had all found their soulmates, yet here he was at a ripe 25 with no one to turn to. At least not yet. All his friends could see the world in color but not Thorne, oh no, everything was gray to him. His friends would try to describe the color to him, Cinder eventually getting fed up and just yelling at him "ITS THE COLOR OF YOUR EYES YOU IDIOT" but even with that dazzling description, he was still confused. For Cinder it was easy, she just couldn't see brown. Hers was cured once she turned 18 anyways, she didn't count. She and Kai were perfectly happy tantalizing Thorne about is color blindness.
Exasperated, Thorne told Scarlet that he was leaving. It was no fun going to the pool with his friends when it looked like an old 80's tv show. He grabbed his keys and stalked out to
his car.
Now, Thorne wasn't completely colorblind. It was just what everyone went through. Some people weren't able to see certain colors until they were 40, others saw the world as vibrant as could be once they turned 13 and had found their true love. It wasn't the color blue for him either. He could still see other shades, like the color of the sky or deep midnight blue, almost like his own eyes. But Her eyes must have been something special.
They were blue. He knew that. But how could he describe it if he couldn't see it? Apparently they were the same color as that pool, as far as he knew. But what about that one poster he saw? Or that one fish he saw in the aquarium? It felt like there was a part that hadn't quite clicked into place. And it was starting to feel pretty unbearable. Not that he couldn't handle it though, he was Carswell Thorne after all, right?
As Thorne was driving home he decided to stop and get some ice cream at the place Scarlet's grandma owned. At least he could see all the colors in the parlor. He had mapped out pretty well which places to avoid in Artemisia. There was a new girl working at the cash register. Huh, she's pretty cute, he thought. And what better way to get his mind off of his soulmate? He wasn't ready for that anyways, so what was the harm? There was a pretty long line though.
Thorne started looking around for a place to sit. Something seemed off when he glanced back at the counter though. Shaking it off, Thorne went up to the stand after the line had shortened and ordered a large rampion double scoop of chocolate. He deserved it and maybe it would get him in the good graces of the cashier if he was lucky. And who was he kidding? He was always lucky. The girl gave him a warm smile and he couldn't help but smile back.
"Here's your ice cream! Have a sweet day!" she said, handing over his little boat of chocolatey goodness.
"You too sweetheart," he said with a wink for emphasis. She didn't seem phased though, flashing the same smile to the next customer. Just then a girl with a clear mission in her eyes ran up to the counter, knocking over the chair she was previously sitting in.
"Emilie! I need help! My laptop crashed and the wifi isn't working anymore!" Thorne rolled his eyes at the girl. Clearly she knew the pretty ice cream server, although she wasn't too bad herself.
"Cress, darling, you know where the wifi router is. Go fix it yourself, and tell Michelle that we need more mint chocolate while you're up there!" Cress, apparently, hurried behind the counter and up the stairs. But not before she knocked into Thorne, who nearly spilled his precious ice cream. All she did was squeak "sorry!" before scampering away, a vivid blush lighting up her cheeks. Something was simply off about that girl.
"Hey! You almost made me spill!" he yelled after her. Besides, how was she such good friends with Michelle Benoit when it was his friends grandma? How did he not know her? Jumping over the counter swiftly with a quick wink to who he assumed was Emilie, he climbed up the stairs after her into the apartment above.
The first thing he noticed were the pictures on the walls. They were of Scarlet when she was younger, obviously. They'd been there since he first visited here. But something seemed to glimmer about it, he couldn't tell what. He set down his beloved ice cream when he heard voices and some scuffling in the living room.
The next thing he noticed was her dress. It was so bright and colorful, falling just above her knees. Her hair was catching the light making it glow from the sunset on the balcony, and- and she was sitting in his spot.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked her, while she was sitting in his spot with a weird black box, some cables, and her laptop.
"I'm rerouting the wifi, what does it-" she cut off abruptly when she saw who it was. "Oh, um, hi, sorry about earlier," she started rambling, that same glowing blush lighting up her face.
Thorne cut her off. "No, nevermind about that, why are you sitting in my spot?"
Cress stammered, "yo-your spot? I'm so sorry, I just, I know the owner and I come up here to work a lot when it gets crowded downstairs and normally the people don't follow me upstairs or know Michelle or. Sorry. I'm rambling." She stuck out her hand awkwardly for him to shake. "Hi, I'm Cress"
Thorne looked at her hand before shaking it, responding "Yeah, I realized. I'm" he faltered as he looked up at her face. Framed by her freckles and light blonde eyelashes, there were a bright pair of eyes he'd never seen before. Quickly gathering his composure, Thorne withdrew his hand politely and finished saying "I'm Thorne. Say, what color are your eyes?"
Cress laughed slightly, some of her awkwardness being replaced by wariness. "Um, I'm pretty sure they're blue," she said, looking up from the floor she seemed to be so entranced with.
"Yeah, they are..."
The much shorter girl refused to look him in the face. "Er, have I, uh, seen you before?" she asked.
"I highly doubt that you have, nor I you," he responded meekly. He wanted so badly for her to look at him again. To see that color. He'd never seen it before. It was blue, definitely. But it was bright. Not like ice, or his royal blue, or the color of the sky. It was different. It was the same as her dress, which seemed to glow now. As Carswell took a look around the familiar apartment, he noticed it. Glimmers in some of the pictures of Scarlet at the pool when she was younger. The color of the plates sitting on the counter in the kitchen. He'd finally found her.
"Cress? Can you look up at me?" he said, tucking her short blonde hair behind her ear. The girl flinched, but looked up at him per his request.
She was dazzled. His eyes were like nothing she had ever seen. They were like hers, but darker. A deep blue, unlike the ice during winter or the sky in the summer. It was that color that had always been missing for her. On walks by the beach, or star gazing at night. It was there. And it was beautiful.
"Th-Thorne?" she whispered, "I, I think, um, your eyes are-,"
"I know, yours too" he said, cutting her off. Then he leaned in, bending slightly due to her small height, and he kissed her lightly. That was what snapped her out of it.
"What are you doing?!" She exclaimed angrily, all signs of shyness vanishing.
Thorne straightened up immediately, confused but composed nonetheless. "Well, seeing as we're soulmates, I thought it would be appropriate to kiss you." Apparently he was wrong.
"Soulmates? We barely know anything about each other! I just know you like ice cream and apparently walk into poor ice cream shop owners apartments!"
"And all I know about you is that you can reroute the wifi apparently and run into people innocently trying to get ice cream!"
"Excuse you, I've known Michelle and Emilie much longer than you probably have!"
"Oh really? What's the name of Michelles granddaughter!"
"Scarlet, obviously, and her dad is an alcoholic. That's why she lives here. We're friends actually," she responded indignantly.
Thorne knew this, but he had just found his soul mate. And currently she was yelling at him with her laptop clutched to her chest, ready to run away. And he was not going to lose her that easily. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But you can see it too, right?" He sat on the couch, letting her have the upper hand. "I mean, I must have seen you before this, right? If we're both so close to Scarlet?"
"Not really..." she mumbled. "Scarlet and I were only internet friends until recently. I moved here a month ago. I just got out of college last June." Cress couldn't believe this was how it was happening. She had just met her soul mate and she rejected him? Out of all the scenarios she had imagined, this was not it.
"Good. College. That's a good place to start." Cress sat down on the couch as well, still keeping a good two feet between them with her laptop still in her hands. "So that would make you around 23?"
"21, actually. I graduated high school early, emancipated myself, and started at Aces University at 16. I majored in Computer and Technical sciences, theater as my minor. What about you?" Thorne didn't expect her to open up so easily, especially after seeing her clear social anxiety. I guess being soul mates does loosen one up a bit, he thought.
"I tried to become a pilot, but funds ran short and parents were ignorant. I ended up dropping out and joining the military at 18. I figured after three years I would come back and try work in social services or being a cop or something." he waved two synthetic fingers in the air, "These were kind of a setback. I'm just getting on my feet again." If she was going to be comfortable with him, he had to be open with her. "So much for being a captain."
"How did you end up getting to know Scarlet between all of that?" She asked timidly. Apparently she doesn't like talking about herself much. Thorne could work with that.
"Michelle used to be a pilot. Scarlet and I met at a reunion sort of thing, she was supporting her grandma and I was supported by a sling and a cast. Afterwords we kind of hit it off and I discovered she was buddies with my closest friend, Cinder. Funny how that works out, huh?"
"Yeah..." said Cress. She seemed to be lost in thought. Then she looked up and smiled. "So, captain," that made him smile, "Since we're soulmates, why don't you take me out on a date?" Clearly this whole confidence thing was new to her if the intense blush and fiddling of her thumbs gave anything away. Thorne wanted to help with that immediately. There was just something about this girl that made him overprotective. Maybe, on the off chance, it could be because he knew he would be with her the rest of his life.
"Well, there is an ice cream parlor downstairs. How about we start there? Then maybe some movies?"
She nodded her head vigorously, relieved it wasn't too intense of a social situation.
I think I'm more than okay with this, thought Thorne. Much more than okay.