To Whom it May Concern (ON HOLD)

It's all yellow

September 1st, 2014
The rain was quiet now. James had pulled up just outside my apartment building and was looking at the buzzing yellow lights through the blurry windshield. His fingers beat out random patterns against the steering wheel. He said nothing as I looked up at the tall, tan building, its windows an odd speckling of dark and illuminated ones. I watched faint shadows move past the small open rectangles, like little glimpses into somewhere else.

"James," I murmured. Glancing at me a small smile tugged on his lips

"Ella?"

I leaned back against the seat for a moment before a small tired laugh fluttered through me,

"I'm sleepy."

James leaned toward me, his dark eyes warm. This was a phrase that had been passed between us many times. When we were children, they were the words that stopped fighting, playing, talking. We had been young, so little, and yet we knew exactly what they meant.

I could remember, clearly, running through the park that was just a few streets from our houses. We had been running and jumping and my favorite shirt was stained but I hadn't cared. The sun was warm but there was wind, the trees were shadowed just enough to look magical. It was the perfect day. All yellow. We had been running and laughing and James had been smiling, his little face open. Time had been irrelevant because we weren't waiting for anything. This was what we had been waiting for. We eventually fell from our wild, wonder filled romp and slowed to a walk, James peered up into the sky and grinned

"It's beautiful." He called out to the open sky. I had then tackled him to the ground and we had fallen to the grass.

"Tell me about yellow." He had whispered. I had just smiled

"Yellow is happiness." I told him, and I watched his mouth curve up thoughtfully."

"I feel yellow."

It had been perfect, long and everlasting until the sun had began to dip behind the clouds and I felt James take my hand.

"Storm." He had whispered and I had turned to see his small smile become a straight line. His lip twitched and with false calm he tried to shrug it off,

"Just thunder." He managed.

The day was still warm and hours could still have been danced through but I had taken one look down at James's small hand and shook my head.

"I'm really sleepy." I whispered. He looked with relief, then with a determined smile back toward his mother's car.

"I will get you home." He promised, I nodded.

James looked at me now and I saw the faintest hint of a smile spark through his quiet eyes.

"I will get you home." Slipping out of the car I followed him into my apartment building, I was supposed to have the two keys but I had only one, and I stood behind James as he slipped one out of his pocket and opened the door to my apartment.

The old warm lights came alight slowly and the small apartment became bathed in yellow warmth. The couch was old but I was rather proud of it, this fabulous gap year apartment, was mine. It wasn't pretty, but it was mine. James gave me a gentle shove and let himself fall onto the couch. The sofa sagged under his weight and he spread himself on it loosely. I took a couple small steps forward and sat gingerly down next to him. He craned his neck to look up at me and made a small animal growl before pulling me toward him. Shrieking, I pulled away from him and placed my book safely on the side table before turning to shove him. James fell back against the couch and laughed. His chest rose and sank and his damp shirt lay close against his skin.