Love Is Black And White

2. The Darkest Eyes

Jade was a weird kid. But puberty hit her like a truck. At sixteen, she was an irresistible girl. She had long, wavy and black hair, red lips and a beautiful smile. She left the colorful socks behind, and started wearing clothes that suited her curvy body.

I was just one of her many admirers. But I was different from the rest, and there were two reasons for that. The first one: they only knew the surface of Jade. I knew everything about her.

First of all, Jade was a star. She acted, sang, danced, and did it all perfectly. The queen of the drama club.

Her favorite color was red, but most of her stuff was black. She loved Lana Del Rey songs, and used to listen to them whenever she felt very happy or very sad, which were basically her two moods. She felt everything with intensity.

Jade's dream was to be a big Hollywood actress, but she used to tell people she wanted to be a lawyer, because of the pitying looks she received for dreaming so high. This is something she has always hated, pity.

Roman Holiday was her favorite movie, but the one she used to watch the most was Shrek. Her favorite book was The Little Prince. It was the only book she read.

I knew so much about Jade that I even created my own version of her. One version in black and white.

Black and white Jade only belonged to my mind. Now, she also belongs to this book. She is the same as the original and colorful one, but she used to be part of my illusions. She was part of a different version of myself.

'Black and white me' had the courage to say to 'black and white Jade' that he loved her, and 'black and white Jade' loved him back. Their love story was beautiful. Unreal, but beautiful.

Maybe, it didn't make much sense that my happy imagination was black and white while my sad reality had bright colors. It may seem wrong. But I've always been a complicated guy. Complicated enough to write an entire book as an attempt to understand myself.

The second reason I was different from Jade's admirers is that they started to notice Jade after she left puberty cocoon, when she turned into a beautiful butterfly - I apologize for this poor figure of speech. As for me, I liked her way before that.

We were in that phase between childhood and adolescence, when we discovered the kiss. Everyone was giving their first kisses. But I didn't care at all. Until Jade kissed. And that was the first time I felt jealous of her.

"Leon!" my mom shouted from the stairs, "Jade is here!"

Oh, no... Alone in my room, I rolled my eyes without taking my focus off the video game, "tell her I'm not home!"

"So where are you?" Jade's voice startled me.

While recovering from the scare, I turned around and saw Jade entering my room. "What are you doing here?" I asked rudely as she walked over and stopped in front of the television, "you can't walk into my room like that!"

In silence, she stared at me for a few seconds, "what's wrong with you?"

Annoyed, I shrugged, "nothing."

"Why are you mad at me?" Jade insisted.

I crossed my arms in front of me, "I'm not..."

It was Jade's turn to roll her eyes, "come on Leon, tell me..."

I knew Jade hated it when people other than her made drama. That's why I was doing it. "I said I'm not mad at..."

"Leon!" She interrupted me, impatiently.

"Because I thought we were friends!" I invented an excuse to justify my jealousy, "and friends tell each other everything!"

Jade crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, "and what did I not tell you?"

I looked at the floor, "you kissed a boy..." I almost forgot about the newly invented excuse, but I remembered in time to complete, "and you didn't tell me."

Surprised and a little offended, Jade moved closer to me, "what boy?"

"Kevin," I blurted out.

"Kevin?" She shouted.

I nodded and walked away from her.

"I never kissed Kevin!" Jade spoke louder, following me around the room, "who told you that?"

"Kevin told me," I picked up a pen and started to paint the drawing I had made on the wall, just to try to ignore her.

Jade was still staring at me furiously, "and you just believed him?"

Focused on the drawing, I shrugged, "why would he lie?"

"Because boys are liars!" Jade shouted, snatched the pen from my hand and threw it on the floor.

Quickly, I looked at her with wide eyes. As soon as she was sure she had my attention, Jade lowered her head, picked up the pen from the floor and handed it back to me.

"Sorry," she said, and sat on the floor beside me, "Leon, if I actually had kissed a boy, you would be the first person to know. Trust me."

After a few moments in silence, I lowered my head, "I'm sorry."

Jade smiled, "are we still friends?"

Smiling, I nodded.

A few seconds later, we were as we always were. Jade took a pen and started to paint the drawing with me. But there was something new. Half the time we stood there in silence, I found myself watching her for no reason.

"So you never kissed a boy?" I asked, suddenly.

Jade shook her head, "no."

"I never kissed a girl," I said for no reason, "I don't know why they care so much about it anyway. It's just a kiss."

Eyebrows raised, Jade stared at me, "it's because it's our first kiss, we'll never forget it, so it must be special, with someone we really like."

I nodded, "and do you like someone?"

"Well..." Jade thought for a moment, "you're the only boy I like..." She said, and I smiled, "but we're friends."

I stopped smiling, "uh..."

"It would be weird, right?" She asked, watching my reaction.

I had no reaction for a moment, "oh, it would be so weird, we can't kiss!" and then I overreacted, "I mean, we're friends, best friends..." while I was talking like crazy, Jade got up and went to a drawer in my room, "it would be so weird, so weird! I don't know, maybe not, but we're friends..." I frowned when she came back holding a mask and a red wig, "what is that?"

She handed me the mask, "put it on."

Without much questioning, I put on the Spider man mask, which was too small for my head, leaving the lower part of my face out.

Jade giggled when she finished putting on her wig and realized the situation of my mask. Then she took a deep breath and smiled, "now you're not Leon, and I'm not Jade."

My heart started pounding as if it knew what was coming. Jade got closer and closer to me. Those eyes so black and so beautiful stared at me more and more deeply. When she was close enough, I took a careful push and kissed her lips.

It was natural and simple. But also surreal and splendid.

It took a few seconds for me to snap back to reality. When I opened my eyes, I saw Jade staring at me and smiling, and I couldn't help but smile too.

Oh, my... those are the darkest eyes I've ever seen.

Still staring at me, Jade took a deep breath, "I love you..." she spoke calmly.

I blushed, she loves me! "I love you too, Ja..."

"...Peter Parker," she completed.

"...ne!" I completed it at the last second, "Jane! I love you too, Mary Jane!"