Colors

I knocked on Jay's door, but it was his mother who greeted me. "Well, hello there!" She exclaimed. She grabbed my arm and pulled me inside, "You must be Bay. I'm Jay's mom, you can call me Caroline!" I smiled at her, and shook her hand. Caroline had a southern twang. I thought that Jay had mentioned them moving here about six years previous, from Georgia, if I recalled correctly.
"It's wonderful to meet you, Caroline."
We sat on the couch and chatted while Jay was washing up. "You are cute," Caroline giggled. She showed me old pictures of Jay and Lindsay. Thirty minutes passed before Jay emerged from the bathroom. He had on ripped jeans, and dog tags. No shoes, no shirt. His dark hair was wet, and plastered to his face and neck. Rubbing a towel against the back of his head, he smiled at me. "Hey," He sounded so nonchalant! "I'll go get a shirt, and we can head out."
Blushing, I focused on watching my thumbs fiddle with one of my curls. "Alrighty."
"Hey, don't be nervous!" Caroline chirped, "He really likes you, too." Her smile was so genuine and child-like that I couldn't help but smile back.
Jay came back, shirt on, and took me away before I could get more than a "thank you" out to his mother.
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"Whoa, baby!" Jay's sister gave out a whistle as we walked up. "She's a lot prettier than you described, Jay." She winked at him, and linked her arm in mine. "He doesn't do you any justice." She teased. He punched her shoulder, and the tips of his ears turned bright pink. I just giggled nervously. "So, Newbie, you strong?" Lindsay was two years younger than me, but she seemed so much younger to me. Kind of reminding me of their mother.
"I guess." I shrugged.Lindsay came behind me and jumped onto my back. "What the heck?" I yelped. She was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her cheeks. Simply to humor her, I ran around the park with her on my back. We fell to the ground together laughing. Jay, next to us, chuckled lightly to himself, and rolled his eyes.
"Oh. My. God." Lindsay sat up, looking behind Jay and me. "Why is that ass coming over here?"
I twisted around to see who she was talking about to find Mitchall walking towards us.
"What did he do?" I inquired.
Lindsay glared at him menacingly. "Pushed me into the mud." She rolled onto her stomach, exposing her brown butt. "These are my favorite pair of jeans, too."
Mitchall came up behind me and wrapped me in a hug. "Hey, Belle."
Lindsay shot me a look of suspicion. I hit him in the arm, "You know I don't like it when you call me that."
Jay was avoiding eye contact with Mitchall altogether, but Mitchall was staring him down. Practically challenging him. I shook his arms from me and scooted toward Lindsay. Mitchall just kept scowling at Jay, not even acknowledging Lindsay. She bent down, grabbed a reasonably sized rock, and thrust it at his head. "What the hell-" He clutched where the rock had struck him.
"Asshole, stop staring at my brother! What- you checking him out?"
"Pipsqueak, run." She ran, and he chased after her. Sometimes he got close, but he never quite caught up with her. My heart sunk deep into the pit of my stomach when I thought Oh God, that is my husband...
"How can I get to know you?" Jay asked, suddenly. I focused my attention back to him, surprised. He was staring at me; his blue eyes tracing the lines of my face. I felt exposed, and I really wasn't sure how to reply. Did I even want him to know me?
Yes.
"Well, questions are always helpful." I squirmed in place, feeling like I was being studied.
"Okay: Favorite color?" A smile was planted on his face. It was quite contagious.
"Green."
"Me too." If possible, his smile grew. Just in front of us Mitchall finally caught up with Lindsay and tackled her. She turned and landed on her back, with Mitchall on top of her. Her face was beet red, her chest heaving, same with Mitchall, and their faces were just inches apart.
Jay was holding back a laugh and was making kissy noises at them. I just sat there, intrigued. Mitchall shot Jay a dirty look. If looks could kill...
He rolled off of Lindsay and walked briskly to my side. "Let's go." He said, darkly. Lindsay was still on the ground, stunned.
"I don't want to!" I whined, "I came with Lindsay and Jay, I plan on leaving with them." I folded my arms, as though that made it final.
Of course, that didn't convince Mitchall. "Baybelle, now." He towered over me.
"No." I said flatly.
Rolling his eyes, he bent down, scooped me up and slung me over his shoulder."Mitchall put me down, now!" If he was going to take me, he would do it with me kicking and screaming. Literally. "Mitchall! Jay stood up, ready to come after me.
Mitchall turned around and gave him a malicious smile, "See you at home, neighbor."
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Mitchall finally put me down when we got to the mini-van. I climbed in without argument- I knew there was no point. We drove home in silence, not even looking at each other. When we finally got back to the apartment he parked and let out a heavy sigh, sitting back in his seat. He looked at me sadly, "I don't want you to see him anymore."
"You really are and ass." I got out of the car and headed up to our room, him following close behind.
"Excuse me?" He said, grabbing my wrist.
I spun around, rage fueling my actions. "Mitchall James Harig, you let go of me this instant!" He released me looking alarmed. "You have absolutely no say in who i befriend."
"But-"
"No! No 'Buts'! I am going to get this through your freakishly thick skull, no matter how long it takes!" We were in the stairwell now, which provided us with a bit more privacy. Half way up the second flight I stopped, my foot tapping at him furiously. "I wanted to get out of Grayson so I could have freedom. I appreciate that you worked that out for us, and our fathers. It's the third day into our freedom and I've already made two friends. I will see them. They're our neighbors, even if I didn't want to, I don't really have a choice. And you are not going to stop me." My voice had escalated with every word I spoke.
"You like him."
I let out a long breath, calming myself. "You know what- Yes. I may like him, but that is none of your business."
"Yes it is!" He cut in, angry.
"No, Mitchall. It. Is. Not. You're not my husband anymore!" I was screaming now, and I turned to leave. I wanted to be anywhere but here. I ran down the stairs... right into Jay. His face was solemn. "Jay!" I reached out to him, all the anger draining from me.
"We need to talk." There was no emotion in his voice and he turned to Mitchall. "Alone."
Lindsay came around the corner and Jay motioned her to go up the stairs. "Come on, Gigantor." She grabbed Mitchall's sleeve and led him upstairs.