Colors

I never realized how much I still missed Timothy until my, and Mitchall's, year end evaluation.
None of the questions bothered me. Mitchall and I just had to do our regular "perfect couple" routine, but it seemed like Mitchall actually believed that we would be together forever. I couldn't let him think that.
We got into a huge fight at my house.

"Why can't you just accept that we're getting married?" Mitchall boomed.
"Because, Mitchall, I'm still not over Timothy's death! I appreciate how patient you've been with me, but I told you from the very beginning that I was going to take years to move on!
"Baybelle," He took my hands, "I love you."
"Mitchall," I threw his hands away, "I will never love you."

We were quiet for a minute. Mitchall looked like he was going to cry. He bent down, kissed my forehead, and went to the front door. "He's dead, Baybelle. Gone. But I'm always going to be here for you." Then he left.

"It was beautiful, Bay He took me picnicking on the beach. We watched the sunset, ate by candlelight, went swimming. He kissed me goodnight, and Bay, he got me a promise ring. A promise ring! Look!" Sam stuck her hand under my nose, and the silver band shone.
"It's beautiful, Sammy." I was genuinely happy for her.
“I'm so glad it's summer vacation. We get to see each other so much more, now.” She stated, coolly.
Sam and my mom were the only ones who knew about my spat with Mitchall. For that matter, he called them both daily, to check up on me, It had been two weeks since we'd fought, and he wasn't letting up.

I thought about Mitchall every day with both anger and regret. I missed him, but to me he would never be more than like a brother and it killed me.
How could he love me? It was all supposed to be an act. Had it been real to him all along?
Sam and I spent all night talking about our men. By the end of the night I was ready to apologize. Sam always had a way of knowing how to see the light. I was glad that she hadn't changed through all of this.

I left Sam's house before the sun came up, planning to surprise Mitchall. I walked over our yards to his house, climbed onto his balcony window, and woke him up.
His light turned on, and he drew the curtain. "Freckles?" He yawned, "What are you doing?"
"I'm sorry" I said flatly.
"It's five in the morning!" He was holding his head like he had a hangover.
"I'm sorry."
We stood there, looking at each other, for what seemed like hours. In reality it was about thirty seconds. "What?"
"I'm sorry, Mitchall. I feel terrible for yelling at you. I never really gave you a chance, and I'm sorry for that.”
He walked over to me, looked me in the eye, and embraced me. I started crying. "Baybelle, I'm the one that should be apologizing. I know that you're not over Timothy. I get it, and all I did was push you. I love you, Freckles, and I should have given you more space. I'm sorry.
"Thank you." We both said.
"You know," He said, "Juliet isn't the one that climbed the balcony."
"Shut up, Romeo."

I got back to Sam's house before she woke up. I only got three hours of sleep before she woke me up for breakfast at noon. That's really all I needed.
I explained over bacon what I'd done before she was awake. She was smiling so big I thought it would stick there. "That's why I didn't get a call this morning.” Sam thought aloud a lot, but only around me and Ian. "So, are you guys gonna give it a shot?"
"Yeah, we are. I told him not to get his hopes up, but he's just happy that I'm trying. Our first real date is tomorrow night."
"Any details?"
"He just said to look nice. It's supposed to be a surprise." I said it coolly, but on the inside I was freaking out. Maybe this date would actually be fun.
Sam giggled, and nudged me. "A surprise?"
"You're an idiot. He knows not to try anything with me." And he did know. I didn't even let him kiss me goodbye last night. He knew not to mess around with me.”