Washroom Color

save it for your prayers, i don't care about your issues .

I woke up to the covers being ripped from my body, as though they were on fire and someone was trying to save me from getting burned alive.

I shrieked at the top of my lungs, and kicked and screamed and tried to find something to cover myself up with, and I head a familiar voice above my head before I was able to get my eyes open all the way.

“God, Han, you still sleep in your undies? I thought that was just a phase!”

I rubbed at my eyes and straightened up into a sitting position. “Fuck Felice. Fuck YOU Felice.” Felice Medina, my best friend since 9th grade stood above me. She looked as gorgeous and natural as she ever did, even when she was dressed in just sweat sweatpants and a tank like she was now.

Shivering in my tank top and panties, I crawled forward to retrieve the blanket from where it landed on the floor at the foot of the bed, and at the same time I reached out and snatched Felice's hand and pulled her down so that with a small yelp, she landed on the bed next to her. In a swift movement between my giggles and her protests, I wrapped her up in the blanket with me and drew her into a hug, burying my face into her shoulder. She still used the same shampoo, even though it'd been almost two years since I'd seen her last. The last two times I'd been home for summer and the holidays, we hadn't been around at the same time to see each other.

She hadn't changed a bit, and I discovered that when she let out her first real laugh of the visit – a loud cackle that most people found annoying, but I loved.

“Did my dad let you in?” I asked, already knowing that was the right answer. “What time is it.”

Her voice came out muffled a little, and I guessed that she'd somehow made it part way beneath the blanket. “It's like 8. I called but you didn't answer.” Even though I couldn't see her face, I could just imagine the pout on her face as I heard the whine in her voice.

“8? Fee you're crazy. Of course I didn't answer. It's 8.”

“Oh right, I forgot you were a chronic sleeper,” She joked. She was right, sleeping in had always been my specialty. “I don't know how I could have ever thought otherwise.”

I moved my head from her shoulder, and looked at her. Her pretty honey colored hair was fanned out over my mattress and her big brown eyes gaped wide at me. “How's Duke?”

“Oh, it's in, it's out, you know,” She said, and I know exactly what she means, because it's something that she used to say all the time. I take it to mean that things are going very well. “Back in Arizona. This is crazy!” She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair to smooth it down and remove any new knots that may have appeared. “What are we going to do today?”

I finally got out of the bed, and walked across the room to where my suite case was, still only half unpacked. I knew that it was probably going to stay that way, too, until I managed to stuff everything back in when it was time to leave next month. I pulled out a pair of jeans, some boots and a plain white tee shirt to put on, and over it I tugged on a black, white and red striped sweater.

As I was dressing, I heard Felice lean back on my bed: the springs creaked, and I heard the popping noise her knees made when she bent them. “And... How are you?” She asked. Her question was a little quieter than it normally would have been. I knew she was staring at the paleness of my legs; maybe she could see the pasty blue veins through the paper thin skin of my thigh. “Is everything going okay? Are you feeling alright?” So many questions in one go, that basically meant the same thing. What I alright. Was I? Sometimes, I was afraid that I'd never be the same again. Felice is the only one outside my family know who knows that I've been sick, and I think she's the one who's always been there to assure me that no matter what I went through, nothing was going to change. And so far, she's always been right.

I smiled at her. “I'm great,” I said, as I pulled the jeans up my legs, and her smile lit up as though I told her she'd just won a trip to Hawaii.



I barely remember the first time Felice and I met. I know that she was hitting on my brother during our freshman orientation of high school, but other than that it's just like she's always been around, showing up at our house in the middle of the night when she got into fights with her parents, or when she needed me after a bad break up. She spent hours and hours with my in and out of hospitals, in return. It was like we were in separable. If I didn't have Seth already, she would definitely be my twin.

We ended up going to get breakfast. Seth wasn't up when we left, and so we just said goodbye to my dad and moseyed over to our favorite place. Felice drives us the half hour from Phoenix to Scottsdale and when we pull into the In-n-Out burger parking lot she's already gushing about how she's missed this chain and how they didn't have it on the East Coast, and everyone was missing out.

We got our food, and I jumped right into filling her in on what happened in the 4 days that I've been home. When I mentioned the Maine, she doesn't squeal or gasp or anything. “Oh, right. Some people at school like them a lot, I think. I've never heard anything by them though.” She said instead, and stuffed three fries into her mouth at one time. “I'm sure they're just lovely.” She said that with a little bit of sarcasm, which didn't surprise me, since being cynical and sarcasm is what she's always done best.

“You could say that,” I said, and proceeded to tell her about how “one of the boys” made me want to spill whatever I was holding all over the floor. As I told her, I realized that it was the first time I was really even admitting it to myself.

“Really. I'm going to have to meet this boy then. See if he's worthy.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

When we got back to my house, it was about 10:30, and Seth was up and sitting in the living room. Felice abandoned me in the kitchen so she could join him in front of the TV and flirt with him. The entire kitchen table began to buzz, and I noticed Seth's phone had been left sitting on the table. I picked up the iPhone and looked at the caller ID. “Kenny” was flashing all over the screen with a picture of Kennedy.

“Seth's phone, how may I direct your call?” I said loudly that Seth could hear me. He immediately came stomping into the kitchen, his morning foul mood spread all over his face as he held out his hand for the phone.

“Hannah banana,” He recognized my voice.

“Never heard that one before,” I said with a laugh, rolling my eyes with a smile while dodging out of Seth's flailing arms as he's trying to get the phone.

“Why am I not surprised? Where's Seth?”

I looked over to my twin, who was now being held back by Felice, who continued to flirt with him to distract him, like the good sidekick she was. “He's a bit tied up right now, can I take a message? Make it easy to understand, Seth doesn't do well with big words.”

“Wow!” Seth yelled when he heard what I said. “Are we in High School again? Is that the best you can come up with??”

Kennedy laughs. “Right, well let him know that we're going into the studio today to cut together a different version of Color, if he wants to come. We're meeting someone to talk about tour for the summer too, I said he wanted to be there if that happened. You can come too if you like, ya know, get to know what we do, you'll be impressed.”

I laughed, and agreed, and when I hung up, then only thing I could say was “Studio Sesh!”