Grey

I came to realize, over time, that Grey was always changing. Whilst I stayed in the one spot, she kept moving forward. Things came and went in her life and everything was temporary. She often revelled in her cynicism, telling me on those quieter nights that people didn’t change and people always left – there was no possible way mere words, or actions – could make someone change their mind. Because people were set in their ways, and people never, ever changed. This was the world according to Grey.

I remember telling her that she should’ve picked up a course in philosophy, the way she was talking. She’d scrunched up her face in a frown and stuck her tongue out at me before punching me in the arm playfully. I just laughed, before grabbing one of the pillows from her couch and tossing it at her.

This escalated into a pillow fight and soon enough, Grey collapsed on the floor, roaring with laughter at the sight of me with feathers tangled all through my hair. She knelt down in front of me once she stopped laughing to pick them out, a small smile still playing on her lips. I just looked at her, and caught her off guard by kissing her softly on the lips. I felt her smile as I kissed her, and smiled, too, completely overcome with a certain happiness that makes your insides tingle.

We broke apart and she just smiled at me in that way that she sometimes did, her eyes sparkling in the dim light of her living room. Wordlessly, she led me back to her bedroom where she unbuttoned the duvet on her bed and climbed inside it.

“Nate, come here,” she called out to me. I climbed in after her and sat cross-legged across from her inside the duvet. I looked at her, confused as to why we were inside her duvet and not under it.

“Tell me a secret,” she whispered suddenly. “Something no one else knows.”

“I don’t like coffee,” I said with a smile. She laughed her jingle-bell laugh and shoved me in the shoulder.

“I already know that,” she said.

“You know everything about me, Grey,” I said. “I don’t have any secrets.”

I’d hoped she’d pick up on the subtle hint I’d dropped. Perhaps it was too subtle. I’d meant to imply that she knew everything there was to know about me, but I was still mostly in the dark about her. I had no idea what her family was like, or what she did when she wasn’t with me. I knew the person she chose to show the world, but I had no idea about the other Grey – the real person she became when no one was watching.

She just smiled at me then, and started to play with her hair, braiding and un-braiding it as I watched her tiredly, a yawn escaping my mouth. She looked up and me and leaned forward to kiss my nose.

“I’ve never had a girlfriend before,” I said suddenly. Grey pulled back and looked at me, a puzzled look settling on her features. “That’s a secret,” I added.

“I’m your first girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Well, how am I doing?” she asked. I laughed.

“Well, I don’t know…” I trailed off. Grey rolled her eyes and grinned, leaning forwards to wrap her arms around me as I leant back on the mattress. That was the first night we ever shared a bed. We fell asleep together, trapped in our own little world inside the warm duvet.