A Touch of Colour

Chapter 8

"He does this a lot," Carys tried to console me as I ripped my eyes away from them. I had been watching their relationship unfold publicly in the school grounds over the past week. Always over each other. Always touching. Almost always kissing.

"That doesn't make me feel better," I muttered as I shoved a chicken nugget into my mouth.

"I know... And I'm still firmly on the side of 'you're better off without him'. But, she will be gone soon. They will fight about something. Probably his lack of commitment or his habits. And then she will dump him or he will ditch her. His relationships are always fleeting, but also always consistent. It's shocking he managed to survive the whole first term without dating someone. Though he probably was seeing someone outside of school. Anyway, once they are over, he will be back to his once-a-week attendance, and you can dream again about a reality that I won't allow."

I pursed my lips as her words processed through my brain on delay, all the while I watched him smile down at her, pressing his lips to hers again. "I don't want to dream about him anymore. This hurts too much."

"Oh, Indi..." Carys's warm arm wound around my shoulders, pulling me close to her.

"Why won't he dim though? Why do I still see him in colour?"

"Because it takes time for feelings to go away."

"But if it really is connected to that, surely there'd be some slight desaturation. Like, there's no hope for me."

"Or maybe your heart secretly knows things don't last and you're holding on for them to break up?"

I shook my head. "What... so I can dream about being the next girl he has a month-long fling with?"

"Exactly."

"You're not helping."

Her arm retracted from around me, but then her hands gripped my shoulders, forcing me to face her. "Well, how can I help then?"

"I don't know... offer me some strategies to fully get over him."

"I'm not exactly an expert in romance... All I know is there's only two ways to stop liking someone." Though she didn't go on.

"Which are..." I prompted.

"One: you learn to hate him. Fixate on every bad quality of his, and—"

"You've already told me all the rumours and how dangerous he is. Nonetheless, apparently I'm into the bad boys."

Carys snorted. "Your celebrity crushes consist of Timothée Chalamet, Felix Mallard, and Tom Holland. And none of them really scream 'bad boy' to me."

"Oh, but they've played them."

"When?"

"Timothée was a drug addict in Beautiful Boy, Felix Mallard was the motorcycle owning, weed-taking next door neighbour in Ginny and Georgia—"

"He didn't even ride the bike and he ended up being so caring in the end—"

"And Tom Holland is..."

"Yes, can't wait for this one."

"He's..."

"Yes?"

"Well, he's Spider-man—"

"Really not a selling point."

"And I'm sure he's played one role where he's bad... I just haven't seen it."

"Mhmm..."

"Okay. I suppose I'm not into bad boys then. But learning to hate him isn't going to work from afar. I'd have to get to know him, and that's just not possible considering he's Harley Brooks and I'm that vision-impaired new girl that only you talk to."