Live in Color

eighteen - copper

Jericho comes out just then, shooting me out of my thoughts. As soon as I see him, I'm shaking my head, taking my keys and getting out of the car. "No," I tell him when he reaches me. "You're not going to school."

He attempts to wave me off, "I'm fine, Natalie."

He's not, though. Jericho looks ready to pass out. His usually tanned skin is paler than usual, making the extreme bags under his eyes only stand out more. Since Jericho's moved to our school there's practically not been one day when he hasn't looked tired, but this is way worse than those times. He's about to collapse.

I wrap my hand around Jericho's arm, dragging him back to the motel. He doesn't even bother resisting me, just groaning and stumbling to catch up with me, "Natalie, I can't miss school. I need- I need to pass and do good, I need to get into a good school and get out of here."

"Your future isn't going to be tarnished with one absence," I promise him. Jericho still doesn't look happy about it, but relaxes in my grip and lets me drag him inside. "Where's your room?"

Jericho gives me the directions, and luckily, I manage to get him inside before he passes. The inside isn't that much better than the exterior of the building- minimal and simplistic furniture, uncomfortable carpet and peeled, stained wallpaper.

"Go to sleep," I tell him.

Jericho snaps quickly. "It's not that easy!"

I look at him in surprise. He looks genuinely irritated at my comment. Trying to take his irritation as just a side effect of not enough rest and not to heart, I make my voice gentle as I ask, "Okay. Why not?"

Biting his lip, Jericho looks away, but not before I catch a glimpse of shame on his face. "It's... I have insomnia, okay?"

I blink. "Oh. Oh, okay. That makes a lot of sense." I blink again and my voice drops to a whisper as I realize, "Wait, that actually explains a lot."

Jericho snorts at my reaction, but it's bitter and upset. He stares at the bed with a hateful glare, still looking ready to drop. "Yeah."

I chew on my bottom lip, "Do you have medication or something...?"

"It's at my aunt's," Jericho murmurs, taking off his shoes and sitting down on the edge of the crappy mattress. "I'm just going to try..."

"Yeah, you do that."

Jericho crawls underneath the covers, one pillow under his head and the other in his arms. I snort- he looks a lot less intimidating like this. Taking his phone off the night stand, I ask, "Who should I text to bring your medicine?"

"Hmm? Arsenio..."

I grit my teeth at the thought of talking to that jerk again, but don't let Jericho see- not when he's finally dosing off. After quickly asking for his password and almost not receiving an answer from him being so close to sleep, I message Arsenio off his phone.

Jericho: It's Natalie.

Arsenio: Why do you have Jericho's phone? Why are you with him?

Jericho: I was coming to pick him up from school and he practically passed out from exhaustion. Can you bring his pills? I have a feeling he'll need them for later.

Arsenio: Shit, shit. Is he sleeping?

I glance at Jericho to see that he has, in fact, dozed off. I have a feeling with his condition he won't be able to stay sleeping for long, but it's something.

Jericho: Just fell asleep.

Arsenio: On my way.

I put his phone back on the night stand, making sure the ringer is on so I can hear when Arsenio is here. For no, I pull up a chair from the desk cramped into the room, putting my feet on the night stand. My eyes flicker to Jericho- I can't help it, he looks so different sleeping.

The constant tension in his body, especially shoulders, are released. His lips are only slightly parted and not pressed into a tight line like they usually are. His long eye lashes almost touch his cheek from his lightly closed eyelids- they're different from the way he might shut them from exasperation. I notice he has extremely faint freckles adorning his cheeks, only noticeable in the certain angle of sunlight and with a lot of observance.

I don't realize how long I just sit there before Jericho's phone buzzes with a text from Arsenio. I lean over, propping my feet down to see that Arsenio's here. I let him know the room number and floor, getting a quick one lettered response from him- 'k'- which I don't bother even replying to. It takes less than a minute for the Arsenio's quiet knocks to sound through the room.

I stand up, striding over to the door. As soon as it opens a crack, Arsenio pushes his way through, making me stumble back. He gives me an unhappy, to which I just send him an overly happy smile I know will irritate him. Arsenio rolls his eyes and looks at Jericho, who is still completely passed out. Shaking his head, Arsenio gently puts a container of pills onto the night stand.

"Is his aunt still angry?" I ask, keeping my voice at a whisper.

Arsenio looks at me with an unreadable expression. "He told you what happened?"

I shrug, "Yeah."

Arsenio shakes his head, sitting down on the chair I had been at before and putting his head in his hands. "I don't get it. Why does he trust you? We promised each other..."

I furrow my eyebrows, "What're you talking about?"

Arsenio's head shoots back up, his hand gesturing in between Jericho and I as he hisses in a whisper, "This! We agreed that love is a fraud, that soulmates are just going to hurt us in the end. But he... he thinks you're good." Arsenio looks desperately confused, "He's my best friend, I want what's best for him. And he thinks that's you, but you're just going to hurt him-"

"I'm not going to hurt him!"

Arsenio shakes his head. He gets up from the chair, "Just... I don't want to talk about this. I'm trying to remind myself it's his choice. Can you pass me a glass of water?"

I want to snap at him that I'm not going to do anything for him after he yelled at me like that, but I can't hear any venom in his question. Sighing, I walk over to the pile of plastic cups and hold up the two different designs. "Which one?"

Blinking, Arsenio shrugs, "The green one, I guess."

I nod, turning around to fill it up with water from the fridge when I suddenly freeze, going over Arsenio's words in my head. Arsenio seems to realize why I stopped because he curses loudly. I turn back to him, and suddenly, Arsenio isn't the tough boy he was merely days ago. He looks defeated.

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Also, I wanted to take a moment to thank you guys for getting this story #94 in Romance! That's insane! Thanks for your support <3 I love you all so so much! (: xoxo