Live in Color

thirty seven - azure

"What the fuck!?"

The voice is no doubt Noel's rough, annoying voice, and he's no doubt swearing over the bucket of spaghetti and meatballs that just fell on top of him. I can hear Silas and Dominick swearing our their confusion, though, but it seems they haven't seen Mitchell yet, who is hiding behind the door.

More swearing when the confetti machine goes off. Silas screaming, "Ow, it's fucking stuck to me! What the hell!?" when the tennis balls go off.

Then Dominick yells, "Tallie? What the hell, stop!"

And then finally it's our and Jericho's turn- because then I hear all four of their water/whip cream guns going off, and hurried footsteps running towards and escape, which happens to be the basement. I have to bite down on my fist to keep from laughing out loud when Noel- who has three tennis balls stuck to his shirt, whip cream all over his clothes and all over his bald head, bits of confetti sticking to it and some spaghetti stuck to the tennis ball, his shirt dirty with the spaghetti sauce- takes one step on the stairs and tumbles the rest of the way down.

Jericho and I are quick to jump out of our hiding spots, covering Noel with more and more whip cream. Noel curses a storm strong enough for a nun to faint, but eventually manages to get up on his feet and repeats his earlier question, "What the fuck!?" Jericho stops shooting long enough for Noel to realize exactly who we are. He wipes the whip cream from his eyes, giving us disbelieving looks. "Are you two fucking joking?"

"Are we joking?" Jericho scoffs. "You trashed our homes, you trashed a memorial, you called my mom back to town and you jumped Arsenio! Do you seriously think we're joking?"

Noel just breaths heavily, obviously trying to realize what's happening. Silas is the next to come down the stairs, trying to escape the sound of chaos still coming from upstairs. He, however, has the same luck as Noel and ends up tumbling down the stairs. Noel doesn't even spare a glance at him while he groans on the floor. Instead, he glares intensely at Jericho.

"I was trying to help you," Noel says. "This whole time, everything I did, it was for you!"

"Beating Arsenio was for me?" Jericho scoffs.

"That was for Caroline," Noel admits, rubbing his arm sheepishly which he had landed on when falling down the stairs. Speaking of Caroline, she appears at the top of the stairs but Silas quickly stops her from coming down. "I had warned you, though! I told you not to come around to Crooks Street anymore, but you didn't listen! You betrayed us!"

"How did I betray you?"

"We made a promise to each other, Jericho! We promised that we'd keep each other from getting hurt again. We took you in when you wanted to die, don't you remember that? When you'd randomly break down crying in the middle of school over your dad. All of us, we helped you, and we became a family." Noel's anger spikes up again, "And you found your soulmate and suddenly that all meant nothing, huh? All those promises we made about only needing each other suddenly went out the window!"

Jericho lowers his water gun, his voice softening, "Noel, I'll never be more grateful for what you guys did to me when I was twelve. You picked me up when I was at my worst. If it weren't for you two, I don't know if I would have had the strength to still be here." Noel swallows roughly when Jericho pauses, nodding sharply. Jericho continues, "But all that rebellion we did, all the anger we held and fights we always got in- it was tiring. All those girls we got with and the weekends we got drunk- they mean nothing to me now. I don't want to live like that anymore, Noel. That might be for you, but it's not for me. And that was my choice."

"It's a mistake-"

"If it's a mistake then it's my mistake to make and it's my mistake to learn from. I can't keep living without the risk of being hurt- if I'm going to get hurt eventually, then I may as well gain something out of it. Natalie was right- if it hurt in the end, then that just meant that whatever we felt was real."

Noel looks so lost and so confused. I almost feel bad for him, but just can't find it in me to genuinely pity him. "Why would you want to risk getting hurt again, though? It's- that feeling is awful."

"I know it is, Noel, but it's part of life. We can't keep living in the past. I'm not asking you to feel the same way- I'm asking you to understand. And for God's sake, to stop terrorizing us."

Noel doesn't answer, but he does look down in shame.

We stand in silence until the sound of police sirens begin to sound outside. Noel, Silas and Caroline seem to understand what's happening- Tallie must have called- since they simply slump their shoulders and accept it. Caroline, though, very slowly makes her way down the stairs, trying her best not to slip. Somehow, she doesn't and makes her way over to Jericho and I, ignoring the police sirens as she asks, "Is Arsenio okay?"

"He's never going to walk the same and he's never going to be able to do track again," I tell her bluntly.

Tears fill Caroline's eyes. "I didn't know it was that bad."

"Thought you would," Jericho says coldly, "Considering you watched the whole thing happen."

The door opens upstairs and I can hear the police coming in. "Tell him I'm sorry," she says, despite the chaos. "And that I hope he finds someone he deserves."

"He's sorry too," I offer softly. "For rejecting you."

Caroline smiles gently, "I know he is."

As the police handcuff Noel and Caroline after we warn them to be careful on the stairs, I take a moment to mull over Caroline's words. It's too late for Arsenio and Caroline, I know. They're never going to get together. I just pray that Arsenio- and hell, even Caroline- will find someone eventually, and won't live the rest of their lives in pain and hollowness.

I look to Jericho and see him smiling at me. It might be too late for Arsenio and Caroline, but I know that it's just the beginning for Jericho and I. And I can't wait to see where the future takes us, because for once neither of us are scared of getting hurt, because we know that getting hurt will be worth all the memories we'll make together along the way.

And that's all that matters to either of us.

Second last chapter of Live in Color! Please let me know what you think because I've only been getting less than half the comments I usually do and it's really upsetting considering how much I update for you guys ): So please comment! I hope you guys enjoyed, please be sure to comment and vote! Love you all so so much! (: xoxo