Drowning In Color | ✔️

Chapter Eleven

Finally home! I was preparing myself to dive straight into my bed and pick up my consoles. Luka dropped me off and I hopped off the bike quickly and carefully. I was getting better at this. I made my way through the pavement.

"Afina," he called to me. I spun around to see him pointing at my head. How could I be so dense? I removed my helmet and traced my steps back to return it.

I bent over to place it on the right handle, where he always did. And as I did that, he pecked my cheek. This guy's always looking for every single opportunity he had. I stood in awe as he drove it back to his garage.

I opened the door to find Dad, waiting on the other side. He wasn't directly at the door, thank goodness. But there's no telling if he saw anything through a window or an opening...

"Young lady, who is that boy you've been hanging out with?"

... Except that. He had his arms folded. He meant business. Meanwhile, Mom stood at the kitchen door, with a concern of the conflict about to arise. Guess there's no way out of this, except the door out, because Dad's blocking the stairs to my room. I stood there, unsure of what the correct answer is to reply.

"He's just a friend from school," was what I went with. Not even a mention of his name or the fact that he's also my project partner. Way to be suspicious, Violetta. I attempted to brush it off and head to my room as though nothing's happening. Until he called my name as I was passing by. That's when I knew he wasn't gonna let it go.

"You know how I feel about you going out with boys." Yeah. I know. Even when it's a Friday, you just have to control where I go and who I go with. I simply rolled my eyes. "And to think that's the kind of crowd you're getting into."

He pointed to the door, which I then faced at. Even though it's stupid, since I highly doubt Luka's still there. I knew what he was about to say. That he's a bad influence, because he dyes his hair; fights with his parents; possibly cuts himself and all that shit. It's just too bad I couldn't tell him otherwise. He wouldn't listen if I told him the truth, which wasn't any of it, except the hair.

Seeing as I wasn't listening-partly true-he called my name once more, the shout of his voice able to be heard, crisp and clear, from a mile away. "That's it. From now on, you are to come home immediately after school, and stay home until the next school day."

Fuck. Now I've done it. I've managed to piss off Dad: the ruling authority of the house. I stormed off upon hearing that. What's the point of questioning anymore? Just save my breaths.

I carried on listening to the conversation between them. "Honey, aren't you being a little too harsh?" Mom asked, questioning his order and trying to reason with him. "She's just a little girl going through a pha-"

"Yes. She's my little girl. Too young, in fact, to date," he rebutted, cutting her words off.

What the fuck, Dad? Is that really how you see me? For your info, I'm already 17... Almost. But old enough to date guys I like, I'm sure. Then again, still not old enough to talk back to him after that, apparently.

Great. Just great. I entered my room. A paradise for me, until I found out that the world was much more intriguing than I'd have known if I carried on staying here. Whatever, I guess. Call me lucky that at the very least, he hadn't taken away my games.

I reached for my phone from the bag, touching the poem first. I pulled the both of them out. Searching through the unused dresser drawers, I found a clear plastic folder-perfect for holding his poems. I slotted it in and kept it on the end table by by bed.

"I'm so pissed right now -Me"

"What's up? -Prince Emo"

I texted him my situation, expressing my annoyance that I couldn't see him after school anymore. I can't believe he's technically my best friend, now that my former one totally disappeared on me. He sent me some encouraging texts with some emoticons, along the lines of "Aww... That's sad" and "It's ok. It'll pass eventually".

Now that it was just the start of the weekends, there wasn't any reason for me to care about waking up the next day. So I looked for old games to play. And I found a dating sim that I only finished once. Seeing the achievements I received, it bothered me that I had only one route completed. I decided to play through it again.

These games were pretty straight forward. They're pretty simply and cute, but just as fake as a movie. Except, the protagonist is now you. I played through the intro, skipping some parts that I remembered, but reading through the ones that I hadn't caught during the first playthrough.

It was time for me to start going for a route. Tips on the internet told me to go for a single guy, to maximize resources. Despite this, it was tempting to go for all, just so I'll have more options. That, and the characters are all written to be somewhat likeable anyway, so that's a tough choice I need to make.

Ultimately, I settled for the cool, smart romantic that acts like a prince to me, and me only. Thing is, the option answers seemed slightly more difficult for me to answer, but I think I got the hang of it eventually.

My phone buzzed. I looked through it to see what it was...

Luka. With yet another emoticon. He trying to be cute? I smiled to myself. Good thing there wasn't anybody around to see it. Wait a sec...

Am I really falling for him?

I looked at the contact name I gave to him and compared it to my video game boyfriend. Isn't the resemblance a bit too similar? Heck, even the fact that I called him, a real life person I just barely met, a 'prince' was overly cringey. What is wrong with me?

But when I think about it, the character in the game was supposed to have some tragic story. The only way I knew this was because I read the story spoilers online, back when I was dumb enough not to play the game beforehand.

I began to wonder: how much do I even know about Luka, anyway? I mean, sure, he likes poetry and goes to some weird, obscure café to mingle with other emo kids. But other than that, what else am I aware of? I even met his mother once and knew nothing about her either.

For some reason, I began wishing. Wishing, that he would be able to tell me everything one day. The more I thought about it, the curiouser I got, and the higher my compulsion to want to ask him directly.

I texted. And he wouldn't tell me, of course. I mean, I couldn't blame him. Who would want to respond to anybody trying to nose their way into their lives?

He replied to me with a "haha", but I sure as hell wasn't sure if it even was funny to him. It could very well simply be a mask to hide how pissed he was at me. After all, no messages followed after that.

I decided not to care about it. Maybe I was just overreacting as usual. Just overreacting...

I stood up from my seat and went to my window. I opened it so that I could stick my head out and see even more of the view. At this point of time, the purpose was clear. I wanted to see him, if he was there. I was hoping that we'd both peek our heads and have our eyes meet. But goddamn it. He's too far, and such coincidences only happen in movies. So much for that idea.

As a last resort before going back to gaming, I glanced around to see if I could catch him on the road somehow. Nope. He was probably reading or something in his room. Plus, the adults hate it when we wander outside at night. They say the vampires will get us, or whatever shit. But that's just a dumb fucking lie they tell to kids, who'll believe everything they say.

=====

Aww... They are starting to become good friends. And Violetta's starting to fall for him, whether she realizes it or not!

Also, I'm sure we've all had our moments when we'd just constantly stare at our crush (in person, text, etc), right?