Colour Her (Flowers and Keyboards 3) {Girl x Girl} (✔ Complete)

Chapter 16 - Mya

Now Fleur glares at me, and I think I'm getting really good at making pretty girls annoyed with me. "I just meant..." She sighs, giving me one last glare. "You know what, I'm not even going to try to explain."

Amber laughs too, slowly shaking her head. "I know what you mean, really. This isn't the first time I've been told that my videos are easy to watch, as a distraction or just to have sound on in the background. I think I kind of like that style anyway, just the easygoing ones, not too busy, just something calm to relax to when your brain is busy enough."

I look at Amber, who is softly smiling and then she looks at me, almost like she's daring me to say something else. "Hey, I agree with that. I was just amused by doing multiple things at the same time, especially doing high-intensity dungeons, while watching videos."

Troy makes an unimpressed sound. "Hey, she's the best healer we've had in a long time. So, it works for her. I'm not going to question her ways to stay focused."

"Right." I nod. Then I get up. "I'm grabbing some snacks. Anyone else who wants something from the table?"

"Oh!" Amber gets up too. "I brought along a couple of things too. I should probably get them. Before I have to drag them all the way back home."

"If you've got leftovers, I wouldn't mind taking them home..." Troy offers. "I've got a car, so... Wouldn't be a bother for me."

"Right." I laugh, pushing at his shoulder as I walk past him. "We'll see about that. For now, let's not make plans about leftovers just yet. Also, I think there are still burgers that have your name on them."

He grumbles something about having already had six of them, and that other people should also eat some of them. But they're his burgers, he brought them along, and he was crazy enough to go for a box of twenty of them in one go. They're those cheap hamburgers where the spices supposedly hide the fact that there isn't much actual meat in them, and they hide it poorly. I tried one, just to make sure I wasn't remembering them wrong, but didn't really like it enough to eat more.

Amber is kneeling behind the big table where we've stashed the food, digging around in her bag, pulling out all sorts of bags and packets.

"Hey..." I keep my voice low, stepping around the table, getting a little closer to her. "If you don't want to go to the convention, I totally get it. You don't have to force yourself."

She stops moving and I watch as she takes a deep breath. "I'd... I'd like..." She sighs, then sits back instead of kneeling, leaning on her arms, tipping her head up, and she looks at me, conflict in her eyes. "I'd like to go. I just can't promise anything. I never know..." Her voice falters and I sit down next to her, carefully reaching out to her and taking one of her hands in mine.

"I know." I keep my voice low. "I know, really. We don't always have control over our brains and how it will respond on a specific day." She squeezes my hand a little. "But that doesn't mean we have to stop making plans, not if you don't want to."

She slowly nods. "I just... I don't want people to get annoyed when I don't show up, again." The dejected tone in her voice makes my heart ache and I can't imagine how often this has happened to her. That she can't come to an event, because she can't get her brain to work with her, but then she also doesn't know how to explain it to people without them acting nasty towards her because of it.

Some people don't understand that showing up to places that are busy, or just showing up at all, can be really hard and especially hard when everything is just too much and your brain is fighting you. They see any reason apart from 'at home with flu' or 'broke my leg' and things along those lines as 'excuses' and feel that they're more important than the comfort of the person they're meeting up with.

"Would you like to go? Just keep it simple. Would you like to go to a convention that's mostly based around videogames and cosplay and things like that? Don't even consider that I'll be there, or other people I know, or you know, will be there. Just... Would you like to go to an event like that?"

"Yeah." She takes a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm not that much into gaming." She slowly smiles. "I've got enough things to do with the makeup and videos and uni work, but I'd like to go, just to see the people or the place. Does that sound weird?"

I shake my head. Slowly smiling too. "No. That sounds perfectly normal. I'm not that much into games either, not as much at the others are anyway. I play some on consoles, mostly older titles, but I'm not really a gamer like they are. But I still like to go, to learn about new games I may like, and it's always fun to see so many different people in one place, everyone sharing a similar passion and they're all so enthusiastic about it. I like the experience." I shrug. "Also, I tend to be able to get game-related things there. Like comics or fanart from specific games, which I'm much more into." When I look up, Amber's got a peculiar smile, which only grows after I stop talking. "What?" Now I feel my cheeks heat up, now I'm starting to feel awkward.

"I like it when you get enthusiastic like that. You did the same thing with the nail polishes the first time I met you. You start glowing when you're talking about things you like." She glances down at her bag and something passes over her face, too fast for me to recognise it. "Hey, what would you think of dumping most of this out on the table and sneaking off together for a little bit?"

"Hmm?" I glance at her. Is she really offering what I think she's offering?

"They said there's a small lake a little off, and with the sun right now..." Her cheeks are turning the colour of the sky, the red sky from the setting sun to be more precise.

"Sure. Let's go. I'll go grab some drinks." My heart is beating fast and I feel my own cheeks all heating up. She really is asking what I was thinking she was asking.

"Cool." She starts ruffling through her bag and throwing bags of snacks on the table as I dart over to my own bag, pulling out two bottles of water and then come back over to her. "You got space for these?"

"Sure." She grins, looking pretty satisfied now.

I hand her the bottles, and she takes them, putting them in the bag. Then I hold out my hand and she pulls herself up, putting the bag onto her back. "Do you know the way?"

She shakes her head, looking down. "Not really."

I smile, squeezing her hand a little, she's still not let me go. "That's okay. Luckily, I do."

"Good." She smiles. "Let's go, before other people tag along."

"Sounds like a plan." I look behind me, but the others are much too involved in whatever they're talking about, probably the convention, they really don't notice that we're slipping away. "Let's go." I sneak out of the back of the party tent and we go down the same path as we went last time, this time passing the trunk where we stopped, and we keep walking. The small lake is easy to find, and I think I know a good place where we can sit for a while...

Oh, hell. Elliot will laugh his ass off when he realises what I'm doing. Especially since I'm not usually the 'romantic' kind of person, especially not for big romantic gestures like this. But here I am, my heart beating so fast I'm surprised that Amber can't hear it, or feel it through my hand, and bringing her to a romantic place to hang out together.

I'm doing what I never expected to do, the thing I always laughed at in anime or manga, and I'm really excited about it because I know it will make the girl I like smile... Someday, I'll laugh at it, but right now, I just don't want to mess this up...