Scattered Colors

by Jessica Prince

  “It’s good,” I wheezed as he lifted me off the ground, my feet swinging side to side as he rocked me. “Can’t breathe, Caleb.”

  “Sorry, shorty,” he chuckled as he placed me back on my feet. “You know I can’t help myself.”

  I brushed my hair out of my face and looked up into Caleb’s smiling hazel eyes, saying the same thing I’d been saying for the past two years. “I’m not short, you’re just freakishly tall.” And he was. Caleb stood right around 6’4 and was all long, lean muscles from his years of running and swimming. Seeing him and Piper together took some getting used to. They were complete opposites. Caleb was big and tall while everything about Piper was short and petite. But I honestly couldn’t picture her with anybody else. Caleb was a gigantic teddy bear.

  “What’s going on here?” I asked as I pointed to all the boxes lining the breezeway outside his apartment door.

  “Ah, new roommate’s moving in today.”

  “Another one?” I asked in bafflement. “Eddy only just moved out, like, a week ago.”

  That was another thing I loved about Caleb. He was incapable of meeting anyone who didn’t instantly become a friend. Everyone who met him loved him. In the time Piper and I had been living together, Caleb had probably had about six roommates. Every time one left, there was another one right around the corner.

  “What can I say, I get lonely,” he replied with a wink. “And with you and Pipe wrapped around each other’s little fingers, I can’t get her to agree to move in with me. Gotta have someone to cuddle with on those long, cold nights.”

  My head tipped back in laughter as he smirked. “Does your new roomie know what he’s in store for once the sun goes down?”

  “Not yet.” Caleb winked again. “He’s in for a pleasant surprise.”

  “You’re still coming out tonight, right? You better not miss it, Caleb, or so help me…I’ll have Piper kick your ass!”

  Caleb reached down and bopped my nose. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Feisty Freya. It’ll be a little later, but I’ll be there. Hey. You want to meet the new guy?

  Standing on my tiptoes, I waited for him to lean down to my level so I could plant a kiss on his cheek. “Nah, I’m already late. I have to get upstairs before your girlfriend starts raining holy Hell down on me. But bring him to the club tonight.”

  “All right, sweetheart. I’ll see you later.”

  I rushed up the stairs and pushed my front door open as quietly as possible, hoping I could sneak into my bedroom without Piper hearing.

  No such luck.

  “You’re late!”

  Dropping my bags on the couch, I rolled my eyes as I responded, “I know, I know. I got held up on campus.”

  “Always with the excuses.” Piper stepped from the hall where the two bedrooms were. Our apartment was small, but cozy. The living room and kitchen were both open, only a bar area separating the space with a small dining nook off to the side. Down the one and only hallway were both bedrooms and the common bathroom. The master bedroom had an attached bath so when we didn’t have guests, the hall bath was all mine.

  I took in Piper’s tight black leggings, brightly patterned, sleeveless tunic and sky-high ankle boots. It always amazed me how she was able to walk in heels so high, but she refused to wear flats, claiming vertically challenged women should always were at least four extra inches on their feet. Her short, honey-blonde hair was styled to perfection and, as usual, her makeup was flawless. The dark, smoky color of her eye shadow highlighted her caramel-colored eyes beautifully.

  “You’re already two shots behind,” she called as she scurried into the kitchen. I could hear glass clinking against the countertop and had to suppress a cringe at the thought of downing tequila so early on in the night. “Move your ass! We’re not leaving this apartment until you’re good and buzzed.”

  “Doesn’t getting sloppy drunk before the night even begins kind of defeat the purpose?”

  “I never said sloppy drunk, I said buzzed. Is it my fault that after all our years of friendship, you still can’t hold you liquor? And besides, I already promised Stell I wouldn’t let you come home without making out with at least one dude tonight. And I’m such a good friend that I plan on staying sober just to make sure you don’t pick an ugo.”

  I lifted one of the shot glasses to my mouth and downed it, the tequila burning a path down my throat before entering my belly. God, I really hated that stuff. “You and Stella being friends should be outlawed. I’m not making out with some random in the middle of a club.”

  “Are, too,” Piper bossed as she lifted the last shot glass to my lips. “Now drink. We have a full night of drunken debauchery ahead.”

  With the last shot down, I narrowed my watery eyes playfully. “And to think my dad believes you’re such a good influence.”

  “That’s because your dad has good taste. You’re lucky I love you so much. You should be thankful.”

  “Should I tell him you got me a fake ID for my birthday?” I giggled as the alcohol began to loosen me up.

  “I’ll deny it ‘til the day I die,” she teased. “Who you think he’s gonna believe? You or the pre-law?” I stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a few seconds before heaving a defeated sigh. She was totally right. “Yeah, uh-huh. That’s what I thought,” she snickered.

  Over the past couple of years, my dad had held true to his promise and visited me as much as possible, never hesitating to hop on a plane when I needed him. Even with miles and miles between us, we were able to build on the foundation of our relationship, making something that was even stronger than before my mother passed. I missed him tremendously. I knew I’d be able to see him more if I made trips to Sommerspoint, considering my schedule was much more flexible than his, but even after all this time, I still couldn’t bring myself to set foot inside that town. Guilt ate away at me on a regular basis even though he insisted he understood.

  After leaving for college, I’d never been back. For me, the only good that came from that place was my relationship with my father and Stella. Everything else had been stripped away by the one boy I’d been stupid enough to fall in love with. Time passed and my heart began to heal, but it carried more scars than it had before. I was wary of who I gave pieces of myself to, and being in a relationship was the furthest thing from my mind. Maybe over time I’d be able to face the town I used to live in without the constant fear of seeing his face again. However, it was not that day.

  I felt weak, cowardly when it came to the thought of seeing Parker again, and I hated myself for allowing him to take so much from me. But I couldn’t do anything about it right then. There was no use in dwelling on the past, not when I had so much to be thankful for in the present. I had my dad and my friends. I had a bright future in front of me full of love and color, and I’d achieved that without placing my happiness in someone else’s hands.

  “Get a move on, girly,” Piper demanded with a swift smack to my butt. “Get cleaned up and changed. The night is young, and we’ve some living to do!”

  My body moved in an easy rhythm as Calvin Harris’ “Outside” pounded through the speakers. Piper kept her hand firmly in mine as we danced together, wrapped up in the sea of bodies on the dance floor. I lost track of how much time had passed since we walked through the doors of Hurricane, the new ‘it’ place to be among the FSU students. The music was loud and the drinks were flowing, and just like Piper had demanded, I was well past buzzed and quickly on my way to full-on drunk. A bead of sweat traveled down my spine as I danced and laughed without a single care in the world. Life was good.

  “I need a drink!” I shouted over the thumping bass so Piper could hear me. “Let’s take a break!”

  She nodded and pointed over my shoulder. “Everyone’s here anyway!”

  We made our way off the floor to the table Caleb and a few other friends had managed to commandeer near the dance floor.

  “Nice moves, Feisty Freya,” Caleb said as he pulled me into a big hug. “Alt
hough, I’d been hoping you two would grind on each other a little more.”

  I laughed and began passing out hugs to the rest of the group which had finally filed in as Piper reached over to smack her boyfriend on the back of the head. Most of them were little more than associates, but they were nice people and I always had a good time when we hung out, so I was glad they came.

  “So, where’s your new roommate?” I called out as I scanned our little table for an unfamiliar face.

  “He’s at the bar, said this round’s on him.”

  “Ooh, I like him already.”

  Piper took a seat on Caleb’s lap while I plopped down in an empty chair across from them. “So, the plan is to get Freya drunk enough to make out with some strange guy tonight,” Piper leaned in to tell Caleb. He looked over at me and raised an eyebrow, his hazel eyes full of humor. “I think I’ve gotten her pretty far along, but I’m counting on you to help me push her the rest of the way.”

  “Anything for you, baby,” he told her before planting a loud, smacking kiss on her lips.

  I glared across the table at my so-called friends. “I hate you guys, you know that?”

  “Oh, you love us. Don’t deny it,” Piper said with a casual wave of her hand before her eyes suddenly grew huge at the sight of something over my shoulder. “Oh, sweet holy hell. I think I found your make-out buddy for the night, Freya. Seriously, I think my insides just quivered a little bit.”

  “And that would be my new roommate,” Caleb deadpanned as he scowled at Piper.

  “What? Oh, come on, baby. You have to admit, the guy is hot.”

  “I’ll admit no such thing, woman!”

  “But I’m still totally crazy stupid in love with you.”

  “That’s better.” Caleb planted a kiss on the tip of her nose before turning around to address everyone. “Guys, I want you to meet my new roommate…”

  I turned my head to get a look at the guy Piper was all but swooning over when the world stopped all of a sudden. It was like the screech of a record as the sight and sound of everyone around me came to a halt. I tried to suck in a panicked breath as I met those familiar deep, dark eyes, but it was as though every ounce of oxygen had been sucked from the building. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t form one functioning sentence as I stared in wide-eyed disbelief.

  This couldn’t be happening.

  I clenched my eyes shut against the onslaught of emotions racing through me, hoping and praying it was just the alcohol in my system playing tricks on me. I refused to let myself believe that he was really standing in front of me, but at the sound of his deep raspy voice, I knew I was screwed.

  “Hey there, gorgeous.”

  Her voice.

  God, I felt her voice throughout my entire body, like a recovering addict who had just relapsed. Except I wasn’t recovering. I’d spent the last two years up to my neck in my addiction to Freya, refusing to let it go, to let her go completely. As I stood in the living room of my new apartment clutching a box of my belongings to my chest, my heart was beating so loudly I was certain my new roommate and the girl who owned my world could hear it from outside. I stood there, frozen by the fact that the person I came so many miles for was just outside my door, only feet away from me.

  It couldn’t have been a coincidence that we were so close. I refused to believe that. Not when Freya taught me that everything in life happened for a reason. There was a reason why Caleb’s ad for a roommate was the first one I’d run across in my search for an apartment. There was a reason why everything fell into place so seamlessly and why the two of us hit it off so well. And that reason was the girl standing outside the front door right then. I could hear her laughter echoing from the breezeway and that beautiful melodic sound set fire to my blood, stoking the flames of my need for her that had been smoldering beneath the surface for so long.

  It took every ounce of willpower I had in me not to drop the box in my hands and rush to her, hold her so tightly she could never get away. I knew my arrival would more than likely be an unwelcome one, but I had spent years preparing myself for this very moment…or so I thought.

  Every speech I had prepared in my head went up in a puff of smoke with just the sound of her voice. I couldn’t remember anything past my incessant need to touch her, feel her. I couldn’t see her yet. I needed time to formulate a plan. I should have been bracing myself against the fallout that was bound to occur once she finally saw me. But I couldn’t let myself think like that. I couldn’t allow myself to believe there was any other possible conclusion than us being together. For two miserable fucking years, I’d been living in darkness, my life a black hole that had sucked me down into its abyss. I wasn’t living if I didn’t have her; I was barely existing. And it wasn’t enough, not anymore.

  Not ever again.

  “Hey, man, you just gonna stand there all day or you planning on actually moving your shit in?”

  I’d been so lost in thought I hadn’t heard Caleb come back into the apartment. Luckily, he was alone.

  “Sorry, just got a little sidetracked, I guess. Heard you talking to someone out there, that a neighbor?” I asked, hoping like hell it came off casual. I couldn’t help myself. I was desperate to know anything and everything about Freya in the years I’d lost her.

  “Oh, yeah. That was Freya. She lives upstairs with my girlfriend.” A warm smile took over his face as he spoke. “Those two together are volatile, man. I’m telling you. You get on one’s bad side and you’ll have both to answer to.”

  That didn’t exactly bode well for me. I already knew I was going to have my work cut out for me when it came to Freya. I couldn’t imagine how much worse it was going to be with her best friend at her back.

  “That sounds a little ominous,” I hedged, eager to keep the conversation going, needing to lean anything and everything I could.

  “Nah, not really. Piper’s a handful, but I got no problems keeping my grip on her. And Freya’s fantastic, really. They’re just protective of each other. Piper more so. When Freya first moved here, she was a wreck. I’m talking full-on disaster. It took a while for Pipe to get in there and get her to open up, but once she did, those two became joined at the hip.”

  My stomach dropped as unimaginable sadness washed over me. I’d done that to her. I was the reason she was a disaster when she moved here. I didn’t think it was possible for me to hate myself any more than I did right at that moment.

  “We’re actually going out tonight for her birthday once I get you all moved in,” Caleb continued, thankfully oblivious to my fluctuating mood. “She said to bring you along if you’re up for it.”

  “Yeah,” I answered a little too eagerly. I quickly cleared my throat and tried to cover my excitement with an impassive expression. “Yeah, sounds good.”

  “Cool. Well then, let’s get the rest of your stuff. I’m going to need a drink after this.”

  He wasn’t the only one.

  I could see her.

  I stood at the edge of the dance floor completely mesmerized by the seductive sway of her hips as she moved, the way her eyes closed as she danced with abandon. Christ, she still had the power to steal my breath. She looked so different yet just as beautiful as the day I’d met her. Gone was the seventeen-year-old girl I’d fallen in love with. Freya Linden had turned into a woman, a gorgeous, curvy, intoxicating woman. Her hair was much shorter than I remembered, barely passing her shoulders, but the silky chestnut color still shined with hints of red under the lights. My palms itched and my fingers trembled with the need to touch her. I was seconds away from charging onto that floor just so I could wrap her in my arms and feel those full, smiling lips pressed against mine.

  Jesus, just watching her dance had my body responding in ways it only ever responded to Freya. I felt myself getting harder the longer I stared, the zipper of my jeans pressing uncomfortably against my growing erection. The need to bury myself in her tight, warm body was almost palpable. I’d never needed a woman in m
y life the way I needed Freya.

  Just as I took a step forward her eyes popped open and what I saw stopped me in place. Those dazzling azure eyes of her were lit up like a Christmas tree, so full of laughter and light my heart momentarily stalled in my chest. I never thought I’d see those blue eyes again, but to see them so full of life was an answer to every single one of my prayers. She was happy. Thank God, she was happy. Even though I’d lived a pathetic, miserable existence since the day she left, I had always hoped that wherever she was, she was truly happy.

  Caleb’s hand on my shoulder jolted me from my reverie and back into the jam-packed club. “Dude, first round’s on you since I helped you move.”

  I laughed. “You got it. What am I ordering?”

  “Bud for me, margarita for Pipe, and a G&T for Freya.”

  With a lift of my chin, I headed in the direction of the bar, the whole way lamenting the fact that I wouldn’t have been able to guess my girl’s drink preference while Caleb probably knew things about her that I didn’t. I hated that. I couldn’t stand that I no longer knew Freya better than anyone else. What else was there that I needed to learn about her? Just how much—if any—had she changed over the last few years?

  My mood darkened somewhat as I sidled up to the bar and shuffled my way to the front, lifting a hand to get the bartender’s attention.

  “What can I get you, handsome?” the pretty redhead asked in a low, husky voice as she leaned over the bar, putting her cleavage on display. Every guy within a few feet of her reacted accordingly…everyone but me that was. As I rattled off my drink order, I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander back over to the dance floor where I last saw Freya dancing with her tiny, blonde friend. My breath caught in my throat when I saw the two of them clasp hands and begin winding their way through the other dancers, heading straight for the table I’d just walked away from. It seemed like I stood at that bar for an eternity waiting on our drinks. Freya was only yards away from me. I was only moments away from speaking to her for the first time in years.