Read Online Colorblind by Siera Maley - Free Book Online Page A

just the two of them talking. I stayed quiet unless someone addressed me directly. Most of the time it was Deborah, with a question like, “So do you play any sports?” (“No.”) or “Are you excited for your senior year to start?” (“I guess. I don’t know.”) All in all, it wasn’t fun.
    Eventually, Dad made the mistake of asking Chloe if she had any college plans yet or if she knew what she wanted to do when she got older, and I felt like sinking down into my seat until I disappeared. I didn’t want to hear about Chloe’s hopes and dreams and plans for her life. Not until I could ensure her safety.
    I wasn’t sure exactly what her birth date was, but I assumed it was mid to late August, right around when school started back up. That meant I needed to put everything I had into keeping her safe for two more months. If we could get to her birthday, then maybe things could be different with us.
    To be perfectly honest, I wanted them to be.
    We put on her movie first in my bedroom when we finished dinner ( and after I spent quite a while assuring my dad that Chloe and I were just friends), and, after about two hours of watching Arnold shoot his way through just about every obstacle placed in front of him, up to and including a small army of human beings, it was time for my movie.
    I yawned and slid down on my bed once I’d finished setting the movie up. Chloe and I’d sat on my bed for the first movie, popcorn between us and our backs pressed up against my pillows, but now she set the bowl aside and laid down to join me. I wondered, as she moved closer and her hand brushed against mine, if she was confused by my behavior. She had to know that I already liked her, for all her teasing about convincing me to date her in the future. There was really no reason for things not to progress naturally between us; at least, not from her perspective.
    From mine, there was only the escalated emotional involvement that came with dating someone. If I committed, it’d make it harder to lose her. And a large part of me was worried that despite my best efforts to prevent it, I would.
    I glanced over at her to see her watching the movie with rapt attention. She’d moved the popcorn to her other side, and the hand that wasn’t pressing up against mine every few seconds had a fistful of popcorn in it and was currently being raised to her mouth. I smiled as she tried and failed to fit the entire handful.
    “Don’t get popcorn all over my bed, loser.”
    “Don’t stare at me when your favorite movie’s on, Romeo,” she bit back, unfazed. “So desperate. God.”
    I huffed and hid a smile as I shifted my head back toward the television, acutely aware of the position of her hand again. I wanted her to keep touching me. I wanted to forget what I knew about her and just be normal . I didn’t want to have to spend my summer playing God.
    On the screen, Liesl and Rolfe were dancing together to “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”, which was more than a little morbid given the circumstances. Chloe ate another handful of popcorn and murmured, “This asshole. I bet he betrays her. He looks sketchy.”
    I was only half-listening to her. My gaze drifted down to where our hands were nearly touching, and I shifted mine to bring it closer to hers. Heart thudding hard in my chest, I reached out with my pinky to brush it up against hers. She reacted by pushing hers back against mine and then linking our pinkies together, and I heard her swallow another handful of popcorn.
    “Look at his douchebag, dancing around,” she muttered, eyes still on the screen, but her pinky squeezed mine tighter between us.
    “Can I ask you something?” I questioned abruptly.
    She glanced over at me. “Hmm? Yeah, sure. Go ahead.”
    I searched her face for a moment, my eyebrows furrowed. “Why are you so forward with girls? Aren’t you ever afraid of rejection?”
    She laughed and shook her head. “No. I used to get nervous. Then one day I decided that was