Live in Color

twenty seven - plum

"Arsenio..." I breathe out, unsure how to even respond to that. Arsenio throws his hands up, raking them through his hair as he takes heavy breaths. He's no longer silent and still- he's beginning to panic. I approach him slowly, as if he were a wild animal and I'm trying not too spook him away. "Hey, just calm down."

"How can I calm down?" Arsenio practically growls. "She- She kissed him-"

At that moment, Jericho comes back outside, eyebrows furrowing at the scene in front of him. "Arsenio, you okay, man?"

Arsenio doesn't answer, just grips onto my arm. "Natalie, what do I do? My chest hurts so much..."

"First of all, you have to calm down. Panicking isn't going to do anything!"

"I can't! My soulmate is a rebel now!"

Jericho frowns, "Soulmate?"

Arsenio doesn't even spare him a glance, gripping onto my arm with his other hand, too. "This is my fault, isn't it? Because I rejected her? I tried to apologize, but I should've tried harder, now she's a rebel..."

"Arsenio, just take deep breaths," I tell him. "You were obviously both hurt over what happened, but it's not your fault that she chose to do what she chose to do. I need you to tell me everything you know on her, because we're probably going to have to give details to the police."

Just as Arsenio began calming down, his eyes widen again. "No! We can't give her away to the police!"

Jericho is still frowning, looking lost. "But you found your soulmate?"

Neither of us bother answering him, my thoughts still focused solely on what Arsenio had said. "Arsenio, I get she's your soulmate, but she trashed your house- twice- trashed Jericho's house, knocked out his aunt- she probably also helped with the ruining of the memorial! She's crazy."

"Which is my fault! Natalie, you can not call the police. She's my only chance at happiness, she's never going to want to be with me if I send her to jail!"

"Arsenio, she's hurting the people you care about!" I insist. "I get you're trying to protect her, but it's not worth it-"

"It has to be!" Arsenio insists. "Everyone who isn't a rebel has told me that love is worth it! Tell me, what if this was Jericho, and you had to give him up to the police?"

I go silent at that, thinking carefully about my answer. Ultimately, though, we both know what's running through my mind- I wouldn't be able to do it.

The tense silence that has settled between Arsenio and I is broken when Jericho meekly asks for a third time, "... Soulmate?"

Arsenio sighs, turning to Jericho and nodding dejectedly. "Yes, Jericho. I'm sorry for not telling you."

Jericho chews on the inside of his cheek, looking over his best friend with doubtful eyes. "When did you meet her?"

"Just a couple of months before you met Natalie. I rejected her, then when I realized I had made a mistake and tried to apologize, she didn't listen to me. Now she turned into... that."

Jericho purses his lips, looking down at the ground, up at Arsenio and then to me. He seems unsure what to do and what to say. Finally, in a rough voice, he asks, "So you can see colors?"

Arsenio nods. "I know the names too."

Jericho furrows his eyebrows, "How?"

"I snuck in a book and hid it under my bed, then learned the colors. It's still under my bed. Jericho," Arsenio sighs when he sees the hurt look on Jericho's face. "It's not that I didn't want to tell you. I just... I was so confused with how I was feeling and I how I was supposed to be feeling."