"What helps you not be so scared about losing your hearing completely?" Michael asked, his voice soft as the two walked home.
"Vincent Van Gogh used to eat yellow paint because he thought it would get happiness inside him. Many people thought he was mad and stupid for doing it; because the paint was toxic. Never mind that it was obvious that eating paint couldn't possibly have any connection to one's happiness, but I never saw that. If you were so unhappy that even the maddest ideas could possibly work - like painting the walls of your internal organs yellow - then you're going to do it. It's really no different than falling in love or taking drugs. There's a greater risk of getting your heart broken or overdosing, but people still do it everyday because there was always that chance it could make things better. Everyone has their yellow paint, and I guess I'm too busy looking for mine to think about it." Hunter said after a moment of thought, her eyes briefly meeting with the tall boys as they stopped in front of the apartment building front door.
Michael nodded softly, letting the small anecdote sink into his memory. The two shared small, shy smiles before the pale boy opened the door; allowing the green eyed girl to go first. The two continued their quiet journey up the stairs before Michael yet again broke their comfortable silence.
"Could I ask you to help me with something?"
"Depends what that is."
The blue haired boys cheeks flushed red at the small smile she adorned. She assumed he was going to pull some "come up to my room and have a one night stand" thing. He didn't want anything sexual or any form of that, not now at least. Maybe it was the two freckles below her left eye that made her endearing, but he wanted to respect her. Something just radiated a sense of comfort from her, and Michael found that quality infectious.
"I feel so dumb to ask, but could you help me dye my hair? The last time I did this myself my entire bathroom was blue for two months straight. Not to mention my sheets look like I murdered a village of smurf families." Michael laughed, trying not to seem as childish as he felt with the request.
Hunter busted into a fit of giggles as she nodded, rolling her eyes at the older boy. "I would love to help you, goofball."
The boy smiled triumphantly before gesturing for her to climb the stairs first. Once inside Michael's small, gloomy apartment, the green eyed girl scanned the small living room where the large strike bag hung; and the three or four pizza boxes lazily on the coffee table, and the video game controller cozily rested on the large sofa. The soft yellow light coming from the large fish tank brought a comfortable glow to the room.
She had to admit, she expected worse, but her thoughts were cut by Michael as he moved closer towards her.
"You can leave your jacket and shoes anywhere, really. It's not like this is much of a pretty sight to begin with." The green eyed boy laughed half heartedly, scratching the back of his head.
Michael had had many girls over in the past but this felt different. An entirely different task was to be done, and he didn't feel the undeniable lust that thickened the air. Now don't misconstrued that, the raven haired girl was beautiful. A small, curvy figure and her thighs actually were thick and maybe she wasn't the absolute thinnest. But the older boy felt like it was home when she was around and that was insane.
Michael hadn't felt this comfortable since he left Australia four years ago. But before he could bask in the new feeling for too long, he led Hunter to the bathroom that was half the size of his bedroom. Faint drops of different dye colors accented the white room. The box of hair color and small bottle of bleach sat on the counter.
The thought of the older boy getting frustrated with the mess he made each time in the past danced in the green eyed girls head; bringing a small smile to her face.
"Go get on a shirt you don't care for, if anything drips it won't stain your skin." Hunter said softly, making eye contact with the now slightly sheepish boy.
Her laugh filled the quiet place as Michael raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"I've done this once or twice, alright? You think this color is natural?" Hunter rolled her eyes, now the two of them were laughing.
An hour into the tedious task, the younger girl finally managed to cover Michael's entire head of hair with the dark dye. Before he moved to get up, Hunter nudged the boy to stay seated as she grabbed a plastic bag. Gently securing the bag over his head, Michaels eyes were on the smaller girl the entire time.
"Who taught you to dye hair?" The green eyed boys own question surprised him. He hadn't intended to actually ask the question.
"My mom.." The raven haired girl spoke softer than usual, crinkling her nose as she removed the dye ridden gloves.
Michael could sense the tension in her body language, he had never meant to strike a nerve. Nor did he mean for the question to be so revealing to something that obviously hadn't been talked about in a long time. He felt guilty for asking such a personal question, seeing as they aren't even that close of friends yet.
"I should probably get home, Nana must be curious as to where I am." Hunter ran her fingers through her hair before turning to pad to the living room.
Michael stood, closely following the smaller figure but stopped at the doorway of the entrance to the living room. He didn't want to come off as needy or maybe a sexual predator by asking her to stay for longer, to get to know her. To find out what troubles her beautiful mind so much.
"In twenty minutes you'll wanna rinse that out really good before using the small thing of shampoo it comes with, okay?" The pale girl gave a small smile before he nodded, her figure disappear in our the door before he could answer.
The next few days felt so slow, no music filled his apartment from below. And now the fight loomed over; this weekend was it. Six more days and then we'd know if Mahone stays with his undefeated record of 21-0-0 to Michaels 19-0-0. Two fights more than he had, but he couldn't let the smug boy win.
Michael made his way downstairs for his daily run to the gym but the urge to knock on the door caused him to stop in front of her door. Before he could knock he heard a loud cry of frustration come from the other side of the door. His curiosity wasn't really a match for the spam of angry calls he was now receiving from his impatient friend, Ashton for being late for training.
The now brown haired boy decided to stop by later, maybe take Hunter out for the night. But before he could think anymore about it, he headed out on his run. The fight had to be put first, he could dwell on his personal life after he handed Austin's ass to him.
