Red and Gray

A Frozen Road

"That book's disturbing," he commented, upon finding Red in their usual spot, absorbed in Lolita.

"So was The Shining, and so are remakes," Red sniffed, turning a page. "What's your point?"

"That's apples and oranges," Gray pointed out, amused. Her sarcasm hasn't changed. Although - "You're reading again. Since when?"

Wrong, wrong, wrong question, he could see immediately. "Since I suddenly found myself with too much time on my hands and a crapload of baggage, besides," she replied. "Why not enjoy a reacquaintance with Humbert Humbert, Harry Potter, and Jon Snow?"

"Again, apples and oranges," he said with a weak smile. A fresh wave of guilt assailed him. But was it really so bad, that she'd started reading again when he left? Books were how he met Red, anyway.

He'd been in a secondhand book-slash-record store, looking for a Pearl Jam album, and she'd breezed in wearing a slashed black shirt, ripped jeans, and a white scarf. Only the scarf was immaculately clean, and her hair was blue and cut into a pixie.

Gray forgot about the Simon and Garfunkel album in his hand, forgot the fact that his feet were freezing, forgot about his kinda-sorta girlfriend waiting to get seriously baked. There was only that blue-haired girl who looked more like a haunting face in a rock poster than an actual person. Someone who was out of reach, not here and so very tangible.

And she didn't look uncomfortable when she noticed him staring, either. She'd just put down the battered copy of Persuasion, and walked over to him.

"A surprisingly accurate depiction of society, and they turn it into a meme," she'd said. "Tells you a lot, huh?"

He put down Wednesday Morning, 3 AM. The first song on it was The Sound of Silence. Seriously? "More than you need to know," he'd said, embarrassed.

She ran a hand down her short hair. "I'm -----."

If he was being perfectly honest, he'd forgotten her real name.

Don't ask.

"Grayson," he said. "I, uh - "

"Us weirdos learn to recognize each other," she said. "For the most part."

And then it turned complicated.

See, back then, his weirdness was hidden. At face value, he didn't belong with Red's crowd, or with Red by herself, for that matter. He sneaked around to hide that he didn't really like blingy pop or rap, that he didn't really like basketball, that he felt nothing when they tormented the AV kids in the hallways. That last part, he was sure of. His life and everything else was filled with uncertainties.

But when Red became his best friend, he had nothing else to sneak behind. She had a way of making anything complicated simple and anything simple complicated. He didn't see the world through her eyes but it felt like she'd lifted a veil off his.

He had her to thank for putting a stop to the faking.

That very same day, he'd bought that Pearl Jam album he was looking for and she bought a copy of We Were Liars. The snow was starting to fall.

Three layers of coats later, they were running down a frozen road, trying not to slip. She laughed whenever they almost slipped until they were finally steady. A car could come down the road any minute, and he didn't care.

She glanced up at him then, lips chapped. He leaned down, but she put her finger on his lips. "Don't. Let's just stay like this. Please." A whispered plea.

Gray buried his face in her shoulder, and she did the same. They must have looked strange, standing there, huddling for warmth, but they didn't care.

You'd think after how they met, they'd be together, but that's not how it worked.

He wished he knew what was going on in that beautiful head of hers. If Red thought he knew her better than anyone else even when he had no idea what she was thinking... How much was she hiding?

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