Scattered Colors

by Jessica Prince

  My body began to shake with adrenaline as the bartender lined up my drinks, shooting me a coy smile. All I could manage in return was a simple lift of the chin before slapping a couple bills down and grabbing my order, trying desperately not to spill anything as my hands trembled uncontrollably. Sucking in a deep breath through my nose, I squeezed my eyes shut and exhaled slowly. Several seconds later, I’d somehow miraculously managed to get myself under control.

  Every step toward Freya was like a step back into the light. Somehow, I managed not to trip and fall on my face as she reached back and brushed her much shorter hair over her shoulder, exposing the creamy expanse of her neck. My jaw ticked as I clenched my teeth together.

  Another step.

  Her little blonde friend’s eyes traveled from Freya and landed on me, growing wide before she mumbled something I couldn’t hear.

  Another step.

  Caleb leaned in and kissed the tip of his girlfriend’s nose.

  Another step.

  Freya’s laughter rang out, the sound music to my ears, drowning out the steady thump of the club music.

  Another step.

  Caleb lifted his head in my direction, “Guys, I want you to meet my new roommate…” but I couldn’t pay attention to a single word he said. Just then, my world turned around in her chair, flashing those bright blue eyes at me and, for the first time in two years, I could breathe again. I could hear the shallow gasp as shock spread across her face. I always imagined what I’d say to her the first time I saw her, but when I opened my mouth every apologetic, pleading word I’d played over in my mind disappeared. I was struck dumb with just one look. She’d knocked me senseless in the blink of an eye, so I said the only thing that came to mind.

  “Hey there, gorgeous.”

  My brain and body disengaged from each other, neither knowing how to handle the fact that Parker Owens was standing in front of me. I shot up from my chair only to stand frozen in place. I couldn’t think of a single coherent thing to say other than the wheezed, “Parker,” that passed my lips. The sound of my own frantic heartbeat pounded in my ears, drowning out the voices and music around me. I had to have been losing my mind. This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t until he took a step closer and uttered the words that completely undid me that I was able to function once again.

  “God, gorgeous. I’ve missed you.”

  “Stop,” I breathed as I took a step back, away from his outreached hand, trying my hardest not to notice the look of longing in his expressive eyes.

  “Freya—”

  “No!” I yelled, slapping my hands over my ears to keep his voice out. I couldn’t let myself hear it. That deep, gravelly voice sent a familiar shock through my system and I couldn’t risk hearing it anymore.

  “Freya? Are you okay?” I heard the worry in Piper’s voice just as she reached up to pull my hands down. I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my blurry vision as I turned and looked down at the concern in my friend’s whisky-colored eyes but couldn’t find the words to placate her. I wasn’t okay. I was so far from okay I was in a completely different stratosphere.

  I turned back to Parker. “Why the hell are you here, Parker?”

  “Wait…your ex?” Piper cut in but I couldn’t respond. I was too focused on the man standing in front of me.

  “Why are you here?” I demanded.

  “Gorgeous, please…”

  “Stop calling me that.” I had to shut my eyes against the onslaught of emotion at just seeing him again.

  “What’s going on?” Caleb asked, coming around the table to stand with the rest of us.

  It felt like Parker’s eyes were burning into me, able to see every single thing I was feeling inside just like the first time we met.

  “Freya, please,” Parker pleaded. “Can we just talk…please?”

  “This can’t be happening,” I mumbled to myself, raking my hands through my hair. “You can’t be here. My life is good, Parker. I’m finally happy! Why the hell did you come here?” Hot tears burned the backs of my eyes and I began to pace. It felt like everything I’d worked for had been stripped away. All of a sudden, I was that sad girl back in Sommerspoint with a crushed heart. I hated that I allowed that sad, broken girl to be resurrected by just the sight of him. I was stronger than that, damn it!

  “I came here for you,” he answered softly. “I transferred here to be near you.”

  “You…what? You transferred?” I was stunned. I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. “No. No. You know what, Parker? I’m not doing this. Not now…not with you. My life is good,” I repeated, swallowing down the golf ball-sized lump that had formed in my throat. “I’m finally in a good place. I won’t let you take that from me!”

  I felt Piper’s hand grab hold of my elbow, pulling me to her. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Freya, wait!” Parker tried as Piper led me past him, but I didn’t stop. I needed to get out of that club. I couldn’t be there for another second.

  Piper let go of my arm and spun around, blocking Parker’s path to me. “Leave her the hell alone, asshole! You’ve done enough damage.” She took hold of me once again and led me out of the dark, packed club. Once we stepped outside, I sucked in some much needed air.

  My world had just turned upside-down and I couldn’t process what had just happened. As Piper and I climbed into the back of a cab, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to just curl up in bed and fall asleep. I kept telling myself I’d wake up in the morning and discover it had all just been a bad dream, that Parker wasn’t really in Florida, threatening the serenity of the peaceful little life I’d created for myself.

  I repeated the lie over and over, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t convince myself that it was the truth.

  “What the fuck, dude? Are you kidding me?” Caleb yelled, stepping into my space so we were almost nose to nose.

  Raising my hands in a placating gesture, I took a step back. I could appreciate Caleb’s concern, but he didn’t understand. “Look, man, I had no clue she even lived in the same complex until today. Hell, I didn’t even know you guys were friends. I swear.”

  In the short time I’d known him, Caleb seemed like a pretty laid-back guy, so the fact that he looked about five seconds from breaking my face really spoke to how much he cared about Freya. “Listen,” I cajoled. “I’m not here to make any trouble, honestly. Yes, I came to Florida for Freya but, hand to God, I didn’t know you two were neighbors. I’m not here to hurt her, man. You have to believe that.”

  He ran a hand through his hair agitatedly “This is seriously fucked-up. You realize that, right?”

  “I do, and I’m sorry you got stuck in the middle of this. I’ll try my damnedest not to suck you in any more than you already are, but I can’t leave her again, Caleb.”

  He stared at me for several second, like he was weighing just how serious I was before finally shaking his head. “I swear to God, you screw with that girl and I’ll kill you myself.”

  “I’m not going to, I swear.”

  “Christ,” he groaned out. “Piper’s gonna kill me.”

  As I lay in bed later that night, staring up at the ceiling wondering if Freya was right above me at that very moment, I couldn’t help but think about the drastic twists and turns my life had made in the past six months. After talking with Mom, I’d let myself be convinced that my relationship with Freya was salvageable, that if I worked hard enough and laid it all on the line she’d come back to me.

  Mom had made it sound so simple. I left Sommerspoint for Florida feeling alive for the first time in two years, the hope of getting my heart back still fresh in my mind. But the devastation I’d seen on Freya’s face sliced through me like a knife. It was going to take so much more than an apology just to get her to speak to me. I wasn’t sure if forgiveness was something I’d ever get from her.

  But like my mom had said, I wasn’t going to give up. No matter what…I wasn’t giving up.

&
nbsp; You knew a headache was going to be bad when your eyeballs throbbed before you even opened your eyes. It felt like someone had spent the night tap dancing on my skull, but that wasn’t even as bad as the roiling nausea. Unfortunately, neither the headache nor the nausea was enough to drown out what had happened the night before. I still managed to recall—in great clarity—the disastrous run-in with Parker and the emotion upheaval it had caused. I could honestly say I’d never had a hangover so bad in my life. Even the soft knock at my door was enough to make me cringe, sending sharp spikes through my brain.

  “Ugh, go away,” I groaned as I rolled over and shoved my head under my pillow.

  The sound of the door opening told me Piper wasn’t to be deterred—not that I actually expected her to.

  “Sorry, cupcake. No can do. Up and at ‘em. I got your hangover cure-all.”

  I tired shuffling further under the covers, but it was pointless. In one fell swoop, Piper yanked the covers off the bed, the air-conditioning in my room causing goose bumps to break out on my skin.

  “You suck,” I grumbled from under my pillow seconds before it disappeared, as well.

  “Wakey, wakey. Hands off snakey,” she chirped happily, obviously enjoying my misery.

  Sitting up, I pushed my tangled hair from my eyes and glared. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how that saying goes.”

  “My version’s better. Now eat this.”

  She thrust a plate under my nose and I immediately recoiled as the smell of food hit my stomach. “Oh, God. I think I’m going to be sick. What is that?”

  “Sausage, egg and cheese biscuit, extra greasy. Trust me, you need the grease. It’ll help.”

  Despite my protesting stomach, I picked up the sandwich and took a bite, taking extra care to chew slowly so I didn’t puke. After a few bites, I grabbed the glass of orange juice on the bedside table and drank half of it down before looking up to find Piper watching me silently.

  “So…we going to talk about last night, or just act like it never happened?” she finally asked once I’d finished my breakfast and popped the headache meds my loving roomy had brought to me.

  “I’m voting on the latter,” I responded dryly, knowing all too well she wasn’t going to let me bury my head in the sand.

  Piper plopped down on my bed, resting on her elbows with her feet swinging back and forth in the air. “Well, you see, the problem with that plan is that the person in question is currently right under your feet. And from the looks of him last night, I don’t think he’s planning on going anywhere.”

  My head began to pound again as my stomach did somersaults, only that time I wasn’t able to blame it on the hangover. It was all due to the boy downstairs—no, after seeing him the previous night, I could no longer call him a boy. Parker Owens was all grown up and despite my best efforts to think otherwise, he’d turned into one fine man.

  “Gah! Why did he have to come here? Things were going great! My life was great, and now he’s just going to screw it all up again!”

  “Ah, sweetie.” Scooting over, Piper wrapped her tiny arms around me and squeezed. “He can only ruin what you allow him to ruin. You know that, babe. People only have as much power over us as we give them. I know you’re probably questioning it right now, but you’re tough, Freya. You are so tough. He can’t break you this time if you don’t let him.”

  I sniffed and blinked against the tears that wanted to fall. I wouldn’t let them. “You make it sound so easy.”

  “That’s because you’re a badass bitch. It’ll hurt, but I don’t have a single doubt that you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

  Finally, I smiled and hugged her back. “I kind of love you. You know that?”

  “I kind of love you, too, even if your breath smells like a homeless man’s farts right now.”

  “Gross!” I shouted as we both burst into a fit of laughter.

  After a few seconds, Piper pulled back and looked at me seriously. “I’ve got your back no matter what, babe.”

  Even with all the bad I’d experienced in my life, there was one thing that held true: I had the best friends in the world.

  “Hey, baby girl,” Dad said into the phone as soon as he picked up. Just the sound of his voice made me smile.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “So, what’s going on that I’m getting text messages from your roommate saying things like ‘mayday, mayday’, ‘the shit done hit the fan’ and, my personal favorite, ‘Armageddon has begun’? I’d be worried if I didn’t already know Piper had a flair for the dramatics.”

  Even though I felt like I’d been stuck on an emotional tilt-a-whirl for the last twenty-four hours, I still couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Tell me what’s going on, sweetheart,” he said in a gentle voice that still held a note of firmness.

  “Parker’s here.”

  “Parker’s there,” he repeated. “As in he’s in Florida?”

  “As in he’s in Florida, at FSU and living in the same complex. He transferred here.”

  Neither of us spoke for several seconds. Finally, I heard my father sigh across the line. “Do you need me to come there?”

  My chest warmed at my father’s question. After my mother’s death, I never thought we would have gotten to the place we were at right then.

  “No, Daddy,” I smiled adoringly even though he couldn’t see it. “I love you for asking, but I’m okay.”

  “You sure? All you have to do is say the word and I’m on a plane, baby girl.”

  “No, I swear. Besides, I have Piper to kick his ass if I need to.”

  Dad’s deep chuckle resonated through the line and warmed my heart. “This is true. That girl really is something else.”

  “Preaching to the choir,” I laughed.

  “All right, honey. If you’re sure. Just remember, you’re strong, Freya. You are so damn strong. Don’t forget that, okay?”

  “I won’t,” I whispered, feeling a little choked up at his praise. “I have to go. I’ve got work in an hour.”

  “Okay, honey. But you call me if you need anything.”

  “You got it. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  After hanging up and getting ready for work, I felt better than I had all day. Talking with Dad was just what I needed to help put things in perspective. I still felt off-kilter and nervous about what Parker being there meant, but I felt more confident that I could handle whatever was thrown at me. I guessed only time would tell.

  I was dead on my feet. While working at an all-night diner in a college town might be a brilliant idea when it comes to tips, the reality of it was Dottie’s was packed all night long. My shift was set to end at ten and it couldn’t have come fast enough. I had one last table left before I could call it a night.

  “Hey, Freya. I just sat table seven,” Michelle, Dottie’s hostess told me with a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry. I tried to put him somewhere else but he insisted. At least he’s hot.” She shot me a wink and walked off as I let out a frustrated groan. I could feel a small trickle of sweat work its way down my back, plastering my already tight white t-shirt to me. My black shorts smelled like beer from a rowdy frat guy who accidentally spilled his drink on me and my hair reeked like french-fries. I was both hungry and exhausted. And I had to fake nice for my newest customer.

  Freaking perfect.

  As I walked toward the table, my eyes were downcast as I reached into my apron pocket for my order pad and pen. “Welcome to Dottie’s. What can I get you…?” I trailed off as I looked up into those chocolate brown eyes that smiled up at me. An angry sound akin to a growl pushed past my lips as I scowled. “What the hell are you doing here?” I sneered.

  That grin of his I’d fallen in love with so long ago took over his face and I found myself hating that smile of his. I wanted to reach over the table and yank the piercing right out of his bottom lip.

  “This is a diner, right? I’m here to eat,” he replied in a joking manner that did not
hing but make me want to punch him in his face…and damn it, what a gorgeous face it was. The years had been nothing but good to Parker Owens…the bastard.

  “How did you find out I worked here? Did Caleb tell you, because I swear to God, if he did, Piper’s going to—”

  Parker’s hands came up in a placating gesture. “No, God no. Caleb didn’t tell me, I swear. He didn’t tell me. Please don’t tell Piper he did. She’s already got him by the balls for allowing me to live there as it is.” A little thrill worked up my spine at his obvious discomfort with my roommate. “I saw the name on your shirt when you left earlier,” he said, pointing to the Dottie’s logo right above my left breast.

  “So, you were spying on me?”

  The corner of his mouth tipped up mischievously. “I wouldn’t call it spying. I’d say it was just a coincidence that I just so happened to be looking out my peephole at the exact moment you came walking by.”

  Ugh! He really had nerve. How he could sit there so casually and act like nothing bad had happened between us the last time we saw each other was beyond me.

  “So, you’re stalking me. Wow, Parker. You’ve really stooped to a whole new low, haven’t you?”

  Finally, the grin slipped from his face as he regarded me with what looked like regret. “I just wanted to talk, Freya. That’s all.”

  “Well, I’ve got nothing to say to you,” I spat back. “I thought I made that pretty clear that last night on the beach, but I guess not.” He flinched at the mention of that night like I’d just slapped him. Seeing that caused a pang of regret to work its way through my body, but I’d be damned if I acknowledged it.

  Parker rubbed his hands over his face roughly before dropping them down to the table. “You have every right to be mad at me, sweetheart…”