My father, Henry Laurens. Everything about him should've been clean white, but every thought of him was tinged with pale grime. He was a model citizen to everyone except those who knew him best, and that kept up his guise of being good at all. Off-white. Ivory.

I spent the rest of my afternoon cleaning my apartment and removing pride flags and rainbow decorations form the walls. I had two days to get a girlfriend when I had just gotten close to a guy I liked ... my luck was not going well. I silently said goodbye to Alexander and his ginger flavored moments.

I called Peggy up. She was the only one I could really trust to understand and help me without question, and there was zero chance she actually liked me because she was gay. That makes two of us, I guess. But we can't be gay for the next week, being that my father will be in town. If I do much as look at a guy's ass, he'll have my neck carved out and stripped.

"Hey, John, what's up?" Her voice calmed me as I prepared to explain.

"My dad is coming to town. I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend of several months for like a week, please, you're the only one I trust,"

Peggy's response was immediate. "Call me whenever he is coming over, I'll be there. What happened to that Alexander guy you were hanging out with today?"

I sighed. "I had to ditch him so I could straighten my apartment and make you my fake girlfriend. Our relationship is pretty much dead, I think,"

"Just tell him everything. He'll understand, and then you can still be together,"

I rubbed my neck, my expression pained. "I don't think I can dump all of that on him,"

"It might be better than just dumping him, though," Peggy ended the call and left me in my silent room, desperately alone.

I laid on my bed, staring blankly at the ceiling for hours before I received a text from Alexander. At first I was elated, then I remembered the circumstances.

Alexander: Hey, why'd you run out earlier? Are you alright?

Me: It's just a little family thing. I don't know if I'll be able to hang out for a week or so.

Alexander: You didn't answer my question: are you alright?

Read at 3:15

Red for beginnings.
Ginger for memories.
Charcoal to light the fuse.
Ivory to seal the fate.