Chapter Twenty-Five: Days In Color// Photographs

"Ah!"

A pair of hands covered my eyes and I jumped, dropping my book on my foot. I hissed in pain, trying to get a hold of the hands over my eyes. I was pulled backwards against someone's chest, feeling warm breath near my ear.

"I'll give you one guess at who this is, or you buy ice-cream."

"Ugh. Lyon," I groaned. "Who else would it be?"

Lyon removed his hands and I stepped away, turning to face him.

"Oh, I don't know. Any other friend of yours?" He rubbed the back of his neck, jumping backwards when I tried to kick his shin.

"Joke's on you, I have no friends." I swung my foot out once more, smiling when it collided with his knee.

"Ow! Fine, fine. Nevermind. I shouldn't have done that."

I watched him rub his leg.

"Teaches you a lesson."

"What the heck, Cecilia," he said, reaching down to pick up my book. He muttered something under his breath about a 'crazy woman.'

"What was that?" I raised my voice, grabbing his wrist when he handed me the book. He tugged, laughing nervously.

"Oh come on, let me go."

I held on tighter. "Who's crazy?"

He twisted his hand around and grabbed my wrist, pulling me off balance and I stumbled forwards on the hard concrete..

"You," he started. "I called you freaking psychotic."

Pulling my arm behind my back, he laughed. "Say I win."

I started kicking my feet again, struggling to get away. "You can't just call people psychotic when you're acting like a little freak!" I shrieked.

He grabbed my waist and shoulder, holding me in place. "Say I win," he said simply.

I hit the corner of my book on his hand and he jerked his hands away.

"No." I stuck my tongue out.

He smiled, eyes twinkling.

"Leave, jerk."

"Nah, I'm kinda bored, to be honest." He stuck his hands in his pockets, watching me.

"I wasn't even bothering you," I said, crossing my arms. "Go away and be bored somewhere else."

"Photography, huh?" he said, motioning towards my book.

"Of course it is. I'm a photographer."

["Or maybe i'm just a memory," she said, glancing at me. "Trying too hard to make an imprint in this world."]

He looked interested. "Learning something new?"

I shook my head, handing the book to him. "It's old. I've read through it too many times already. I just like flipping through it now."

He flipped through the curled pages then laughed, handing it back to me. "I didn't understand a word that I saw in there."

I smiled and paused, looking at the book.

"I... can show you, you know," I murmured.

"What?"

I pursed my lips, looking across the street. "Where I edit my pictures. I have a big closet at home that I use as a workroom."

He seemed to be thinking it over and I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Yeah sure. Why not." He shrugged.

"Oh." I blinked. "Then I guess we're going to my house."

I turned at started walking back home, running through the house in my head to make sure I hadn't left anything weird around where he could find it. I did the laundry a couple days ago. Hopefully, I'd folded it too. Or at least shoved it back in my closet.

The walk back was quiet. He'd asked for the book again and was randomly turning to pages, admiring the pictures.

I walked up the driveway, taking in a deep breath. Please tell me I didn't leave a dirty bra or some crap on the bed this morning. Or Aaron's towel from his bath last night.

I turned the key and pushed open the door, hearing him walk up behind me.

"Ouch!"

"That's what happens when you don't watch where you're going," I called over my shoulder, giving the living room a quick run through. "Close the door behind you, please."

I ran up the stairs and burst into my room. Good. No clothes and crap.

Wait.

I shoved Aaron's towel into his closet. There. No wait.

Kicked yesterday's bra under the bed. There.

I swung back outside as he came up the stairs, a faint smile on his face. "You have a little brother?"

"Uh, yeah."

"He said he needs toilet paper and you're a dummy."

My stomach dropped. "What?"

"There was a note on the back of the front door when I closed it. Funny spelling though. He must be really little. 'D-U-M-Y.' Dummy." He laughed to himself, looking around the hallway.

My lip curled. "If I didn't get him tissues, what did he even...ugh. Nevermind."

"How old is he?" Lyon's lips twitched.

"He's gross. I mean, he's five." I swatted my hand. "He's at daycare until three o'clock today. I leave to go pick him up at..." I blinked and looked at him. "Sorry. That's unimportant. Come on."

"I don't mind... "

I opened the door to my workroom, holding it open for him.

"Where are the lights?"

I motioned towards the light switch. "Sorry. It's over there. I didn't realize it was going to be so dark." I flicked it on and the room was flooded in bright fluorescent light.

"Ah!" Lyon squeezed his eyes shut, covering them with one hand and waving at me with the other. "Turn them off, turn them off!"

I flicked them off quickly. "Sorry. I don't usually use them much either and I forgot how bright they are. Close your eyes and I'll open them again."

"No no, keep them off." He rubbed his eyes and blinked furiously.

"But it's dark."

"Do you have a smaller light?"

I fumbled around. "Uh, yeah. Somewhere. But the bulb burned out and I haven't had a chance to replace it."

"Stop making that face."

I narrowed my eyes at him in the dark. "How do you know what face I'm making?" I glanced over my shoulder. "I'm not making a face."

"Then stop rolling your eyes."

I blinked and stared at him. "You've got... exceptional night vision."

He laughed, the sound filling the whole room. "Nystagmus. And achromatopsia. I can't see well in bright light, but my night vision is better than yours."

I moved my head back a bit. "Why do I feel like you meant me, specifically. Your vision is better than mine. Thanks."

He took a step forward and I let out a squeak, jumping sideways when he reached around me. Even in the darkness with only traces of light filtering in through the heavily curtained window, I could make out the curve of his shoulder inches from my nose. I held my breath to keep from... breathing on him.

"Aye, move back a little. I'm up against the table," I muttered. Sharing airspace with him made the room feel smaller. He was bigger than I gave him credit for. Again, I started to regret my impulsive ideas.

He picked something up and brought it over to me.

"Who's this?"

I let out a breath and came over to him. "Oh.." I shrugged. "That's me."

He squinted at me. "Clearly, you didn't take it though."

I gave him a half-smile. "Of course not. My... mom took that one."

"Cool. So this is her studio?"

"Was. It was her studio. It used to be her dark room." I scanned my eyes around. "When she left, I took over."

He was silent. Then:

"Where'd she go?"

I pursed my lips and shrugged. "I dunno. She left when I was six. The last time I heard anything about her... she'd dropped off Aaron at six months old." I sniffed. "Said she couldn't take care of him, but he was my dad's so it was his responsibility."

"Oh." Lyon shuffled around a bit. "I'm sorry."

I waved him away and shook my head. "No, it's fine. It's not like you took her away."

"Yeah, but it sucks."

I shrugged again. "Well, it's not like I hate talking about her. It's just not gonna bring her back, is all." I paused. "It's not like she wants to come back anyway."

The silence became awkward and I exhaled slowly, going through my stuff to find the film I wanted.

"You can look around if you want, while I get the computer running." I motioned towards the pictures strung up against the far wall. "Those are all me when I was little," I said with a smile. "Mom used to be a big photographer."

I paused. "I don't remember much about her, but she always had a camera with her... When she left, she gave it to me."

I pushed the power button and the desktop whirred to life. Lyon winced at the white screen, turning away.

"Mind lowering that screen brightness a bit?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Sorry."

I fiddled with the side of the monitor, making the screen dimmer. "This okay?"

He nodded. "I'm making you go out of your way so much. Sorry about that."

"No, it's all good. It just sucks that I haven't changed the bulb. Then we'd have more light."

He came and sat on the floor near my knee. "This is fine, really."

I jerked my head towards the door. "There's a bean bag there, if you need it."

He bounced up and went off to get it. I watched him with the dim light from the monitor. I didn't remember the last time I'd had anyone in here. It almost felt...strange.