Scattered Colors (34 page)

“What’s up, buttercup?” Piper chirped happily as she came bounding through the door, dropping her stuff on the floor and heading for the kitchen. Reaching for the remote, I hit pause on the DVR, stopping
The Mindy Project
right at one of Mindy’s long-winded rambles I always found so funny.

“How was the movie?” I called as she reached into the cabinet for a glass.

“Blood, guts, explosions and a beefed-up dude with a bad accent shooting anything that moved. You know, the typical Caleb pick.”

“Ah, so you hated it,” I grinned, knowing my friend so well.

“You got it. That’s okay. I saw a preview for some new Chris Hemsworth movie while we were there. I already locked him down for the next movie night.”

“What’s it about?”

She walked back into the living room with a glass of water in hand, giving me a casual shrug. “Don’t know, don’t care. It’s Chris Hemsworth. As long as his shirt comes off at some point, I couldn’t give a shit if there’s a plot line.”

“Valid point.” I laughed.

“Ooh, I forgot.” Setting her glass down on the coffee table, she went back to the front door and picked up the stuff she’d dropped. “This was outside. I guess it was delivered earlier? I thought your dad already sent you your birthday present.”

I took the wrapped package from her hands and inspected the paper with curiosity. It was faded and torn in places like it had been handled a lot. “He did,” I stated as I lifted the box to my ear and gave it a shake. “I have no idea what this is.”

Piper bounced up and down as she clapped her hands. “Open it! Open it!”

Her excitement rubbed off on me as I began tearing at the worn paper like a kid on Christmas. I pulled off the box’s lid and gasped at what sat in front of me. The box contained a small canvas watercolor painting of a sunset. The colors were so vivid and bright it almost looked like the real thing.

“Oh, that’s beautiful,” Piper breathed, leaning in and lifting the painting from out of the box so she could study it better. Beneath where the canvas sat was a brightly colored piece of sea glass the size of my palm in a shape that resembled a heart. Picking up the glass, I gently placed it aside and reached for the envelope at the bottom of the box. My hands shook as I ripped open the flap and pulled out a sheet of lined paper. My heart beat frantically and my stomach dipped at the sight of the familiar handwriting.

HAPPY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY, GORGEOUS.

I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW LONG I LOOKED FOR A PAINTING THAT WAS AS PERFECT AS EVERY SUNSET I’VE WATCHED WITH YOU. I WANTED TO GIVE YOU THAT SAME BEAUTY SO YOU COULD HANG IT IN YOUR ROOM AND SEE IT EVERY DAY. HOPEFULLY YOU’LL THINK OF ME EACH TIME YOU LOOK AT IT. I FOUND THAT SEA GLASS ON OUR BEACH A FEW MONTHS BACK AND IT MADE ME THINK OF YOU. PRETTY COINCIDENTAL IT’S SHAPED LIKE A HEART, HUH? ;)

YOU HAVE MY HEART, FREYA. NOW AND ALWAYS. YOU’RE MY WHOLE WORLD, BABY.

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU’LL EVER KNOW.

YOURS FOREVER,

PARKER

“Oh, my God,” I breathed as I read the letter a second time, then a third, over and over until tears began to blur my vision, making it impossible to see the words clearly.

“Holy shit,” Piper said from over my shoulder. “He kept your birthday present this whole time?”

All I could do was nod.

“That…wow.”

I reached over, took the painting from Piper and sat it in my lap, studying all the boldly painted colors that depicted the one thing Parker and I both held with such high importance. “I can’t believe he kept this,” I said in amazement. “Who does this?” I asked, turning my head to stare at Piper with wide eyes. “Who keeps a present for someone they broke up with
two years ago
?”

My friend’s eyes shined with sympathy as she took my hand in hers. “Someone who’s obviously still in love with the person,” she spoke solemnly.

“No.” I shook my head. “No,
he
broke up with
me
, Pipe. He did it. He didn’t even waste a second before he jumped right back into his ex’s bed!” I jumped to my feet and began to pace. “You don’t do that to someone you love. You
don’t
!”

Piper stood up and cut me off, placing her hands on my shoulders. “I know, honey, I know. But didn’t you tell me he keeps claiming he has an explanation? That there was a reason why he did what he did?”

“It won’t be good enough! What excuse could he possibly give me that would make anything he did okay?”

“I don’t know,” Piper answered with a shake of her head. “But neither will you if you aren’t willing to hear him out. For Christ’s sake, the man kept a present he bought for you when you two were eighteen. He moved all the way across the country for you. Without knowing for certain you’d ever speak to him again!”

“So you’re taking his side?” I regretted the words the moment they passed my lips.

Piper’s eyes narrowed as she propped her hands on her hips. “No, and you know me better than to even think that. I’m
always
on your side. Don’t question my loyalty just because you’re upset.”

My head dropped back on a long groan before I finally looked back at my friend, the same friend who was my lifeline from the moment I moved there. “You’re right.” I sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

Piper leaned in and wrapped her tiny arms around me in a hug. “I know you didn’t, butthole. I understand that this is hard for you, but please don’t think I have anything less than your best interests in mind.”

I returned her hug, resting my cheek on her shoulder. “I know, sweetie. I’m just a mess. Everything was going perfectly. My life was great until he showed up.”

Pulling back, Piper studied me thoughtfully. “Was it really?”

“What are you talking about? Of course it was. I have great friends. I’m doing well in school. My relationship with my father is better than anything I could ask for—”

“And you haven’t had a single boyfriend in all the time you’ve been here,” she stated, cutting me off.

I opened my mouth to argue, but quickly closed it when I realized she was right. “I’ve…dated,” I replied lamely.

“You’ve gone on less than a handful of
lunch
dates or
coffee
dates in the past two years. Lunch and coffee barely constitute as dates. Hell, you never even let the guys pay!”

“And your point is?” I grumbled sullenly.

“My point, dear, sweet roomie, is that maybe Parker being here isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” Her hand came up and covered my mouth when I went to argue. “What I mean is maybe at the very least, you could get some closure out of this whole mess. Then you’ll finally be able to truly move on. There’s really only one way to find out. Either way, you won’t be any worse off than you were when you first got here. I’m not telling you it’s something you should definitely do, but don’t you think it’s at least worth considering?”

I spent several seconds considering everything she’d said before finally nodding in agreement. As usual, she was right. “I’ll consider it, okay?”

“Good!” She clapped. “Now let’s watch countless hours of
The Mindy Project
while gorging on Ben and Jerry’s and cheap wine. Sound good to you?”

“Sounds perfect.” I grinned as I followed her into the kitchen, getting two pints out of the freezer while she popped the cork on a five-dollar bottle of wine. Cheap booze and mindless TV with an amazing friend were exactly what I needed.

I was startled from my reading by the sound of someone beating on my front door. Already knowing who stood on the other side, I threw my textbook down and jumped from the couch. The moment I pulled the front door open, loud squeals and screeches echoed down the breezeway as Stella and I lunged at each other, jumping up and down like deranged monkeys hopped up on caffeine.

“I missed you so much!”

“I missed you, too, BFF!”

After one last squeeze, she pulled back and focused on my face. “You okay?”

“Oh, good Lord.” I sighed, knowing by the concern etched on her face that Piper had already told her about Parker. “I’m fine. I promise.”

“Okay,” she dragged out as she cocked her head to assess whether or not I was lying. “If you say so.”

“I say so,” I insisted, grabbing the handle of her bag and pulling it through the door. “Now, Michael better have packed chocolate in this bag if he knows what’s good for him.”

“He did.” Stella laughed as she dropped down on my couch with a huff. “And your birthday present’s in there, too.”

“Ooh! Gimme, gimme.” I made grabby hands at her as she unzipped the bag and pulled out a heart-shaped box of chocolates and another tiny box with a bow stuck on the top. I snatched the box out of her hand and ripped the lid off. “Don’t get too excited,” she giggled. “I’m a broke college student. You’re lucky you got anything at all.”

I let out a squeal of excitement at the sight of the Amazon gift card sitting on top of the tissue paper in the box. My friend knew me so well. I was a 1-click junkie and the hundred dollar gift card was going to keep me in my e-book habit for weeks to come. “Yay! I love it!”

Falling down next to her, I rested my feet in her lap and laid my head on the arm of the couch. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

She patted my foot and gave me a smile. “Me, too, honey. Now, are we going to talk about the six-foot, two hundred pound elephant in the room?”

“Really? I was thinking more around 6’1, one-eighty-five.”

She gave my foot a rough pinch as she let out a laugh. “Whatever, smartass. You know what I mean.”

“I know,” I grumbled. “I just don’t necessarily want to talk about it right now. I feel like I’m being talked to death. Parker wants to talk. Piper wants to talk about what I think Parker wants to talk about. My dad wants to talk to make sure I’m okay. Right now, I wouldn’t necessarily hate being struck deaf and mute.”

“And be denied the pleasure of my amazing singing voice?” she joked. Both of us knew Stella couldn’t hold a tune if her life depended on it.

Unable to take Stella’s sympathetic gaze, I stared down at my fingers, twisting and untwisting just to have something to do with them. “He said he has an explanation,” I offered quietly.”

“For…what, exactly? For the breakup? For standing by and letting you be bullied? For telling Cassidy everything you told him in confidence?”

I stood from the couch and moved on fidgety legs around the living room. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I don’t know what the hell he wants to say because I won’t let him say it. I just keep thinking that if I let myself listen, he’s going to tell me something that will rip me open all over again.”

“You aren’t the same girl you were back then, Freya. You’re so much stronger now. No matter what he has to say, you’re not going to fall apart like you did back then.”

“How can you be so sure of that?” I asked sullenly.

“Because I know you. What did Piper and your dad have to say about his sudden reappearance?”

I let out a breath. I was never going to live down my next admission. “That I was tougher than I gave myself credit for,” I muttered.

A cheeky grin spread across her face. “So, basically the exact same thing I said?”

“Basically,” I repeated with a roll of my eyes.

“Because I’m the smartest person you know and everyone always agrees with me.”

Desperately needing a change of subject, I brought up the one thing I knew would divert her attention. “Can we stop talking about Parker and concentrate on the party tonight?” Around the time we moved into our apartment, Piper and I got the brilliant idea to throw ‘welcome’ parties every time Stella came to visit. Luckily, we were close to most of our neighbors so what started out as a small, casual thing in the beginning had grown into a beast, largely due to the fact that Piper was a master party planner. Each of our neighbors opened their doors once the party started so people could go in and out, either mingling in the breezeway or in someone’s home. Both ours and Caleb’s levels got involved in the festivities. They were some of the best parties all year. And thanks to the fact that Caleb was of legal drinking age, we were always able to get booze.

“The party!” Stella cheered. “I can’t believe I almost forgot about that! I wish Michael had been able to make it this time. He’d have loved it.”