Colors of Love: Gen. 1.6

The next few weeks were hell. Cotton made a point to embarrass and belittle Tyrian every chance he could while at school. Tyrian and I barely got a chance to talk so all conversations were done through text messaging or email. Cotton had taken most of the heat, but when word got back to my parents about the altercation between Cotton and Tyrian Mother was livid.

Cotton of course tried to blame Tyrian for everything, saying he was protecting my honor because Tyrian had been inappropriate towards me. Dad was ready to pull his scholarship and it took an amazing amount of pleading on my part to make him change his mind. Me simply saying that Cotton had lied about things and got jealous over my friendship was not enough. They both were ready to take his word over mine. Their own daughter. In the end they relented, but I was told to have no more contact with Tyrian. Cotton left looking self-satisfied and I went to my room to cry.

I only had myself to blame. I’d gotten careless and got caught. Now my only taste of freedom had been ripped away. Election year meant more events. More events meant I had to be out, and now Cotton came along. I was suffocating. His presence was made worse by the fact he was increasingly trying to make moves on me. Every time I complained he brought up the night at the library.

Tonight was one of those unavoidable events; a fund raiser at the Country Club. Mrs. Rosette was working as one of the servers and Cotton made it a point to be as difficult as possible. Not only that, he kept putting his arm around me when she came around. I couldn’t meet her gaze. I had no idea what Tyrian had told her about us, but it was clear she was confused by the turn of events.

The moment dad made finished his speech I headed outside for some fresh air. Just standing outside, looking at the garden and remembering all the time I spent here with Tyrian made me want to cry. Again. It’s all I seemed to ever do most nights when alone in my room.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you wanted to get away from me.”

The sound of his voice grated my nerves. I didn’t turn around in hopes he’d go away. I wasn’t that lucky.

“Can’t I have just five minutes without you forcing yourself on me?”

He stepped closer and locked his hands around my waist. “I’ve not done that. Yet. You think I don’t know why you picked out this hideous color to wear. Still embarrassing me, but you’ll learn your place sooner or later.”

He let go before I could shove him off. I turned to face him only to see him wearing that same sinister look from the last night with Tyrian. It was unnerving, but I refused to let him know he got to me.

“Even you wouldn’t stoop that low.”

A smile spread across his face. “I won’t have to as long as you play nice. Which you will very soon. Until then, your mother needs us for pictures.”

He put his arm out, expecting me to take it. I stared at him, disgusted at the idea of having to touch him ever. I stormed past heading back into the dining all.

It’d been a little over a month since I’d gotten to have any alone time with Tyrian. The texts and emails weren’t enough. I missed him. I missed being able to talk to him. We’d started a countdown til my birthday. I’d made up my mind, once I turned eighteen I was going to finally break free from my parents. Cotton could find some other puppet to play the role of dutiful wife. The plans were already set and April couldn’t get here fast enough.

Update 7