Read Colorblind for Free Online

Having him confirm her number was bad enough, but what if he saw something more? Something I hadn’t noticed? A slight limp in her step, a twitch in a muscle. Something that could somehow indicate she wasn’t long for this world.
    I hadn’t spent much time with her yet, but she was so lighthearted and just… normal , and it was impossible to imagine her life would be cut short by anything other than a terrible accident, especially after her adrenaline junkie confession. But terrible accidents were much easier to prevent than medical anomalies. That was a comfort, albeit an extremely miniscule one.
    Chloe’s father answered the door with a knowing look in his eyes and spent a lot more time introducing himself to me than to Robbie. Robbie was an afterthought. Robbie wasn’t the person Chloe’d come home raving about, and the knowledge that came with Kent Stephens’s excited greeting and eager shake of my hand made my heart thud harder in my chest.
    “It’s nice to meet you,” I managed to get out before Chloe appeared behind her father. She grinned at the sight of me and, instinctively, I smiled back.
    “Nice to meet you too, Harper. You guys will be back before dinner, right?”
    “Yes sir. I’m driving,” I told him.
    “She won’t run me over this time, I swear.” As if to remind me further of that particular mishap, Baxter started barking in the background while Chloe slipped past her father and out through the front door. Kent looked like he wanted to talk more, but with Baxter fighting to get outside to be with Chloe, he thought better of it and bid us a quick goodbye.
    “You told him about that?” I asked her when he was gone.
    “More in the context of Baxter’s latest antic,” she reassured me, and then turned to smile at Robbie. “Hi. You’re Robbie?”
    “Yes.” Robbie’s eyes were fixed to her forehead, and I shifted uncomfortably, willing him to just be normal. I could see the fleeting worry in his eyes and knew instinctively that he was thinking of his sister, and of how young she’d been when she’d died.
    Chloe, I was beginning to notice, liked to take control of awkward situations. She bailed Robbie out with a quipped, “So how long have you two been dating?”
    I scowled at her, and Robbie shot me a confused look.
    “She’s kidding,” I explained.
    “Not entirely! No way are you single. C’mon, you can tell me. If we’re gonna be friends, you’ll have to start being honest with me eventually.” She raised an eyebrow at me, straight-faced, and I tried in vain to keep my scowl on and resist blushing yet again in her presence.
    Robbie bumped my shoulder, abruptly startling me out of Chloe and I’s staring contest. “If we get there before three o’clock, there’s a discount. Laser tag’s half price from noon to three.”
    “Sounds great,” Chloe cut in before I could speak. “Let’s go.”
    She left without waiting for a response, walking straight to the car with her purse swinging off of her shoulder. Robbie nudged me and, sounding far too empathetic, murmured, “She’s not even trying to hide that she likes you.”
    I felt my heart twist in my chest and tried my best to forget what he’d said as I moved to climb back into my car.
     
    * * *
     
    The entrance to laser tag was off in the corner of the arcade and had small wisps of smoke leaking out of it. I’d done this a few times before. The room was large, maze-like, filled with smoke, and square-shaped, with several winding hallways connecting scattered open areas. The walls that enclosed the hallways were tall and impossible to see over, but the ones in the open areas were waist-high and could serve as barricades or hiding places. The entrance was in one corner of the room, and in each of the other three, there rested a slightly raised, base-like structure where players could hide out and scope for “enemies”.
    It was a slow day at the arcade, and so Robbie, Chloe, and I were suited up for a three-way