Colorblind Read Online Free PDF

life. And in real life, I was the love interest.
    Chloe was interested in trying out laser tag, as it turned out. I took her a week later. And although Robbie came along, I offered to pay for her, since she’d paid for ice cream the week before. She let me.
    Even with Robbie there, it still felt like a date from the moment it began. Maybe it still was. We were two girls who liked girls, even if Chloe didn’t know that I was gay, and she certainly didn’t mind not knowing it, because she flirted with me anyway.
    The night before we went out, she called me at ten o’clock. I paused The Wizard of Oz to answer my phone, surprised to see her name on the screen. We’d exchanged phone numbers after ice cream, but had only texted a few times since then. She always initiated contact, and I couldn’t force myself to ignore her messages.
    “Hello?” I wasn’t sure how casual I could be. We weren’t really friends, and she was definitely more comfortable around me than I was around her.
    “Hey, what are you up to?” she asked me. “Busy with your boyfriend?”
    “This obsession has got to stop,” I joked, taking a cue from her tone. “I can’t tell if you’re teasing me because you think I’m dating Robbie or teasing me because I’m not dating Robbie and therefore am single.”
    “Maybe it’s both?”
    “ The Wizard of Oz .”
    “Huh?”
    “That’s what I’m watching. The Wizard of Oz .”
    “Oh. That witch terrified me as a kid.” I heard a crunch on the line, and furrowed my eyebrows.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Eating a carrot. Gotta make sure my vision’s at its best for laser tag, obviously.”
    “So you like carrots,” I observed. “Mental note taken.”
    She laughed. “What, just in case you need ideas for birthday presents?”
    “No,” was all I said. I didn’t want to think about when her birthday was. I didn’t want to know at all.
    “So what kind of movies do you like? I’ve seen a lot of action flicks, but only because I mostly hung around guys back where I used to live.”
    I shifted my phone to my other ear as she bit down on another carrot. Then, before I could stop myself, I declared, “You’re gay.”
    The crunching stopped. There was a short pause. And then, “Was that a question?”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “For… pointing out the obvious?”
    “I don’t think it was obvious,” I half-lied.
    “Sure it was. I’ve always wanted to live in San Francisco, and I wore a rainbow bracelet the other day.”
    “The true reason you moved here comes out,” I joked, trying to ease some of the tension. She ran with it, mercifully.
    “Ah, yes. I definitely got my parents to pack up and relocate just so I could pick up girls more easily. The new puppy is also a ploy. It reels them in, you see?”
    “Makes sense.” I nodded and smiled, though she couldn’t see it. There was another pause, and then she cleared her throat.
    “Alright. Well I was just bored, so I thought I’d call my new friend. We are still on for laser tag tomorrow, right?”
    “If you really want to.”
    She groaned. “Oh my God, I do! I knew I shouldn’t have worn pink on our walk. I’m totally a dork, I swear. I mean, I’ve never shot a laser gun before, but I’ll learn. Do you want to invite your other ‘friend’?”
    My gut reaction was to say no. I didn’t want Robbie there. But I also realized, deep down, why I didn’t want Robbie there, and so I agreed. “Sure. I’ll text him about it.”
    “Cool. Pick me up at two, right?”
    “Right.”
    “And my little dog, too,” she croaked. “Not really though. I was just quoting your movie. Sorry. I’m dumb. Okay, bye.”
    “Bye.” I forced a laugh, and she hung up. Then I pressed the phone to my chest, squeezed my eyes shut, and let out the deepest sigh of my life, mentally cursing myself.
    Robbie came over the next day about half an hour before I was due to pick up Chloe and hung out with my dad for a while, who seemed a little wary of him. I