They Dyed My Dress for the Dance. I Left the Group of Five novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: What Colby Reads

The Lions practiced on Sunday afternoon even after a loss.

By five o'clock the field was empty, the lights buzzed on over the goalposts, and the equipment staff was dragging tackling sleds across the grass.

I found my brother in the stadium tunnel.

He sat on a wooden bench under a flickering lamp, still in his practice jersey, with a roll of white tape in his hands.

He was winding it around his left wrist, over and over, though the wrist was already wrapped.

He didn't look up when I came in.

"You can't be here," he said.

"I'm already here."

"Quinn."

"Sit up. Look at me."

He lifted his head.

His eyes were rimmed red and his jaw was bruised on one side from a hit in the game.

I stood in front of him with my hands shaking.

I had planned to say five different things on the walk over.

All of them left my head.

"You can't see them either," I said.

He didn't move.

"The colors. You can't see any of them."

The tape rolled off his knee and onto the concrete.

It bounced and unspooled across the floor, and the two of us watched it go.

"Say something."

"Mom told you."

"Mom said, does your coach know yet. I'm not stupid, Colby. I've known you my whole life. You point by position. You said the dress looked white because it did look white. You had no idea, and neither did I."

His mouth worked.

"I knew the tints," he said. "I knew exactly how bright they were."

← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend