ONC 2024 SHORTLISTER || After two opposites find comfort in each other and have an instant connection but can't be together, they collide again months later and get a second chance at love || August Walker and Jasmine Kelly are complete opposites...
Ops! Esta imagem não segue nossas diretrizes de conteúdo. Para continuar a publicação, tente removê-la ou carregar outra.
☆.｡.:*
Everyone only sees green as the colour of jealousy and greed, but to me, it means everything lucky and new beginnings. I chose this dress for a reason. Red is no longer in my colour wheel of choice; Josh love-bombed me with way too much red. The red hearts, red clothes he'd buy for me, red paint, red memes he'd send for love. Red blood where he started cutting himself when I first mentioned leaving, and the red threads he keeps sending me to say he's my soulmate like the red threads of fate.
No more red. I'm green. New beginnings, new luck, and a new Jasmine.
"Jas?" Blake calls.
I stop dancing for a second and look at her. She's got a concerned look on her face, and the guy she's been flirting with just continues grinding against her. I sip more of my wine before nodding.
"What's up, Blake?" I ask.
"Uh—" She steps away from the guy for a second. "Josh is over there by the bar."
I stop at the news and look over. There he is; tall with black hair and looking desperate as usual. The funny thing is, when we first got together, he was absolutely irresistible and so cute. Then he started showing more and more desperation to be with me, needing to know where I was even if it was just at work until it got too claustrophobic and until the only thing I knew was work and Josh.
Everything around me stops as Josh starts turning in my direction from the bar. The pulsating bass and pounding music drown out, the lights don't fuel me anymore. The only thing I know is how my heart is beating the word 'freedom' over and over again. His mere presence threatens my freedom.
"I'm gonna go," I tell Blake.
She nods. "You'll be okay? Text me when you get your phone charged, yeah?"
"He hasn't seen me. I can get a taxi home," I promise her.
She hugs me before continuing her mating dance with weird-beer-guy, so I slip through the crowd, seeing Josh still at the bar.
The moment I'm outside, I can taste the freedom, though when I check the time, I see it's midnight. My favourite time. I used to hate it; midnight would be the time when Josh would message for a check-in, even if I was in bed, towards the end. Midnight would also be the time he would climb into bed if he stayed over, or if I stayed over with him. When he did that, he would want to have sex no matter what, and I was pressured to 'show him my love just like he loved me.'
Since I left him, though, midnight tastes like freedom. It smells good, fresh and I can do whatever I want. Including maybe going for a kebab. I've only had two glasses of wine, why do I want a kebab?
Since I've left Josh, I want to experience more, do more, and be around people again. Before, he would only let me be around him unless he couldn't help it, like if I was at work.
