Melted Rainbows – Gen.5 – Ch. 46

I banged on Crux’s apartment door, surprised that it was actually locked for once.

“Crux! Open up!” I called, waiting for an answer. I heard shuffling around and soon enough the door opened wide revealing a more than happy looking – and shirtless, might I add – Crux.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said, smiling.

“Hi,” I replied, closing the space between us and hugging him. “So I know you hate me asking this, but is everything still okay?” I asked, putting my chin on his chest and staring up at him.

“Honestly, everything is fine. Well, for the most part. There are small things, but don’t worry about it, kay?” He smiled again and leaned down to kiss me.

I pushed him away from me before he could kiss me and I took his hand lightly, pulling him along with me as I looked around his apartment. Everything about it screamed that this was where Crux lived. From his neon lights to his very red bathtub that didn’t even work, but I loved it. It was more home to me than my actual house was, mostly because Crux made it a home.

I stopped in the middle of the room and turned around to face Crux. He was giving me a goofy grin which I loved. Crux being so happy was a fairly new experience for me; one that also made me incredibly scared that he could go back to his old self. But it had been a month and nothing serious had happened since he started taking antidepressants, and that’s how I hoped it would stay.

“Do you know that I love you,” I said, still holding Crux’s hand.

“Actually, I believe I do. And do you know that I love you?”

“Maybe,” I giggled, dropping his hand and hugging him.

“Of course you did,” he sighed back.

“I think you should meet my parents. You know how I’ve been wanting you to meet them.. but you were never quite.. yourself before,” I whispered as my head leaned against his chest.

There were many times when my parents and my brothers’ asked about Crux. They only knew his name, which was all I wanted them to know. Previous to Crux taking his antidepressants, his mood was always low. I had known him since we were in elementary school, so I had seen how he changed.

By the time Crux was eighteen he was diagnosed with clinical depression and had turned to drinking; I was only fourteen at the time. If we had made a date for him to come over and meet my parents, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he showed up drunk or if he didn’t show up at all. He was easily set off by small comments, which also was a sign that he wasn’t ready to meet my parents. I wouldn’t have wanted him to start arguing with them the first time they met.

It eventually got to the point where Crux wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning, and when I would enter his apartment he would sit there for hours talking to me about how his life was worthless and he wanted to die; or worse, he would stay completely silent and ignore me. It was something that killed me inside to hear, but I did my best to cheer him up. Although cheering him up was impossible, I could manage to get him out of bed and to his easel. Painting was the one thing that made him forget about life and raise his mood just a bit.

After much protest I managed to convince him to start seeing his psychiatrist again, since he had stopped seeing him because he simply ‘didn’t want to go’. This lead him to start taking antidepressants after much convincing on my part. So far, everything had been going good with him.

“I could do that. When?” Crux said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Well, you could come over for dinner tonight. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. I bet they would be thrilled to finally meet you, actually.”

“That or they would kill me. I doubt they’ve been very happy with you disappearing to come to my place all night.”

“Oh whatever,” I replied, laughing.

Crux took his arms away from my waist and walked over to the radio he had hidden in his kitchen. He clicked it on and then turned back to me with another one of his cute smiles on his face.

“Wanna dance, beautiful?” he asked me.

“You know I don’t dance,” I smirked back.

Crux grabbed my waist and pulled me to him, moving us with the music that boomed out of the radio. He smiled down at me and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“See, you’re a great dancer!” he said while laughing.

“This hardly qualifies as dancing, silly.”

“Gosh, way to ruin all the fun,” he whimpered before letting go of me and walking over to his bed, jumping onto it and laying face down.

“Cry baby,” I whispered before going over to his bed and doing the same. I landed facing Crux who still had his face buried in the covers. He turned his head towards me, then scooted closer to me.

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, did you know that?” his voice serious. A smile crept up his face before he leaned in to kiss me.

I smiled in return, moments like this with Crux were my favorite. Just laying next to him and looking at each other. They made me realize how lucky I was to have him.

“I have something to show you,” Crux said mischievously.

He bounced off of his bed and headed over to his easel. He leaned down, picking up a canvas that was facing the wall and put it on his easel. I studied the colorful painting and realized it was of me. Crux turned around and motioned to the painting with his hands.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Wow..,” I breathed, walking up to Crux and standing next to him as I looked at the painting. Crux watched me as I examined it.

“You know maybe someday you’ll model for me and I won’t have to do it from memory. And maybe it won’t only be of your face.” Crux winked slyly as he looked my body up and down.

“I don’t think so,” I laughed, slapping him playfully on the arm. “But this is amazing Crux, you’re so talented.”

Crux pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead lightly.