A universe where everything is black and white until you touch your soulmate for the first time…
Was this alright? Holly was staring into the mirror, wielding a mascara wand and frowning at her reflection. She didn’t often wear make up this heavy, but tonight was the gig. A rock band called The Hallucinations. Honestly, it wasn’t really her thing, but she’d promised her flatmate she’d go, and it was too late to back out. Anyway, that would do. Any more and she’d end up looking like a panda.
“Holly! Are you ready?” Katy bounded into the room, her hair backcombed into a mane, eyes outlined in solid black.
Holly twirled, showing off the clothes she’d borrowed from Katy’s wardrobe. “What d’you think?”
“Oh my god, I can’t believe that top looks better on you than me.” Katy pulled a face, and prodded her friend’s arm. “You’ve got enough boob to fill it.”
Holly made a dismissive noise, pulling on a jacket. She was a little self conscious about her boobs, and Katy knew that. This was probably her way of trying to make her feel better, but Holly didn’t feel like putting herself on show - even if they did have standing tickets for a big rock concert.
The concert itself turned out to be pretty great, actually. Holly had followed Katy to the front of the venue. Her tiny friend had the perfect pointy elbows for pushing through crowds, so all Holly had to do was stay in her slipstream.
With each new song, Holly found herself enjoying the gig more and more. She couldn’t deny the lead singer was worth the hype, and she was impressed that the band was as good live as on the album. By the time they were returning to the stage for an encore, Holly was shouting with the rest of the fans, euphoric even though she was being pressed against the barrier.
The final chorus began, and all the fans threw their hands in the air, singing along at the top of their voices. Holly didn’t know all the words, but she shouted along the ones she’d picked up, and stuck her hand out as Asher Sparks reached down to connect with his fans.
There were a lot of people reaching out to touch him, and Holly could feel all the other hands knocking against hers as Asher ran his hand along for high fives.
Then something changed suddenly, and Holly felt her chest do a somersault. Everything was so bright, and… and…
Oh my god.
Her head was swimming. And her eyes… they hurt.
Colours. They must be. With each new colour she saw - and there were so many shades - she felt something new. A joyful leap in her stomach, excitement, a little fear…
Who could it have been? Who else had she touched? Holly’s eyes searched her immediate surroundings, searching the faces of the people around her as best she could. But it was dark, and people were moving so fast, and how was she going to figure out which one of these people had triggered this?
As the last notes of the song faded away, Holly looked up to catch a glance of Asher staring into the crowd with a startled expression before the lights went out.
“Katy….Katy..!”
Maybe it was the adrenaline from the concert, or that she couldn’t find her friend, or the fact that she was seeing colour for the first time ever, but it was a little too much for Holly, and the last thing she remembered was closing her eyes against the sudden onslaught of visual information.
—
When she awoke, she was lying on a couch in an unfamiliar room, with Katy sat beside her, talking rapidly into her phone. “No, she just passed out!” she was saying, flapping her hands and looking very distressed. “I don’t know. They said she could stay here whilst they cleared out everyone else, but the medic seemed to think she was alright.”
“Katy..?” Holly raised her head to get a better look around. They were in a room with couches, mirrors, and… instruments…
“Oh my god, Holly, are you okay? What happened? Did someone knock you out?” Katy flailed her arms widely, accidentally throwing her phone half way across the room in the process.
“No I… Did you see who touched me?” Holly looked down at her hands, then back up, her eyes darting around the room rapidly. “Katy I can see… colour.”
“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” Holly jumped as her best friend squealed in her face, and tried to back away, prevented by the solid arm of the sofa.
“Shhh.” Honestly, she’d just passed out, her head was hurting. “Where are we?”
“We. are. in. the. DRESSING ROOM!” Okay, Katy clearly couldn’t help, she was hysterical. “The BAND let us in here. They’re out signing autographs. But they’re gonna come back.” Katy looked like she was about to hyperventilate, so Holly decided she should probably interrupt.
“Everything looks so…” Holly trailed off. She didn’t have the words to describe what she was seeing.
“Colourful?” Katy suddenly leaned forward to stare into Holly’s eyes. “What’s it like? Was it immediate? Who WAS it?”
“I don’t… know…” Holly managed, staring right back at her friend. “Katy, your eyes are… I didn’t know eyes were so… Wow.”
Katy laughed and sat back down. “Well we need to find your soulmate.” Holly braced herself. She knew Katy was about to launch into another hysterical rant about how excited she was, but Holly couldn’t process that right now. She was busy with this entire new experience.
But the rant never came. Holly looked at Katy, and followed her frozen gaze to the door, where The Hallucinations had just entered. All four of them. Led by Asher Sparks, who’s expression was decidedly different from his usual entitled smirk. He looked… confused, a little shell shocked.
“Ash, what the hell, are you okay?” The drummer followed the frontman into the room, clapping Asher on the back.
“Yeah I’m fine…” Asher looked over at Holly. “You feeling better?”
Right, so apparently by fainting she’d made a big show of herself. Great. “I’m fine…”
…
Okay, so she hadn’t even managed to convince herself with that. She wasn’t fine. She was confused.
“She just saw COLOUR!” Katy finally piped up, the excitement of her best friend finding a soulmate was apparently too strong for her celebrity related anxiety. “And she doesn’t know who it came from.”
Good lord, Katy. My life is not a soap opera. Holly nodded, wishing her friend would shut up.
“Wait, are you serious?” Asher crossed the room in a flash, crouching to be eye level with Holly. He reached out with one hand and touched hers. “It’s you…”
Holly felt a tingling sensation at the spot where Asher’s fingers touched her hand. The rest of the world melted away, and she was staring into the most wonderful face she’d ever seen. It wasn’t just that he was gorgeous - which he was, not just because he was famous either - she found herself fascinated by the freckles next to his mouth, the angle of his jaw, even the smeared black eyeliner. She almost didn’t notice Katy chattering excitedly to the bassist.
“OhmygodIcan’tbelieveitisthisactuallyreal!!!!!!!!!!” she was squeaking, as the bassist sipped from a beer.
“Maybe we should… give them some space?” The drummer finally intervened, and ushered everyone else from the room. With difficulty.
“HOLLY TEXT ME I’LL STICK AROUND!” Katy yelled, just as the door closed.
“You can see the colours too?” Holly asked, realising she hadn’t spoken in some time. Her mind was running in circles. Was this real? She didn’t even KNOW him. She hardly even knew his music! He was a celebrity!
“Yeah… I…” Asher cleared his throat, then finally got up from his crouching position and sat down next to Holly on the couch. “I couldn’t see you. I had no idea who…” He kept trailing off, and Holly knew why. It was distracting, being able to see a whole new spectrum of colour.
Holly nodded. “Me neither…”
They both just sat there for a moment, Holly’s eyes were focused on the shirt she was wearing. There were a few neon splashes in the design, and she couldn’t take her eyes off it.
A few minutes passed, and she felt Asher’s hand on hers again. “Can I…” he hesitated, retracting his touch for a second. “It’s just… if we can see…”
Holly almost laughed. Was Asher Sparks, renowned rock and roll frontman, being shy? “Then it means we’re soulmates?” Finishing his sentences already. Must be love. She nodded, and took his hand. “We should probably… get to know each other…”
Asher smiled, squeezing her hand as she took his. “Yeah. Probably.” Wow. This wasn’t supposed to be awkward. “You go first.”
“Is Asher Sparks your real name?” Holly had been thinking about this since it had all really sunk in.
He seemed confused, and shook his head slowly. “Ash is. Well, Asher. Ash Thompson… You didn’t know that?”
“Sorry… I don’t even really um… I just came with a friend tonight.”
“You don’t like my music?”
“Oh, no, I mean, yeah. I had a great time tonight, I’m just… not a fan.” Holly felt bad. Mean, even. She’d basically come to his gig and told him that his soulmate didn’t like his music.
But Ash started to laugh. “Of course… my soulmate. You were put on this earth to humble me.”
“I wasn’t put on this earth just because of y-… you’re joking.” He nodded, and Holly grinned at him. “Do you need much humbling?”
Ash clutched his chest, and then pretended to swoon. “You wound me. I can’t believe you don’t know all about my conceited, bad boy persona.”
Maybe it was the pre-drinks. Or the high she was feeling from all these new colours. Or the fuzzy, tingling feeling that was still dancing around on her skin. But this silly, dramatic show made her laugh, and she felt a rush of affection. He wasn’t conceited and weird. He was… a dork. He was silly. “Obviously just a persona.” she pointed out.
“Oh, really?” Ash flashed a smirk at her, and almost immediately, the atmosphere changed. Holly’s heart fluttered, and her eyebrows raised just a little. That was the sexy frontman she’d seen on all the tour posters.
Trying to pretend she wasn’t flustered, Holly blew a stray hair out of her face. “So you can smirk. Big deal. Not exactly a bad boy. I bet you d- eep!”
Holly had been interrupted.
By Ash’s lips on hers.
Not the first time she’d been kissed, but absolutely the best. It was like the colour had invaded her head too, she felt sparks of electricity from her head to her toes, and then Ash’s hair between her fingers, holding his head close when he tried to pull away.
