Prompt: The day that Henry met Elizabeth, his lifelong favorite color changed forever.
October, 1988
Henry McCord had always loved the color green. It made him think of grass and trees and new life. It was healing, pleasant on his eyes. He'd liked it from the time he could remember; his mother had sewn him his favorite green blanket when he was a baby and he'd kept it ever since. While most children switched to a new favorite color every other day, Henry stuck firmly with green throughout his childhood. His youngest sister took great pleasure in asking him if he liked another color better. She would stand in the doorway of his bedroom every day and throw new colors at him.
"What about maroon?"
"Erin, my favorite color is still green."
Henry hadn't realized having one favorite color for his entire life was such a hot button issue, but it seemed that everyone found it odd- even his first college roommate, who claimed he could understand having no favorite color at all, but that sticking to one his whole life was strange.
It was on that, a chilly day in October, that Henry's whole existence was shaken. He'd been sitting at a coffee shop on campus, studying and working on a paper that was due later that week. He'd been aware of the girl's presence in that way that one can feel eyes upon them, an innate sort of knowledge, and so he'd looked up and met her gaze. She had been wearing a baby blue sweater that exactly matched the color of her eyes; warm, rather than icy, and crystal clear. Every shade of blue weaved into a pattern that was intoxicating and enchanting. Just like that, as if he'd been jolted into a new existence, Henry's favorite color was no longer green. He knew in that moment that he would have gladly never seen a shade of green again if he could look at that incredible mix of blues for the rest of his life.
And he smiled at her, held out his hand, and introduced himself to the girl with blue eyes.
Twenty years later…
Henry smiled slightly as Elizabeth leaned into him and looked down at her. She leaned her head back and looked back up at him, meeting his gaze. And with that, Henry recalled that day two decades before, when Elizabeth Adams had rocked his world with her blue eyes and changed his favorite color forever. She'd asked him that on their first date, very casually.
"What's your favorite color?" she'd said as she leaned in to take a bite of her spaghetti.
"Blue," Henry had answered with no hesitation, as if he'd always loved blue the way he did now, now that he'd seen the most beautiful shades of blue in her ocean eyes.
"Hmm. I like green," Elizabeth had answered, and Henry had just smiled to himself.
Now, he smiled at her and brushed his hand through her hair.
"Hey, you want to know something?" he asked.
"Yeah," she answered.
"My favorite color was green before I met you," he divulged and Elizabeth frowned.
"What?" she asked, and Henry just nodded.
"I asked you what your favorite color was on our first date and you said blue," Elizabeth reminded him, and Henry nodded again.
"I know," he answered.
"So what made it change to blue?" Elizabeth asked curiously. Henry smiled at her, tenderly and softly, and kissed her forehead.
"You," he said simply.
"Hmm?" she asked. "How?"
"You want the truth?" Henry asked.
"Of course," Elizabeth scoffed.
"The day we met, you were wearing a baby blue sweater that matched your eyes," Henry answered. He shrugged nonchalantly. "And blue has been my favorite ever since."
Elizabeth was quiet for a moment, and then she chuckled softly. She traced a nonsensical pattern on his chest and smiled as if she were thinking of something funny.
"What?" he asked.
"Did you know you were wearing a green shirt the day we met?" Elizabeth asked, and Henry just laughed as he pulled her in closer.
Maybe, he thought, it was just meant to be.