dyad | ᵇᵒᵒᵏ ᵒⁿᵉ

¹⁶ ⁻ ᵉᵃᶜʰ ᵒᵗʰᵉʳ.

                                     ¹⁶ ⁻ ᵉᵃᶜʰ ᵒᵗʰᵉʳ. 

                      "I want to be close to you, in your heart." 

❀

 Josiah's words sent chills down my spine. I felt like I could tell him anything, just like he could tell me anything. For once, I had no clue what to say, I just kept staring at him. Taking his features, his chocolate brown eyes, his perfect eyebrows, his pink lips. I couldn't move. I was frozen in place, in a trance. I heard him say something, but even that didn't snap me out of my trance. He was just so heavenly, the butterflies in my stomach driving me crazy. I would have to thank Joshua for making right of his wrongs..that's a first from him.

"Monroe."

My name rolled off his tongue easily. I nodded, Josiah smirking at me. He pulled his hoodie onto his head, and told me to pack up my things. "What are we about to do?" "What do you think?" he grinned, taking my hand. The bell rang to return back to class, and we walked amongst the other teenagers. There was a resource officer by the door, looking for any students that tried to sneak off campus. "We're going to run, alright, don't let go of my hand." "Where are we going?" I asked him, but he didn't answer. He drifted off to the right, and pulled me, starting to run towards the front of the school. We ran towards the student parking lot, pushing people aside. Once we were in the safety, I looked around. 

No one had followed us. 

I turned back around, and Josiah unlocked his car, a black Mercedes. His opened the passenger door, gesturing to it. "Get in," he smiled. Hesitantly, I walked around to the door, getting in. I was confused. Just where we going? It was obvious that we were going to skip class, and we weren't going to be back before school let out. Josiah got in on the driver's side, and looked at me. "You need to have some fun. We're going to do that, today." I raised an eyebrow as he started the car, pulling out of the parking space. "What do you mean?"

He chuckled, "You'll see when we get there."

We drove out of the parking lot, and he took a right, driving down the road. I started to notice that we were going deeper into the city, everything becoming more lively as we went further and further. Once he reached his destination, he pulled up into a parking space, at one of the free parking lots. We got out, and I looked around, trying to take it all in. We were right in the middle of the city, and I was in awe. I hadn't seen it in so long, and it was like a new, refreshing experience. People walked the streets, entering in and out of the stores along the way, some of them hailing cabs as well. 

Josiah took my hand again, and we walked out of the parking lot. "Where do you want to go?" he asked, stopping. I shrugged, "I-I don't know.." I kept looking around, taking in every little thing. He chuckled at me, "Well, there's this festival going on. It has all these little shops. You wanna go?" I nodded. We began to walk down the street, and I noticed that there was a sign for the festival he was talking about. It was starting to be a long walk, and I was getting tired. "Get on my back," he suggested. 

I didn't hesitate. 

Climbing onto his back, I ran my hand over his braids. "You look kind of weird with these," I told him. "Well thank you for raising my self esteem, Monroe." I linked my arms around his neck, his hands holding tightly onto my thighs. I rolled my eyes, "Whatever." I started to see the banner for the festival as we came over the hill, and I pointed ahead. "The Radiance Festival. What do you think will be there?" He shrugged, "I'm not sure, it changes every year. My parents used to bring me every year, and I would miss a day in school for it. Then I started going by myself.."

"But it's not the same.."

"Yeah," he sighed. I felt for him. My family and I used to do everything together. But eventually, my parents got busier, and busier, and soon, I was sitting at home waiting for them to come home. I didn't have a connection with another of the help, like Josiah does with Mattie. So I was stuck playing by myself, and learned that the promises they made, were going to be broken. I remember one time, staying up the whole night, waiting for them to come home. They had promised that we were going to watch a few movies, together, but they didn't come through. The worst part about it was that they tried to buy my love. I didn't want their gifts, I just wanted a simple "we're sorry". But I never received one, and they continued to try and buy my love. 

They weren't really parents any more..they were more like acquaintances. People that were just there, to be there. Every time I tried to show them something, they were always too busy, and never there long enough to let me explain. 

Josiah and I entered the festival, and I gasped. 

They had almost everything! Shirts, dresses, scarves, jewelry, anything and everything that I could imagine, they had it. Josiah let me down, and we linked arms, walking through the festival. "Everything is so cute," I smiled. "You want to get matching bracelets?" He asked, his eyes twinkling. I nodded, and we walked over to a stand where this lady was selling them. She gave us a soft smile as we looked around, and Josiah picked up a bracelet with a peace bead, while I picked up a yin-yang one. "I don't think we're going to match.." I said. He bit his lip, "I got an idea."

He took the bracelet out of my hand, and went up to the lady. I looked around some more, and drifted away from the stand, going over to another one. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and Josiah held my bracelet in his hand, and proceeded to slip it on. "These bracelets will remind us of each other," he smiled. I raised my eyebrow, and he took my hand, beginning to slip his bracelet on my wrist. "What do you mean?" I asked him. 

He tightened the bracelet, so that it fit snugly around my wrist. 

"I'll be your Peace Punk," he smiled, pointing the peace symbol. We locked eyes, and I started to smile, which only made his smile bigger. 

"And you'll be my..Yin-Yang Queen."