Chapter Two: Truth or Dare?

DAY

We arrive marketplace near sunset, the busiest time of the day. I watch June as she talks to the seller. A young guy in his twenties. He probably didn't do so well on his test. June's eyes are alive with questions. Of course she's curious. I know she's not flirting with him, but the way he is looking at her makes my stomach churn.

I excuse myself, claiming the urge to pee. He's obviously distracted when I lurk near the stall. My eyes roam the products. So much food. My stomach growls. I snatch a couple of apples, donuts and granola bars; basically anything in sight. There is a barely opened bottle of alcohol on his desk. I think about my first kiss with June and glance back at the man. He is leaning towards her, lowering his voice. I stuff it into my jacket without another thought.

"Hey...hey...what are you doing!?" His eyes are wide, peering around June's shoulder. I whip around run into the crowd of people. I see him push her in the corner of my eye. She knees him in the gut and sprints in the opposite direction. He kneels for a second. I smile as I take off. June.

I run and run. His angry shouts turn heads. I just laugh. I slip through the crowds I am so used to while he bumbles about, knocking angry people down. The stands and people soon blur into just wisps of colors.

I miss this. Being among the streets in my element. I miss running, not for my life, but because I want to run. I could easily run down an alley and scale the wall high enough where he wouldn't reach me. But where's the fun in that? The wind whipped through my hair, challenging me to a race. My legs burned with adrenaline, daring me to go further. I could go further. The sun is setting. I almost feel like I can reach it, if it will only slow down a bit. Running was what I was used to. Running was familiar, like Tess. A pang goes through my heart at the thought of her. I wonder where she is now and if she's safe. I looked and looked. She's no longer on the streets. I really hope she's safe with the Patriots. I run harder and think about nothing but running.

Running was where I am invincible.

JUNE

I sit on the stone steps of the city library. Day and I agreed to meet here. There is still a little bit of building left, but mostly been destroyed by fire. Most of the sun is gone, leaving the sky a golden purple. The wind picks up and I shiver. I climb in through broken window and survey the area. Scattered pages littered the floor, but no books were in sight. No people either. Glass chimed against the floor. I push a book shelf towards the window and I rummage through my pack. I pull out a black scarf and sweep up the glass. There are a couple of chairs (4, 3 bit charred and 1 missing a leg). I push them towards the window to get out later. After I dump the glass in the corner, I pull it on the scarf so it is covering my mouth. The sun is gone and only moonlight shines through the window. Day should be back any minute now, so I keep myself busy until then.

Graffiti wraps along the walls, each of the words fighting for attention. I look for words in black and red. There are 87 in total, but only a few stick out to me.

"Day Lives!" The "Lives!" is crossed out and replaced with a red "is Dead."

Another in all black says, "Day will come back."

"Day is Legend."

"Our hero is Day."

"We will follow Day."

"I KISSED DAY!?"

Quite a lot of them (36) are about Day. They seem to fighting back and forth on his mortality. I see a lot about the Republic too.

"They don't care."
"THE REPUBLIC SUCKS."

"THE REPUBLIC DOES NOT CARE."

"The only solution is war."

"FIGHT BACK. FOR DAY."

And then another in big red angry letters, "Day Lives."

So many people believe in their Legend. It seems like everyone needs something to believe in.

In the middle, I see a geometric rose spray painted from black and red. It's right above the abandoned spray cans, black and red. The first thing that hasn't screamed something. I venture closer towards it. The red sparkles under my touch. The stroke was smooth and constant, unlike some of the shaky slogans. If I picked it apart by shape, it would just be tilted squares and triangles. The more I looked, I saw that each line was interconnected in some way. As if the rose just formed by accident. Beauty born from mess. Maybe it was saying something.

I hear a crash behind me and grip the knife in my back pocket, whirling around. It's just Day, hopping from chair to chair, like it was a game. My grip loosens.

"Day," I groan.
He hops off the chair and onto the ground, "No one says my name like that."

"I must be some 'no one', then. I say it like that in my head all the time."

He scrunches his nose and crosses the room. Before I know it, his arms are around me and his lips on mine. My heart skips a beat. I'm embarrassed by my reaction. "You're so cold," he says, pulling my closer. I hide my face, a blush burning across my cheeks. Warm instantly surrounds me. I feel the weight of his chin on top of my head.

"I'm not now," my voice is muffled against his chest.

He hugs tighter. "Yeah, you're not."

Something was off. I pull back to look at him in the eyes. "What's wrong?"
Day looks away for the briefest second, "Nothing. Nothing's wrong." His eyes hold mine. I don't believe him. I can always tell when he is lying. "Nothing, I swear."

"Okay." I slip my icy fingers into his jacket. He jumps at my touch, pulling back a bit. There's a bottle shaped lump in his jacket."What is this?"

He smiled sleepily at me, "Would you do me the honor of having a drink with me?" He pulls out the bottle and tilts it toward me. My mind flashed back to a certain alleyway.

"Why not?" I grab the bottle and take a swing. The clear liquid burns its way down my throat. My stomach feels warm. I pass it back to Day.

After a couple of back and forth swings, I can feel the effects. I spin around a bit and laugh. Moonlight was everywhere! And there's Day. He's looking at me and there's a dopey smile on his face. I get an idea. "Truth or dare?"

He swaggers up to me, leaning close. His eyes are so bright. I think he's going to kiss me. Instead, he says, "Dare."

I look up at him. His cheeks are already warm. "Dance with me."

"No problem." He takes another sip and twirls me around. I latch myself onto his shoulders as he locks his arms around my waist. We sway for a bit, giggling. I make him spin with me. Round and round we go. My head is a bit dizzy. The small voice in my head is saying that I shouldn't be doing this and will regret it in the morning. But I ignore it and keep spinning with Day. All the while, our hands never stay still. He's tracing feather light circle on my arm. I'm feeling every goosebump on his neck. I didn't notice we stopped spinning. I just wanted to touch every part of him. Day was beautiful. His nose, his asymmetrical eyes, his hair that glowed silver at night. I played with the tips of his hair, the dip of his lips, the hollow of his collarbone. My tongue replaces my hands, chest pressed against Day's. His breaths grew heavy, cheeks bright red. They were never red. "June June June," he breathes, nuzzling my neck. The smell of alcohol was so strong. "I dare you to stop touching me like that." I try to pull back, but he doesn't let me. His breath is in my ear, "Not that I don't love it...just don't know if I can stop if you keep doing that."

I shake my head. Day sighs, "You're drunk."

"No. I'm no-ot. Not. No-" Those thoughts float away. I can't think about anything but Day breathing on my neck. It sent tingles everywhere. I drop my hands to his neck. "There." I can't keep my voice steady. "Truth or dare?"

He laughs a bit and mutters, "Truth."

I still for a second. He notices for a second and pulls me down to sit with him. We sit, starry-eyed and face to face, for a few seconds. I feel strangely cold. Day looks dissatisfied and pulls me into his lap. I usually didn't like being cradled unless we're kissing. But for some reason, I settle myself there slowly with my lagging limbs. My legs on either side of him. The empty glass bottle clatters onto its side. I look him in the eyes. They're so pretty. I decide to tell him. "You're so pretty. Such blue eyes. I always liked that about you. Then there's that dip of your lips and..." The words keep tumbling out and my face is burning.

He lets out another laugh, loud and full of sunshine. It lights up the room."Junie, I thought you were going to ask me something."

Damn, his voice was husky. I try and think. What was I going to say? I stare a little harder at him.

"You don't remember?"

My eyes widened, then I slur, "I do I do remember tell me w-why you are so sad did I do something?" My mind feels fuzzy. "I know I'm a terrible person to do-whatever our relationship is-with I don't usually listen and not that good at kissing and say "and" too much and don't know how to say you're one of the best things that has ever happened to me without sounding stupid and it was all my fault that half your family is dead its all my fault." I take a huge breath. My cheeks feel wet. I don't understand. But right now, I don't why I am telling him any of this. His forehead is touching mine. I keep my gaze on the floor. "I-I am sorry, Day."

He lifts my chin to meet his gaze. His eyes were soft. "It's not your fault, June." He kisses me, close mouthed and sweet. I close my eyes. I can feel his wet tears against mine. He's holding me now. I'm still mumbling apologies after we break apart. "I miss them. I do. I think about them everyday. I miss Tess too. But it wasn't your fault." I know it was, but I don't speak. Instead, I try to bury myself in him, squeezing him tight. Maybe if we stay like this long enough, the pain will be squeezed out of him. He hugs back. The weight of his chin is back on my head. I can hear his soft sniffles in the silence.

We stay like that for a long time. I was suddenly very tired. My eyelids fluttered close. Day's breathing grew steady.

I almost jumped out of my skin when he muttered, "Truth or dare?"

Next chapter is going to be a continuation of the game (a little less sad). Is there anything you want them to do? Leave requests in the reviews. And yeah, I threw in the red rose from Champion because I thought it would be pretty cool to graffiti.

Thanks for reading! Until next time. c: