The breathy giggle slowly faded into the air and blew behind them with the wind. She found his silence serious.
"Do you not understand that you are already beautiful? Surely you do. You have to."
That was a subject she didn't want to approach. Sure, she of course wanted to experience self love. It was a journey she didn't want to look into. Too lazy, remember? Too lazy, too tired to push a bolder of negativity out of her life. She was convinced that she would only like herself, nothing past that. Good days like today were days where she had no insecurities, not having anything she particularly liked, but thankfully nothing to dislike.
"Next question, please."
She didn't mean for that to come out as gruff as it had. It came at him and stung his vocal chords into short sentences and no urge to let out anything personal. Could he not connect with her without hitting a soft spot?
"I think it's your turn."
Regret was pulsing through her veins. She feared she was pulling back on their personal night. One of her bad habits was not letting someone in, especially when they were desperately knocking on her door for answers.
"What's your worst fear?"
He stifled a grin.
"Well, if I tell you... uh well I guess before I do," He stuttered between laughs, his breath in stitches.
"Promise you won't laugh."
She beamed and set down her can, her attention being drawn to whatever it is he was about to reveal. Her legs folded into criss-cross on the textured concrete. It left imprints on the bottoms of her thighs.
"I've thought about this countless times ever since I was about 9."
She nodded, signaling him to go on. Sky rim, the color he was using, was now set on the ground. He cracked his knuckles and cleared his throat.
"Spit it out, Austin."
"Okay, okay. Well, what if you were being chased by a herd of something, like... zombies? That's what my little nine year old brain came up with. And you had just finished using the bathroom, but you didn't get the chance to pull up your jeans...because you were being chased down by zombies. So you're putting jeans on over your shoes, but you can't stop running- or should I say waddling, because if you stop you'll get eaten."
There was an awkward pause of silence, followed by a burst of wheezing laughter from Rhiannon. She was doubled over on the floor nearly screaming.
"See I knew you'd laugh." He joined her.
"Were you stoned? Jesus, who comes up with things like that??" She talked through her loud wheezes, gasping for huge breaths of air so she could wheeze again.
"Yes I was in fact nine years old, playing with GI Joe's and hitting blunts."
"Well what is yours?"
She stopped laughing and wet her lips before grimacing.
Austin's mind clouded over with worry.
"Wait did I say something because I never think before I speak and-"
"No, you're fine. You're better than fine, you're amazing you did nothing wrong." She pushed his shoulder playfully to force a smug grin from him.
"My worst fear is just really depressing. It's death. I fear dying, I fear those around me dying. I fear afterlife. I'm a wimp."
He inched closer to her and brushed her arm in comfort.
"No of course not!! You fear something real, I fear being chased by diseased cannibals while pulling on a pair of Levi's. That just shows the type of person you are compared to the type of person I am."
It was getting noticeably darker outside now. They couldn't even see the near finished product of their mural anymore. The darkness was eerie, and being in this part of town was dangerous around night. The cautions slowly piled up upon Rhiannon's mind, taking her away from the connection. Reality always ruins magic.
"Well, what kind of person do you think I am?"
He withdrew a deep breath, preparing to pour out his true opinions on how he loved the person she was, or the glimpse of a person she had let on for him to know.
Buzzing sounds erupted out of her back pocket. She pulled her phone out and slowly answered it in annoyance.
"Sorry...ok...yeah I'm on my way."
She hung up and frowned.
Austin knew it was her dad, that their bonding moment would have to abruptly come to an end.
"That was my dad-"
"I know, you have to go."
They both used each-other's arms to prop them up off of the ground. They didn't bother letting go, so they were stuck in a half hug position. Austin's droopy eyes lingered over her lips, having the urge to kiss her right there.
Anxiety was plummeting down their lungs, warm and heating up their bodies like a bottle of champagne.
"I have to go, my dads going to kill me. I'll see you later." She smiled without showing teeth and buried her head into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her body into a tight hug, resting his chin on the top of her hair.
She ran off into her car and slammed the door quickly, her headlights rearing out of the parking lot and slowly but steadily driving off into the road.
He slowly picked up each of the cans and threw them into the trunk. The dark didn't scare him too much, he was too busy floating on cloud 9.
He drove home late that night, his mom already being asleep in her room. He tiptoed into his and laid on his bed with an unforgiving toothy smile. He remembered the way she felt in his arms. He was a soft, deep thinker tonight. He wasn't sorry.
