Imani was just supposed to make sure that the lost dog got home safely, come back, and pretend like the mere thought of the owner with doe eyes and an armful of tattoos didn't make her question her entire belief system. Sounds simple enough...right...
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Before I met the band, I was the type of person who had zero issues with standing at the very end of the line. I was quiet. Hesitant. Don't take too much space. Waiting was okay. Taking whatever was handed to me whenever was okay. Not one competitive bone in my body.
Somehow, with time, Juni managed to flip every single one of those 206 bones over.
My first impression of them was that they were stubborn, Feisty. Always knew what to say when they had to rile someone up. But I've come to realize that determined is the word that explains them better. Fiery. They always talk in a way that turns me almost as combative as them.
Which is probably why we're both huffing, sweating, and looking just about ready to collapse in the middle of the street with exhaustion but still speeding through the empty streets when Juni comes to an abrupt halt by the park, almost making me crash straight into them.
I yelp loudly, the sound echoing in the blank block, and press the brakes with enough force to make the rear jump a little. But thankfully, it's just in time before the front of my bike grazes the back of theirs.
"What the hell—"
"Isn't that Bowie?"
The rest of the profanity dies on the tip of my tongue, eyes instinctively following the line of their sight inside the park.
I feel something oddly close to the beginning of a panic attack at the sight of the familiar face only a few feet away by the trees, with all my senses blurring into one and then none, except not as intense. It fills me with a red, loud alarm at first, of course, considering the fact that I'm used to associating this feeling with the chant of bad, bad, bad inside my head.
But... the bad part doesn't come. Instead, it seems as if all the strings of blood pumping life into my senses rush straight to my heart, wrapping around the fragile little thing until it begins to warm. And just as I begin to wonder if I'm going to feel a squeeze in my chest, the feeling leaks into my belly and rushes up so fast it leaves my insides tingling.
"Is that... his owner?" Juni asks, and I quickly blink a few times when their voice doesn't register inside my head at once. The noise of silence around my ears slowly wears off, just in time to hear the second part of their sentence. Their voice is breathless, and I know it's not just because of the fact that we were speeding down the streets on our bikes only a few minutes ago. "Shit, I just felt a flutter in my belly."
Even in my half-concentrated state, I let out a laugh at their words. It comes out wrong; breathless and surprised and a little choked, but it's the best I can manage when I'm feeling the exact same way.
Kaia is pushing her hair back with her tattooed hand now to reveal an earpiece, other hand holding a bright yellow frisbee that Bowie barks at. He urges her to throw it, and she does after teasing him a little bit. There's no mask on her face today so I can see her mouth moving as she talks, but she still looks like she stepped straight out of a sports magazine in all her barefaced glory.
