Maybe they don't (die at the end)

Part 3

Mateo

11:14 a.m.

The streets of Brooklyn are as busy as always. It's not raining for once, though. It's actually pretty warm now, too. But I still feel really cold, despite the warmth of the sunlight.

We stop at a little park area and Rufus sits down on one of the benches. I lay down on the bench, with my head in his lap. He watches the people that are passing us and slowly strokes my hair. My eyes scan his face from below and I notice a little scar on his chin. I reach my hand up and touch it gently. He looks down at me.

"How'd you get it?" I ask him.

"Got punched in the face when I was like, twelve" He shrugs

"Why?"

"I don't really remember" I look at him curiously. I know he remembers it. He sighs at the look on my face and continues "..A few boys jumped me at school. One of them hit me with a stone and now I have to remember it every time I look in the mirror."

"Why'd they beat you up anyways?" He frowns. It's like there's something he doesn't want to say. "I think it looks bad ass, by the way" I add, in an attempt to lighten up the mood a little.

"I don't know man, 12 year olds are reckless" He lets out another sigh. He doesn't say anything else and I choose to do so too.

A bit of time passes, but Rufus looks like he's deep in his thoughts and I don't want to interrupt him. He opens his mouth, hesitating to say something. He lets out a deep breath.

"Twelve was, kind of the age when I started figuring things out about myself, you know, sexuality and all. And there was this boy at my school, like two grades above me and we kissed like- once or twice I think." He's avoiding my eyes and just stares off into the distance. "I guess some of my friends found out. Safe to say they weren't happy about that." He lets out a small laugh, but it's not a genuine or happy one. "..I transferred schools, after that" I sit up now, cross legged, and turn towards him.

"I'm sorry that happened to you. Thank you for telling me"

Rufus' head turns back to me and tilts his head. He looks down at my lips, then back into my eyes. Like he's asking for permission to kiss me here, in public. I lean in and close the gap between us. He lifts his hand and holds my chin while his soft lips crush into mine.

I can feel an unfamiliar pair of eyes on the two of us. I open my eyes, not breaking the kiss when I see a blond woman on a phone staring at the two of us. When she notices me looking back at her, she quickly turns her head away. I deepen mine and Rufus' kiss and ignore her. He obviously caught on to what's going on too, because he takes his hand of my face to flip her off. I smile into the kiss and can feel him grinning too. 

Joanne Taylor

11:23 a.m.

Death-Cast did not call Joanne Taylor because she isn't dying today.

But she's got other concerns right now. She was on her way to a job interview, but she took the wrong train and now she's lost in the streets of Brooklyn, without a clue where she's supposed to go or what she's going to do now. She calls her best friend, Lilith to let out some stress, but she doesn't really leave Joanne a lot of time to talk, or complain about the situation she's in right now. Lilith just starts talking about herself. Again. Joanne's tired of her friend's ways, but she doesn't really have anyone else, since she's been crashing at Lilith's place after Max's and her breakup last month. So Joanne is lost in the middle of Brooklyn and doesn't know where to go and her only friend just won't stop talking about herself. After a while, Joanne just drowns out her friend's words, saying some quick remarks here and there to make it seem like she's still listening.