Wonderlust

Die Young

I woke up to my shoulder being gently shaken.

"We've got to go, and we've already gone and found out your bus comes in a few minutes." Rowan announced.

"Where are you guys going?" I blinked, dusting myself off, I realized I just had to stand up and I was ready to go.

"I don't know, right now we're just kind of wandering." They explained, handing me my bag.

We stood there for a moment, then Rowan open up three arms and crushed me in a short hug. "You take care out there, man."

I patted their back gently, before letting go. "I will. Is there any way I get in contact with you?"

Rowan shrugged. "Not unless you run into me again, sorry."

I bit my lip. "Okay wait here, let me give you my phone number. That way you can at least get in contact with me if you need."

I ripped off a slip of paper from my sketch book (a.k.a. Holy Paper, so you know Rowan was one of those special people) and used one of the sharpies I had to jot in down real quick. Then I handed it to Rowan and they smiled. Then they pulled out a necklace I hadn't ever noticed before form under their shirt. It was one of those locket types so they stored my slip of paper safely inside.

"Thank you." They replied, sincere.

"You're welcome. Hopefully we'll see each other again one day."

They nodded and went to rejoin their group when all of a sudden they turned back. "Oh, and Atticus, if you ever see Dylan again, please give him a second chance."

Then they skipped off to merge with their odd little caravan, and I was left with those words hanging in the air. It stayed with me as I found the bus stop and boarded, I was still angry at Dylan. I was still hesitant about the idea of being around I'm again. I was also still missing him very badly. If I did see him again, whenever that might be, I think I could bring myself to give him one more chance.

The bus was mostly empty as I made way down the west coast. It was strange to think I was getting farther and farther away from my home every day. I think the strangest happenstance that I had noticed is that the closer you got to the ocean, the more palm trees there were, and some of them grew right up next pine trees. Other than that, it wasn't too different from anywhere else. I was on and off different busses for the majority of the early hours of the morning. Eventually my stomach started to grumble and I figured I would go get a snack somewhere. Only I was met with a surprise as I stepped off onto the pavement.

This stop was part of a bigger station for the larger versions of public transit. There was even a train stop and few yards away. It was crawling with people, even at this hours, and my heart sunk as I stopped a familiar looking car parked on the curb just feet away. The door opened and a tuft of blue hair poked out as Dylan and I stood staring at each other for a few moments. I would had said what are the chances, but something told me he wasn't here on accident.

"Atticus." He said slowly, walking towards me.

I didn't move, and he ran his last few steps and threw his arms around me. While I was caught up in his embrace my face pressed against his shoulder, and I wondered what it would be like if we were this close in a non-platonic way. I slowly returned the hug. His hair was just as soft as I remembered, it had only been a short time apart but I had tried my hardest to forget this.

He let me go, and I immediately noticed how badly he was shaking. His hands swiped across his face quickly. Dylan was crying. I stared at his face and realized just how red his eyes were, just how tired and scared he looked. He was so venerable all of a sudden.