The Ponytail Stranger

The date

"So..what does this mean.." I paused, "..for us?" Jay pondered a moment.
"I'm not sure yet. But Its interesting what she told me. She could be useful..she might just be able to help us escape. She might even be able to come with us." He smiled at the idea. I lost it when he smiled, he always has this sparkle in his eye when he is happy, it makes him look even more beautiful, which I didnt think was even possible. I thought he was already the most beautiful person in the world, but somehow, he has always managed to become even more beautiful and amazing. I lovingly gazed at him, he looked up at me after the silence went on, he stared lovingly back, making it feel as if my heart was fluttering in my chest. Finally, we arrived at the theater. I walked up to the ticket dispenser and looked over what movies they had. We had people working with tickets up until about 15 years ago, when we switched to a technological alternative instead. I dont remember it though, since I wasnt even a year old at the time. I'm not sure I had even been born yet, depending on what time of year they switched over.
"How about this one?" Jay pointed to a cute little romance.
I smiled, "sure, it looks good." I replied and pressed on the movie, then selected two tickets and transferred the money over using my Tabe. One ticket tranfered to my Tabe, and other one went to Jay. We go inside the theater and go to the candy and drinks counter. We promptly choose candy and decide to share a cola. We almost got a popcorn, but decided neither of us wanted any.
"Boys night out I'm assuming?" The woman at the confection desk winked.
"Yep!" I replied, unsure what she meant with the wink, although I had my suspicions.
We finally sat down in out seats when Jay turned to me.
"I think she knows...I think..alot of people know. In fact, I dont think we are the only ones by a long shot." Jay grabbed my hands.
"I think that there might be more people who are like us than we think. I think..I think we need to leave as soon as we can..and maybe..come back." Jay said, but I gave him a confused look. He nodded at my confusion as though he understood why.
"My mom said that there might still be people outside the walls that our willing to help us. The AMBER launched an attack on them, tried to take them out with a virus. They will want to help if they are out there." He pointed in a random direction.
"I...what if we get killed..?" I force the words out, he hesitates.
"Than at least we would've done something. Or at least tried to." He nodded with determination. He isnt typically all that brave or outward in any way, so this surprised me. I also felt a tinge of pride for him, he was becoming braver.
"What if..what if only one of us dies..?" I said with more sadness. He leaned back, putting more thought into this idea.
"I...then the other wont let the sacrifice go to waste." He said reassuringly.
"But..I dont think I could live without you.." I admitted, though I expect I could have gone without saying it and he still wouldve understood where I was going with my side of the conversation.
"I...oh." He cuddled up to me. "I..dont know how to respond to that." He said.
"I know." I replied, leaning in closer to him.
"Are we still going to help them?" He asked.
"Yeah..I think so," I hesitated. "..it will be hard you know." He turned to me.
"I know," He said quietly and sat up, people were beginning to enter the theater with us.
"But it will be worth it." He nodded happily. I smiled at him. "I love you." I whispered.
"I love you too." He whispered back.
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I stretched as we exited the theater.
"That was a really good movie!" Jay chattered happily, talking about all his favorite parts. I grabbed his arm, he looked startled.
"Follow me" I said quickly, I could barely smother the smile that I felt coming on. He gave me a confused look but did not pull away. I began to run, dragging him along behind me.
"Where are we going?" Jay asked me as I turned the corner of the shopping district and ran towards the park.
"Its a secret." I chuckled and looked back for a moment so I could see his face. He looked cute when he was frustrated. Finally I stopped in front of a bench and sat down, patting the seat next to me. He gave me another puzzled look, but went with it and sat down.
"This is the first place o ever saw you." I told him, he grew more confused.
"But the first time we met was in an alley when you saved me." He blushed a tad at the instance. I remembered it clearly, the first time I ever actually interacted with Jay or even gave him the idea that I even existed.
"Yeah, I know that's when we first MET but not the first time I ever saw you." I smiled at him, but he was still lost. "Every day I would walk on that sidewalk to get home from school" I pointed at the sidewalk I walked on everyday, even now, to get home from school.
"I would see a girl sitting on this bench here, drawing in a sketchbook. I would always want to talk to her, but never had the courage." I sighed and nodded my head.
"One day she wasn't there, and it made me worry so much. But I brushed it off, she didn't always have to be there, right?" I nudged Jay, he was starting to catch on at this point.
"Then I saw her getting beat up in an alleyway, so I saved her." I paused, "..turns out she wasn't a girl at all. My feelings never faded though, even once I knew he was a guy." I smiled at Jay, and he smiled sweetly back.
"You know..I actually have a funny story to go along with that one," Jay said, and I raised an eyebrow at him curiously.
"Well, after school everyday I would always sit on a park bench and draw. I loved sitting out in nature, listening to all the little creatures around me, with a soft chatter and cheer of little kids playing on a playground in the distance. Its peaceful.." He sighed in contentment, then chuckled. "Not the point.." He paused and laughed a bit at his side tangent.
"Anyways, I would always see a boy walking past on the sidewalk on the other side of the street.. I would always want to talk to him..he seemed so cool...and cute." He admitted shyly, his face turning a shade of pink.
"I would actually draw him alot..sometimes without even realizing it..But I never worked up the courage to actually talk to him.." He sighed sadly.
"One day, a pair of boys started bugging me when they found out that I went to this bench everyday, since they knew this, they would follow me and call me names and bug me.." He paused.
"A few weeks later, they took it too far. They tried to hurt me. So I tried to hide in an alleyway on the shopping street..but they found me." He shuddered, and I scooted closer to him.
"They punched me to the ground, they threw my sketchbook across the alleyway..then they kicked me over and over again, all while calling me names just because I looked like a girl.." A tear fell down his face, but I put my thumb and index finger on his chin and gently turned his head to face me. I then promptly wiped his tear away and placed a small kiss on his cheek. He blushed and playfully pushed me away. I laughed.
"But then the boy came and saved me. At that moment it was undeniable..I loved him so much!" He sqirmed happily.
"I love you too..which is why.." I turned to him, taking both his hands in mine, and snuggling a small box into them, and keeping his hands closed around the box.
"When we are old enough, when we are out of this dumb place.." I paused, releasing his hands.
"I want to marry you." He simultaneously opened the box as I said this, and covered his mouth. Tears streamed down his face and he laughed happily. He cried and tackled me.
"Yes!!!!"