Joanna and Baelfire sat on the railing in the observation tower, gazing at the stars that seemed to surround the Enterprise. Hazel eyes twinkled in the star light– Baelfire took notice with a smile. It seemed familiar. That gleam… Where had he seen it before.
–That girl from his hometown…
– That could NEVER be her…
–… Could it…?
Bae adjusted in his seat, Joanna did the same. Her hands shifted into her lap, his did the same. SILENCE filled the space. Baelfire tried to think of a topic. Only one came to mind.. That parade. That parade from that hot summer’s day. The day he saw eyes like hers twinkle across the way.
–[ [ Come on.. Break the silence… ] ]
“Have you… Ever seen a parade?” Bae asked, finally turning his rich brunette eyes to her face.
“A parade?” Joanna asked, turning her attention to him. “Once when I was little. Why?”
Baelfire paused, in which case Joanna took that moment to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. MORE silence. Then he spoke again. “I just-.. You have this look like a girl I saw at one once..”
–“I-I don’ know how t’feel ‘bout that comparison, ya know?”
–“I see.” The two blushed, then looked down.
“It was June, I was ten.. I still think of that day now and then. A parade, and a girl… and a crowd of thousands.”
Joanna lifted her eyes to meet her brunette friend. “Do ya really remember that?” the small McCoy asked, brows furrowing together in question.
“That and more. The crowd CHEERED!” he beamed, finally looking up from his lap. “They roared!” He jumped off the railing into the room after turning on the railing. “The biggest parade I had ever seen! Then I looked across the way and I saw…” He paused, staring out at the stars, “–I saw a girl… and when we made eye contact… “ His lips started to smile, “– She smiled… and I smiled too… I was ten and she was eight and, in that crowd of thousands… It was us against the world.” Hands fidgetted with his pants as the vision played in front of his eyes.
“What happened next?” Jo Jo asked, shifting on the rail to face him, crossing her right ankle over her left. She smiled sweetly, starting to see it before her eyes too.
“Next?” He asked, blinking twice, “The parade traveled on. With the sun in my eyes she was gone…” he sighed, “–but if I was still ten, I’d find her again…” He stopped, looking into her eyes, “In a crowd of thousands.”
Joanna’s lips pulled into a bigger smile. Small fingers played with her blue uniform skirt. She kicked her feet, meeting his eyes. “Y-You’re makin’ me feel I was there too.”
Baelfire shrugged, “Maybe you were.”
“You don’ know that. Tell me. What do you see.”
“What do I see?” Joanna paused, humming between newly closed lips. “A parade–”
–”It was hot,” she tailed on, hands gesturing as if looking at the wide, open bright blue sky. “Not a cloud in th’sky. Then a boy caught my eye…” She started to smile at Baelfire, “In a crowd of thousands… He was thin, not too clean–”
–“There were police but he dodged in between…” She sighed happily, sliding off the railing. She seemed to [ [ w a l t z ] ] around the observation tower, as the memory played in her head. “Yes, he made himself seen in that crowd of thousands… Then he started to run through the sun, and the heat, and the crowd. And I tried not to smile when he got t’ me, but I smiled an’ then…”
“–And then…?” Bae watched her from the other side of the room, watching her motions, now captivated by her story.
–”He bowed….” She was staring off into space, butterflies filling every empty spot in her stomach.
Brunette eyes widened as they fixed on the back of that dirty-blonde in the room with him. “–I didn’t say that.”
“–You didn’ have t’… I remember it!” She remarks, turning to face him. “Y’were th’boy from the parade that one hot summer’s day!”
“And you were that girl!”
“And I was ten!” Bae remarked, excitedly drawing closer to her.
“An’ Daddy pulled me away because he said it was time to go home!” She answered back, excitedly drawing near him. “Th’ parade traveled on an’–”
“–And with the sun in my eyes you were–”
–”Ya were gone…” Their hands touch. Joanna looks up at him, Bae looks down at her. “But I knew even then that–”
“That in a crowd of thousands…”
“–I’d find ya {you} again…” They said together. Stories now one. Joanna begins to blush, Baelfire does the same. They stared in SILENCE for moments that felt not long enough.
“You’re th’boy Daddy pulled me from an’–”
“–And you’re the girl with the sparkly green eyes…”
“–I found you again…” They tagged on one another. He smiled again, this time one only meant for her. In her eyes, the way he looked at her was the way she hoped at least one boy would look at her sometime in her life.
–She rises on her tiptoes…
– Eyelashes [ [ f l u t t e r ] ] …
– And just as lips barely touch…
“JOANNA!” the voice of one Leonard McCoy comes bellowing from downstairs, and the two pull away almost instantly. Cheeks a deep red strawberry shade on both of them. Bae awkwardly rubs his neck, Joanna shyly twirls with her hair. SILENCE.
–”Y-Yeah I should… but I-”
“Maybe we could–” he looked at her.
–”–I’d love t’.” She replied looking back at him with a smile.
“Until next time…” he bent down to place a kiss on her cheek.
and with the sun in his eyes, Joanna was gone… He smiled as she darted away to meet her father. Now they know, in a crowd of thousands, they will always find one another.
