serious space from Joshua.

Cuddling with him every night was making Ayoluwa's insides feel like a butterfly garden.

Ayoluwa was in the basement, sitting alone at the piano and her skull was in her hands.

She was dressed in boyfriend jeans and a yellow spaghetti strapped tank top with her locs braided in sections.

Ayoluwa had been down there by herself for at least a couple hours, trying her best not to finish this song which was a surprising turn for her.

For Ayoluwa to finish this song, that would mean thinking about Joshua.

Which would mean that her love song would be about Joshua and that fact alone was embarrassing her so much that Ayoluwa felt she had to keep this song on lock and key.

But on the other hand, once Ayoluwa finished a song, she had to let it out.

So she flickered her eyes up to check that she was still alone then moved her hands to the piano to start playing a cautious but upbeat melody.

The memory of waking up this morning with his arms around her torso filled Ayoluwa up similar to a balloon and the butterfly feeling only picked up speed.

"I'll admit it, don't see how we could be, but I get light when you're talking to me, in your eyes, get caught up accidentally, though were two different drums, we're moving in sync," Ayoluwa sung.

"And we started something by mistake, who would've thought that I would feel this way, this way about you, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da," Ayoluwa had to start improvising because she heard the door to the basement open and the stairs creaked.

And even if she was writing a love song about Joshua, she couldn't let him hear it.

Joshua walked towards the piano, "Aye, the fireworks are about to start. You're still coming, right?"

The sound of his voice caused a flighty feeling to start to rise in Ayoluwa's exposed abdomen, "Uh, yeah. Just give me a minute."

Joshua nodded then he was back up the stairs.

Ayoluwa shut the lid on the piano keys, "You're okay. You're okay. You're okay. As long as he doesn't suspect anything, you'll be okay."

Then Ayoluwa tucked one braided loc behind her ear and rose to head upstairs, Brandy's Put That On Everything on her lips, another attempt to calm her stomach.

Joshua was standing on the deck already, his arms and torso leaning against the ledge.

When Ayoluwa opened the screen door to step out, Joshua turned his head halfway and gave her a half smile which she returned.

The sky was still dark and clear as she stood next to him, resting her own arms on the ledge.

"They do fireworks every year?" Ayoluwa asked, just to make conversation and fill the silence between the pair.

"Yeah. I remember one year they got fireworks that were Disney characters." Joshua replied, "It was Mickey, Cinderella, Donald Duck and I wanna say Tinkerbell?"

"Lauryn would love that. She's just discovered Disney movies. She can't stop watching Princess and The Frog," Ayoluwa mused.

He wasn't looking at her and Ayoluwa wanted to take a quick once over but he was too observant for her to do that and too blunt not to say something to her about it.

So she kept her eyes on the starry sky, one braided up loc section between her fingers.

Their elbows touched, Ayoluwa's heart started to race just a bit and she tried not to hate herself too much for her case of Stockholm syndrome.

She released a sharp breath, her gaze on the sky and started to hum Brandy again.

At ten pm promptly, a single firework was shot into the sky and exploded a fierce red and gold.

"Wow," Ayoluwa muttered as the firework show started, "This might be the prettiest thing I've seen here."

"Eh, I've seen way better here." Joshua muttered.

What was that supposed to mean?

What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

Was it too much to hope that he was talking about her?

Was it stupid to hope that he was talking about her?

Ayoluwa chose not to respond, that was the safest option.

The variety of the firework colors amazed Ayoluwa and she tilted her head all the way back to properly watch them.

A turquoise and indigo colored firework caused Ayoluwa to grin, "That might be my favorite one tonight. What about you?"

When she glanced at Joshua to see why he didn't respond and was met with an easy smile and his eyes were locked on hers.

Ayoluwa looked away for a second then back at him, "Are you okay? Is there something on my face? Is there something in my hair?"

She moved to brush her hands over her scalp but Joshua shook his head.

"You're fine. It's just... Have you always had dimples?" Joshua asked her, his gaze still intense.

Ayoluwa chuckled a little bit, "Um, yeah."

Joshua chuckled a little bit too, running his chocolate brown eyes over her face, "Oh. I guess I just noticed."

Their gazes lingered on each other just a minute too long and the butterflies jumped up again, ready to take flight and soar.

Ayoluwa had to force herself to look at the now pure white firework that was exploding near the crescent moon.

Her heart was pumping at an unnatural rate and if she didn't slow it down she might pass out here and now.

"This is the last one," Joshua tentatively slid his hand underneath her waist beads to regain her attention.

When Ayoluwa tilted her head to look up at him again, his gaze was unrelenting.

The red, white and blue sparks formed the sentence, 'Happy Fourth of July' and just like that the sky went dark again.

And Joshua's hand was still wrapped around her waist.

"Josh..." Ayoluwa started.

"Yeah?" He replied in the same soft tone.

Ayoluwa wanted to tell him that she might be starting to like him.

That she didn't wanna cuddle only in bed, before they went to sleep.

That she wanted to change his mind on love and show him that it wasn't useless or stupid like he thought.

But as she looked at him, all Ayoluwa could think about was the barbed insults they had traded over the years and suddenly she lost all her courage.

"Nothing. Nothing, at all."

Joshua's hand was still on her waist, his touch warm and causing her butterflies to finally take off.

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