To Perceive an Image

Seventeen: Images of Harmless Burglary

Maryanland, September 17, 2040, 6:20 AM

To say that my heart will beat itself out of my ribcage might sound like a hyperbole to anyone who's not in my current situation.

Mondays were never an issue for me. Days and nights are common because a planet performs its daily rotating mechanism. This provides us with the different days we've assigned names to. Not to forget that I enjoy looking at the moon and the sun when I feel like risking my retinas. Our star is one of a kind, and it will be of a more extraordinary kind when it turns into a red gi-

Shut the hell up. What did we say about no astronomy that didn't register?

Back to the point that I was trying to get at before my rude interruption, it's Monday, and I'm about to pass out. Not because it's Monday, but because it's Monday. The day which grants me the potential of getting arrested for breaking and entering. I've been innocent with a clean criminal record up to this point. Flynn has a terrible influence on me. Yeah, blame it on him like you weren't the one who suggested this. I got myself out of a situation last time, all to put myself in another one. I'm never going to catch a damn break.

After the suggestion of my ingenious idea, the universe did the thing that made me hate the concept of time. One day, I'm going to exchange positions and become the menace that makes an event the universe dreads happen much quicker than it hoped it would. Hours are a lot closer to each other when you don't want them to be.

Whoever thought I'm part of a sick and twisted joke now has me standing in front of the home I know the importance of from Flynn. I cannot bring myself to look at him, the last time I did, his beaming smile acted as my version of the sun, and I don't want my nerves to dim it away with my hesitance. But I will have to bite the bullet at some point.

"Do you know how we can get in?" Flynn asks, moving his captivated gaze away from the home and onto me.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I look deep into his eyes to show him my befuddlement. "Do I look like a detective to you?" His usual chivalrous gaze that is always focused on my eyes takes two seconds to give me a once over before he muses his next words. "From the mysterious look of your all-black clothes, I'd say yeah." Glaring at him while trying to come up with a solution. "Weren't you the criminal that broke into the castle to steal the crown? You come up with ideas!" The real Flynn Rider would never do this to me. Rapunzel hadn't seen a wink of stress ever since she married him.

Shock takes over me when he leans forward, the smirk that shows whenever he teases me growing the closer he gets to my face. Before his amused self could get any closer, I turned my body to face the house.

Phew. I don't know what I saved myself from, but I saved myself. "And aren't you supposed to be my partner in crime, or whatever they say?" Forget saving myself, let me shed some light on things in his head. Returning to my previous position, facing his beautiful self, my widening eyes cannot hide their confusion.

"Partners in crime? Dude, I'm an intern psychologist, NOT a criminal. But if you want to be one, all power to you. Just warn me when you'll do that, so I get rid of all my associations with you." I burst out, dead serious. Doubts about the integrity of my words wonder if my verbal outburst happened because of the sudden shyness from his earlier action.

Lyaly's idea about a potential romantic relationship between him and I haven't left my mind since she said them. As a result, I now want to tell her that there are sharks in the lake we always go to, so she also has something she won't stop thinking about. Another result of her words was avoiding extensive eye contact or verbal exchange between me and the hunk in front of me. I'll get over this when this situation is over, but shit, I hate my lack of dating history. The poor guy makes a few teasing advances, and my brain assumes he's in love with me.