Home ❀ Ironhide

- 8. ironhide -

       It's been almost three hours of driving, and neither of us had spoken a word since we left the NEST base. Somewhere along the way, Exner pulled out her computer, working on something.

      In some ways, I was enjoying the quite. It gave me a chance to think, but then again, the only thing I could think about was the promise I made to Prime. In other ways, this silence was maddening. The femme hadn't even looked up once from her computer since she opened it. I do not know if it was because she was actually doing something important or if it was something more along the lines of she was uncomfortable.

        "Hey, Exner, what ya workin' on?" I asked, trying to break the uncomfortable atmosphere, but not even my canons would've been able to do that.

        After I spoke and she didn't respond, I realized that she something connecting her cellular device and her audio receptors. I could also hear the faint noise of music playing, coming from that odd contraption.

        From working side by side with NEST, I knew how to interact with humans, but they all knew about who we were. They also knew that needed to listen to me, with Exner, she doesn't know any of that. Plus, she was a femme, and I've only interacted with a human femme once before and Acree and her sisters don't talk to me much. Too much drama with them anyway.

       I gave Exner a little nudge on the arm, trying to get her attention. She jumped at the sudden and unexpected contact, but quickly covered it up by taking those things out of her audio receptors and turning her head towards me.

       Suddenly, when she looked at me, it was like I couldn't form words.

       "Uh, are you okay, Ron?"

        "Yes I am. I wanted to know what you were working on, that's all you've done for the past hour," I tried to cover up my obviously inadequacy to speak for a split second, but it didn't work well. The femme looked at me with her green optics, eyes. They were full of innocence and curiosity. The innocence that I promised to protect.

        "Well, ya know how I'm speaking at the banquet were traveling to," she paused and I nodded my head," I need to actually write my speech since I only have a week to prepare it. Do you want to hear it so far?"

       She started reading her speech for me. As she went through it, she made changes all throughout it. From what she'd written so far, it was going to be a beautiful speech.

       About five minutes after she started reading it, she stop and said, "so that's what I have so far. What do you think?"

       Her beautiful eyes were on my holoform again, searching for feedback. I was at a loss of words: no sentence could describe how much I adored her speech.

       "It was, um, very nice," her face visibility fell after I said that without thinking. Stupid glitch head. She just sadly nodded her head, looking down at her laptop. She was about to put those things back into her audio receptors when I spoke up.

      "Exner, that's not what I meant. I think it's a lovely speech you have so far." She didn't reply, not even nodding her head or looking up, but I could see her face in my rear-view mirrors. Her face was covered in sadness and disappointed in herself.

       Without saying anything, she went right back to typing on her laptop, determined to make it better.

•••

       Another two hours went by, only fifteen words had been spoken since Exner read her speech to me.

      About half an hour ago, she had fallen asleep while working. While she had her hands curled up under her chin to rest them on, she looked so innocent and naïve, but in the good way: she hadn't been exposed directly to the destructive nature of humans, nor had she been exposed to the Cybertronian war.

       Macey had created a strict timeline for us to follow in order to make in to New Jersey on time, but I was going to bend that a little. We should be driving for another hundred miles, but I don't think Exner would like to be sleeping inside of a truck cabin for a hundred more miles. So, the next town we passed, I pulled into.

       I reached a motel, knowing that was where Exner wanted us to stay to begin with, and pulled in. I gently shook her shoulder, trying to wake her up, but instead I got a different reaction. When I touched her shoulder the slightest bit, she nearly flew out of her seat. Her eyes were wide with fear, and I had no clue what to do. I'd never had this happen with a human before.

       "Woah, woah, Exner, it's just me, it's...Ron. You're safe. No one is going to hurt you on my watch."

      She seemed to calm down slightly, still obviously shaken by what just happened not even a minute ago. She just nodded wordlessly, rubbed her eyes, and but her laptop in her backpack.

       "I'm fine, no need to worry," yeah no, I'm worrying to matter what she says, "let's go check in, I have a bunch more work to finish."

        As she got out of my cabin her shirt road up on her lower back and my mirror caught something there. It seemed to be some sort of tattoo, but before I could fully see it, her shirt had fallen back into place, covering the marking.

        We walked up to the checking in desk. There was a man sitting there who didn't look like someone you'd make friends with. Firstly, he didn't look as if he wanted to be working. Secondly, he both smelled and looked repulsively. Thirdly, he was eyeing Macey as if she were a piece of meat. Disgusting pig. Exner hadn't seemed to have notice his lustful look he was giving her and just walked up the the counter to pay for a room.

        "Hi, we'd like to get a room, please? Two beds also. Thank you," she finished with a sweet, innocent smile, but he gave her a disgusting smile full of want and lust.

        "What's your name, pretty lady," the man said, seeming to not notice my presence.

        "Oh, it's Macey,"

         "Well, Macey, my name is Otto, but you could call me anything you'd want, sweetheart."

         Exner just seemed to notice everything he'd been doing and took a step back. The back of her left arm was basically on top of me at this point, but I didn't care. I would rather have her right beside me than with that pig of a man.

        A small noise surfaced from the back of my throat as I dangerously said, "give us the damn keys to our room before I show you how to speak to a lady, boy."

        He frantically started to look around for a set of keys. My words had had an affect on him, good. Serves him right. He shakily gave me the keys. Exner hadn't looked up from the floor yet not wanting to see him.

         I just picked up my duffle bag and Macey's. This time, there were no words against me carrying her bag. I gave her a nudge with my arm, thankfully she didn't jump this time, and we walked down the hall to our room for the night.

        "Thank you for what, Ron. Sometimes I don't realize guys are trying to do something like that until it's too late, so thank you for stopping it where it was."

        "Don't worry about it, Exner. It's my job to keep you safe on this trip. And I know for a fact if I hadn't stopped it we would have one pissed off Lennox at our doorstep within the hour," a chuckle left her mouth, making me smile a small bit. At least she's not as out of it as before.

       Opening the door to the room, I let her go in first me following close behind. She put her backpack on the desk while I put our duffle bags on the bed. The only bed in the whole room.

       Exner realized this at the same time I had. That fragging glitch head gave us a room with only one bed.