Launa woke the slowest she had in years, feeling completely engulfed in warmth, she inhaled deeply through her nose and stretched lazily. She didn’t get very far into her stretch, finding Avi’s arm draped over her waist and him snoring quietly into her shoulder. She swallowed hard, not daring to breathe too deeply for fear of waking him. Oh, what to do? This is not a position I should be in. We’ve known each other for maybe a little over two weeks, so, this definitely is not a thing I should be allowing to happen.
She bit her lip, the two arguing halves of her brain tossing her struggle around. But, you guys are in a stressful situation. It would make sense to act like this- like you’ve known each other for years.
But, on the other hand-
-That’s three hands-
-he might just be a cuddly sleeper?
And so are you. You like to cuddle. Just because you don’t do it, like, ever, doesn’t mean you don’t want to. And why not? He’s comfy-
SHUT UP. Launa had the sheets in a white-knuckle grip. She hated the pinging conversations in her skull. She didn’t hear voices- just the many sides of an argument within her own brain, and it truly gave her a headache, sometimes.
Avi suddenly shifted behind her, sighing in his sleep, pulling her tighter against him and rubbing his face momentarily into the back of her neck. She remained motionless, holding her breath, a warm something running down her spine and clenching her stomach.
After another few moments of consideration, Launa let out an inaudible sigh and settled back against his torso, allowing herself the comfort.
Just this once, she promised herself, slipping back into sleep’s welcome embrace.
______
"Hey." A low, warm voice drifted into her ears, waking her, once more. Peeling her eyelids open, she saw Avi sitting next to her on the edge of the bed, giving her one of his charming and slightly crooked smiles.
Launa swallowed, blinking slowly, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes. “Hey,” she croaked, “I didn’t wake up late, again, did I?”
"No, not at all," he replied, "I just wanted to bring you some good news."
She heaved herself up onto her elbows and squinted at him. “Okay?”
The usually open and warm smile that graced his lips suddenly became mischievous. ”There’s a truck next door that I can hotwire.”
Launa blinked at him. “You frighten me,” she said, after a moment’s pause, “just so you know.”
______
They gathered their stuff quickly, stopping into town to grab as many water bottles as they could, hauling them back in heavy plastic bags and loading them into the back seat of the truck Avi had pinned as his victim. It wasn’t a bad vehicle, if Launa had to be honest. She didn’t know a lot about cars, but it was obvious that this thing had been someone’s baby. It was a dark-grey, silvery color, dusty from the earthquakes, and old- about mid 70’s, judging by the shape of its frame. There were oil and grease stains all over the garage floor- the door of it had been opened to allow whatever other vehicle had been parked next to it to exit, which was the only reason they could get in- and a toolbox sat nearby, with bits and bobs strewn across the floor.
They had made their way to the quickly-collapsing store and back on foot, not wanting to waste any of the gas- which they had also grabbed more of. They drained what was left at the gas station as best they could, filling up the only emergency gas container they could find. “Think this thing will get us very far?” Launa asked, helping him haul the heavy load into the truck.
"I hope so," Avi answered truthfully, "I don’t know what kind of miles per gallon it has, but, we’ll just have to see. " He opened the passenger door for her and helped her up as she grumbled angrily something about ‘discrimination against short people’.
He quickly heaved himself into the driver’s seat, mumbling a thanks to the owner for leaving the doors open under his breath and bent to get to the wires under the wheel. “This better work, dude,” Launa said, almost threatening, “cos I don’t want to have toted all that for nothing.”
Avi shushed her, carefully twisting the wires and searching for the starter. “It should,” he paused to shake the hair out of his eyes, “old cars like this should start like this-” the engine roared into life, and he immediately pumped the gas a couple of times to be sure it didn’t stall before grinning devilishly at her, “-no problem.”
Launa laughed aloud. “Oh, I could just-,” she didn’t finish and simply leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, “You’re brilliant. Still frightening, but brilliant.”
He just mirrored her laugh, the both of them giddy with the triumph- and the prospect of not having to walk for some amount of time. “So,” he started, backing the truck out of the garage carefully, “it looks like we have a little over three-quarters of a tank of gas, and I don’t want to hog this beast all to myself. Do you want to switch when we get to the half-point?”
"Um," she coughed, embarrassed, "I don’t know how to drive." The bewildered look on his face was amusing. "What?!"
Avi just rolled his eyes and sighed. “Okay, when we get back to something resembling civilization, remind to teach you how to drive.”
“You teach me?”
"Yeah," he shrugged, carefully avoiding the vehicles scattered around the road, "Why not?"
She just snorted. “I’m a terrible student, just as a warning.”
"Good thing I’m a patient teacher, then." She eyed him from the passenger side, catching him quirking an eyebrow at her and smirking.
Launa sat silent for a moment, mouth slightly agape. She snapped it closed, considering their exchange. Did he just flirt with me? She grasped the oh-shit handle as they bumped over a crack in the road. Nah. Her eyes flew open wide and she froze stiff in her seat as he gunned the engine without any warning, sending them speeding down the highway as they cleared the wreckage.
"There’s no need to go that fast, Avriel!" She shouted, mostly out of shock, smacking him in the shoulder.
"And there’s no reason I shouldn’t," he argued calmly, smoothly adjusting the gear-shift, "it’s not like there’s anyone on the road."
"It’s dangerous," Launa couldn’t seem to keep her voice down, "and you’re wasting gas!"
"I’m not, now! Maybe just a little when I first started, but not anymore!"
“Avi!”
He just laughed in response. “I won’t get us killed, I promise,” he drew in a deep breath, “I just missed driving, is all.”
She crossed her arms and hunkered down in her seat. She couldn’t deny it: The sensation of flying over the highway was freeing. She mentally cut him some slack- she probably would have done the same, if she knew how to drive. Launa turned her gaze out the passenger side window, watching the reddish landscape fly by and listening to Avi shift the gears every now and again. Whatever. So long as his speeding doesn’t kill us. The little smile on his face was worth not bitching at him.
YOU ARE READING
Natural Disaster
FanfictionThe world was never meant for this. Not this quaking, freezing, splitting apart ruin of earth. And she didn't know why it was happening. All she knew is that she wanted out from under this damn building, and, by Gods, she would take all the help she...
