lavender //dnf//

2

Clay opened the passenger door for George to climb in, but didn't shut it. He ran to the trunk of the silver, expensive car and pulled out a hoodie for George to wear. He handed it to the stranger with a kind smile.

"It's not much, but hopefully it will warm you up a little," he said, tilting his head.

"Thank you so much, really, t-thank you," George shivered, taking the hoodie from the taller male's hands. Clay felt a few drops of rain fall onto his scalp, and remembered that a storm was on its way. He shut the car door and made his way round to the driver's side, where he got in and removed his coat.

"Here, have this," he didn't hand it to George, but instead lent over and placed it over George's shoulders.

George couldn't help but feel a little flustered.

He's a complete stranger, stop being fucking weird. George thought to himself.

He watched as Clay turned the heaters up in the car, "t-thank you."

Clay pulled out of the parking space his car had been sitting in, and begun to drive away from the fairly empty beach. George could already feel his body start to warm up, although his hands remained cold and delicate. The two strangers sat in silence for around two minutes, before Clay realised that he had no idea where to take George.

"Um, am I taking you home or..?" He asked, and George suddenly tensed.

"No, please no. Anywhere but home," George pleaded, turning to look at Clay, who didn't take his, now widened, eyes off of the road. He had one hand on the steering wheel and his other arm was lent against the window.

Clay didn't say anything, he just looked...confused? Shocked? Uncomfortable? He was unreadable.

George's voice became softer and quieter, "sorry. The reason I was out there all night was because I ran away from home, I don't like it there," he explained, and he could feel tears welling up on his waterline.

Clay turned to look at George, and a sudden wave of sympathy overtook him. He could see how tired, sad, drained George looked, and he felt really terrible. Even though he knew absolutely nothing about the brunette's life.
"I understand," he smiled, "well, do you want to come back to my house for now? I live with my best friend and you can stay with us until you figure something out?" Clay offered, indicating to turn left on a roundabout.

"You- you're so nice, you really don't have to. Thank you so much," George thanked him for what felt like the hundredth time that frosty morning.

Clay's smile grew and he gave a reassuring nod to George. A sudden low, strange growl came from George's stomach, making his face turn red with embarrassment. Clay chuckled.

"We can stop and get some food, if you want," Clay couldn't help but laugh at George's embarrassed expression.

George laughed the nerves away, "that would be great."

For the ride to the nearest McDonald's, George admired Florida in the Winter. For all of the years George had been alive, he had spent way more than half of them trapped inside his abusive household. His and Clay's location was only around twenty minutes away from George's house, yet he had never seen this part of the beautiful city. He liked how empty it was in the Winter, everyone was inside their cosy houses, or their cars.

No one was walking around, and certainly no one was on the beach. The rain begun to pour down from the miserable sky, and thick, heavy clouds covered the Winter sun. George lent his head against the window next to him, and watched as raindrops trickled down the glass and raced to the bottom. He occasionally felt Clay's eyes dart towards him, and they made awkward eye contact a couple of times. But apart from that, George felt completely comfortable with Clay. They were complete strangers yet George felt so thankful and safe. Maybe it was just because he had spent so many painful years in a very unsafe place, but either way George was very grateful of Clay.

They drove through the empty McDonald's drive thru and ordered their food. Clay didn't get much, just a hash brown, but George ordered as much food as he could. He hadn't eaten in a very long time, and had become slightly unhealthy. But he knew that as long as he was away from home, he would start taking care of himself more. Especially if there were people like Clay around him.

As they waited by the window to collect their food, George pulled out his credit card to pay. Clay had tried to convince George to let him pay, but Clay had already done so much for him, and paying was the least George could do. They drove away happily with their food, and George ate it all in a matter of minutes, he was so goddamn hungry.

Clay munched on his hash brown while driving, "so, tell me a little bit about yourself George," Clay broke the silence.

George swallowed, "um, well," he hesitated, slightly embarrassed, "I stream and play Minecraft in my spare time," he laughed, expecting Clay to laugh at him.

Clay's eyes widened and his smile grew huge, "so do I! Wait, that's so cool. My roommate and I are streamers too, so we should all play together!" He exclaimed, and George exhaled with relief.

He had many online friends, but was particularly close with one, who knew everything about what happened at home.

They were around half an hour away from Clay's house, and the weather was just becoming heavier and more intense.

"You live further away than I expected, why were you at the beach?" George asked, breaking the silence that had been on going for about five minutes.

"I come to the beach quite often, I like road trips and the beach is, like, my favourite place. I also like coming when it's cold out, because I'm alone. I probably sound so fucking weird," Clay laughed, and thought he sounded stupid.

George retaliated, "no! I'm the same, I crave it a lot," George admitted. He was opening up to a complete stranger who he had literally met just less than an hour ago. There was something about Clay that made George feel extra safe and comfortable. He felt as though if any other stranger had asked him to come with them, he would have freaked out. Clay took his eyes off of the road for a second and fixed them onto George. He smiled, generously.

The storm had now begun, there was thunder and lightning booming in the sky, and luckily, Clay announced that they were about two minutes away from the house. George begun to wonder what Clay's best friend was like. He was happy that they all had the same interests, because it meant that if conversations became awkward, they could all just play Minecraft. They pulled into Clay's driveway, and George stared out of the windscreen at the beautiful house. It was fairly big, and looked very modern from outside. He could see a few lights turned on inside but the thin curtains were drew, blocking out the depressing weather.

hi :] idk if this chapter was boring, i thought it was kinda cute lol idk. dream and george become more, like, 'affectionate' and stuff very soon hehe...
just wait until george meets the best friend...you can probably guess who it is but there's a little twist.
anyway, i really like the next chapter, i hope you do too :]

remember to eat something, drink water and take care of yourself, i love you!

1288 words.