Impulse (NaNoWriMo)

~9~

I woke up to find my head on a pillow and my arm laying on the sheet beside me. I could feel the warm sun coming in from the open curtains and it blinded me when I looked around the room.

"Good morning," a way too chipper voice sang from near the bathroom. I turned the other way to find Flynn leaning against the doorway, and of course, he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Morning," I grumbled out. I was so not a morning person, but Flynn's wide awake attitude kind of made me want to wake up quickly so I wouldn't miss out on anything.

"I bought you a banana and I already packed your bags and loaded up Betsy"

"Betsy?" I interrupted him, who was Betsy.

"Yeah, that's my bike's name," Flynn explained, not phased at all, "Anyways, eat up, put a smile on your face and hop outside when you're done. I've got a fun day planned for you," he grinned and walked past me, giving me a wink and walking out into the sunlight.

I rubbed my eyes and unwound myself from my warm cocoon of sheets. I was slightly disappointed that when I woke up Flynn wasn't still beside me. I remembered falling asleep and feeling safe. I wonder how he felt.

Maybe he felt weird about and that's why he already got up. Maybe he didn't want to talk about it so he just avoided it. Maybe I am just overthinking all of this, but that didn't change the slight hurt I felt in my chest.

I got ready, finding the shorts I wore yesterday and a cutoff t-shirt, definitely not mine, waiting for me in the bathroom. I slipped both on and laughed at how large the armholes were. Good thing I still had my tank top on otherwise I would accuse Flynn of trying to make me look like a striper.

I braided my hair quickly and brushed my teeth after finding my toiletries bag Flynn had been kind enough to leave for me. I had no idea what to expect today, but I couldn't deny how excited I was. I liked that I didn't know where Flynn was going to take me. For all I knew he could take me to Canada and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

"Are you rea...oh," Flynn said from behind me, and I turned around to face him.

"Yeah, just about to head out," I told him, but his face looked alarmed, like he had seen a ghost. "Flynn?"

"Yeah, hey Faith. Ready?" he asked, pulling himself together and holding a hand out to show me the way, as if I didn't know how to get out of the hotel room.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, his eyes looked distant for some reason and I didn't know why.

"Yeah," he repeated, "The braid..." he explained pointing on his head where I had french braided my hair down the back, "it just reminded me of someone that's all."

I didn't press him further but I will admit, I was curious. He seemed so shaken up by it that I felt like I should undo it. I reached up and took the pony tail out of the end, but Flynn's hand caught mine.

"Don't. It looks good on you," he explained and handed me the pony tail back so I could put it in my hair again to keep the braid from falling out.

I gave him a weird look but he just smiled and waited for me to put the pony tail back in. Then, he handed me my helmet and got on the bike. He held out his hand to help me on and soon we were off, racing down the road.

When I thought we would head to the interstate, we didn't, instead we headed north, thank you Girl Scouts.

"No, interstate today?" I asked, my voice still not sounding quite awake.

"Nope. I told you, we're going on an adventure," he excitement was contagious and I couldn't help but smile and relax my grip around his waist.

We drove down some back country roads surrounded by cornfields and rolling fields of prairie grass. The smell of the sun baking down and the dust we were kicking up made me think of visiting my grandparents. They owned a farm out in the middle of nowhere just like where we were.