Bloodlust | lrh

11. Is that a joke?

"Where is she?" Ashton asks to no one in particular. He's currently going through the same panic as Luke did when he had gotten back to the house earlier. Soka isn't in here.

"She's outside!" Mike calls out from his bedroom, having a view of the back yard. He watches as she stands out there with Luke, a weird feeling settling in his stomach like he's intruding on something private.

Ashton and Calum both come into Mike's room where he stands pointing at the two figures outside. They watch Luke put the nose on Soka's snowman, none of them finding the words to speak. He's just watching her.

"Do you believe me now?" Ashton asks, waiting for the two stubborn guys to own up.

"He just built a snowman with her." Calum looks between Ashton and Mike, mostly saying it to get that fact through his own head.

When they turn back to the scene under them, Soka's gone. Luke crouches for a moment. He jumps back up and throws a snowball as hard as he can at a tree several feet away from him. He doesn't know how to process how that conversation made him feel. It makes him never want to talk to the girl again.

When the boys hear footsteps coming up the stairs they scram out of Mike's room. Soka greets them, and instead of acting casual they all act guilty as sin.

"Ash? What the hell is wrong with your face?" She asks, grilling him. She did kind of warn him that she can read people like a book.

"We couldn't find you. Thought we were going to get our asses handed to us." He brushes it off the best he can. Soka takes the hint that he's not going to tell her anything so she doesn't keep pushing.

"I was outside, sorry." She leaves the boys standing in the hall to rummage through her room. Somewhere in here is her camera that she grabbed from her house, a gift from Leah when she reached five years of working at the store.

She wants to take a picture of her snowman. It's not like she's that proud of it, she just has the sudden urge to document things. She doesn't know if she can trust Ashton about being past the point of Luke wanting to kill her. He's proven to be unpredictable and impulsive, and if she's going to go any time soon she wants something that shows she lived.

When the girl gets back to the yard Luke is crouching again. When he hears her footsteps he rises, his eyes finding the camera in her hands.

"Move unless you want to be in the picture." Soka waves her hand at him, making him take a few steps back. He watches as she sets up to take a picture, the camera flashing and a photo printing after she hits the button. The camera is pre-planetary, and it's actually the item that means the most in this world to the girl.

She shakes the Polaroid photo, not even sure if it's helping but where do you think she got the idea from? A book. She smiles at the photo, forgetting that Luke is still standing next to her.

"Do you want a picture with the snowman?" Soka teases, making Luke shake his head. The look on his face screaming he wants nothing to do with it.

She leaves him in the yard again, turning back once she reaches the back door. He's just staring at the snowman, it's weird. She doesn't like it.

"Are you coming Frosty?" She calls over to him. He whips his head and gives her a death glare, but he comes to the deck either way. "Do you know where I got that one from?" She asks, her words slightly getting cut off from suppressing a monstrous laugh.

"I've read the book." He cuts her off before she can get to the punchline, but she still bursts into laughter. "It's going to come to life and eat you." He shoves her shoulder, but it isn't out of anger. He flashes her a smirk before walking into the house.