𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬~ˢᵗᵉᵛᵉ ʰᵃʳʳⁱⁿᵍᵗᵒⁿ (on hiatus)

--never take me to the junkyard again

It had gotten dark fairly quickly. The kids were scattered throughout the bus while Alexis and Steve stayed up near the door. If anyone or anything wanted to get to those kids, they would have to go through a very angry Alexis. She was even more on edge now that Eric was mixed up in all of this. 

Steve took notice of Alexis' demeanor. he watched as her leg bounced lightly, if you weren't paying attention then you'd miss it. He watched as she absentmindedly picked at her nails, destroying the skin. He wanted to reach out, to hold her hand and make her stop hurting herself. But he couldn't. No matter how confident or cocky he acted, this girl made him freeze in place. Every ounce of self confidence that boy had drained away when it came to Alexis Reed. 

"Hey!" Alexis called out, catching Steve's attention. He looked to who she was yelling at. "Hey, Lucas! What are you doing?" The Harrington boy got up and followed her to the ladder that was placed under the emergency exit. The boy didn't answer, he just climbed up and sat on the roof of the bus. 

"Son of a bitch," Alexis mumbled. She didn't want the boy to be out of the bus, out of her sight. But she had no real authority over him, he could do whatever he wanted to. 

"Hey, he'll be fine," Steve whispered. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, having finally worked up the nerve to do so. He led her back to the front of the bus, motioning for her to sit. 

"Steve, I don't-"

"Sit." The boy made eye contact with her, not planning on giving in. He knew that she was doing the same, but if someone didn't help her calm down, she'd be spiraling by the time anything actually happened. 

"Fine. You win," Alexis begrudgingly sat down, scooting over to lean against the window. "Shut up." 

Steve held his hands up in mock surrender, a smirk on his face. "I didn't say anything." 

"Yeah but you wanted to." They didn't really say anything, just sitting together in silence. Steve pulled the lighter out of his pocket, flicking it on and off over and over again. Alexis had started destroying the skin around her nails as something to do. She didn't want to, but her brain made the executive decision. She definitely wasn't expecting to feel a weight on her hands. 

Steve was still paying attention to his lighter, not looking over to the blonde at all. He was worried she would react badly, have some sort of horrified look on her face or shove his hand away and go to the other side of the bus. So when he felt her shift to hold his hand, his worry melted away. His chest loosened, his stomach fluttered, the wonderful feeling that he only ever got from Alexis washing over him. He bit back a smile when she started fiddling with his fingers instead of tearing up her own. 

The two stayed like this for a while, Steve focused on the lighter while Alexis focused on his hand. His fingers had a few scars scattered on them, mostly around his cuticle area. She could have only guessed it was from picking at them intensely. Instead of asking though, she just kept fiddling with his hand. It did help her feel calm, strangely. She let out a sigh, leaning her head against the window.

"You okay?" She looked over at the boy. He was still looking at the lighter, but he had grabbed her hand. 

"Yeah, as okay as I can be while sitting in a barricaded bus," she tried to let the boy know that she really was okay in that moment, but it didn't work. Steve finally looked away from the lighter, making eye contact with Alexis. She gave him a soft smile, trying once again to tell him she was fine.