Lloyd took the drivers seat on the way to drop me off and that awkward, tense feeling that I'd felt for the better half of a week had vanished completely. It made me feel light and jovial, rejoicing in the sudden clarity between Lloyd and I.
The puzzle pieces finally fit.
Halfway through the drive home I threaded my fingers through his. Our clasped hands lay comfortably between us, with small, giddy smiles on our faces. It felt as if my hand was meant to fit into his.
Is that cheesy? That's very cheesy.
The long drive ended sooner than I wanted it to. The feeling must have been mutual because Lloyd was quiet as the car waited outside my house.
"Thanks," he said quietly. "You know... for not running away."
"Couldn't lose me even if you tried," I joked, patting his cheek. He leant into my palm.
"Wanna go to the skatepark tomorrow?" Lloyd asked.
I nodded eagerly before pausing. "But you gave me your board?"
He shrugged. "I'll steal my one of my brothers'."
"All right." I leant in and pecked his nose. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you," Lloyd replied. I opened the door and stepped out. Our hands reluctantly parted.
This is ridiculous, I thought to myself as I scurried up to the front door. My heart was pounding and my stomach felt pleasantly ill. I made a beeline to my room and grabbed his hoody, curling around it and breathing in the smell of life. I feel like I'm in some ridiculous romance movie.
I'm not ashamed to say that Lloyd Garmadon had me hook, line and sinker.
🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃
The next week was spotted by spending time with Lloyd. The people running the orphanage were pleasantly surprised with the donation of two dozen stuffed animals (sans the tiger-corn and the green ninja plush) and the skate park was surprisingly empty. True to his word, Lloyd stole one of his brothers' skateboards. I'm sure he returned it when he got home. Maybe.
I didn't know how siblings worked.
Also he was unfairly good on the skateboard.
It was another night when my mum was working late that I saw the green ninja.
I was on the rooftop again, breathing in the night air and watching the city lights when he came barreling into sight on his dragon. I went to wave my hand in greeting but faltered upon seeing just how fast he was approaching.
"Move!" he cried, shouting as he wildly waved his arm. "Come on, Y/n! Get down!"
What? He began pointing to the side. I looked over and saw a drone approaching swiftly, red optic focused on me.
"Oh, socks," I cursed. There was no way I could move out of the way in time, especially if it was targeting me.
I raised my arms to shield my face and braced for impact, as if it could save me from a metallic bowling ball charging at me head-on.
A hand grabbed my arm and with a painful tug, I was pulled onto the dragon behind Greenie.
"What the hell is going on?" I gasped, adrenaline spiking my heart rate. Taking a peek over my shoulder, I found the robot had started giving chase. Oh, and now it's shooting at us. I ducked, making myself smaller. "What is that thing?"
"It's a prototype of Cyrus Borg's security drones," Greenie replied, shouting over the wind so his voice couldn't get carried off. "Somebody hacked into their mainframes and are making them attack targeted people."
A rumble from the flying drone alerted us that it was still on our trail.
"Why would anybody want to do that?" I asked, removing an arm around Greenie to push back the hair whipping my face. "Why me?!"
"I don't know!" he called. Lasers raced past. "All I know is when Water found the list of targets and I saw your name is that I had to get to you."
"But what about everyone else?" I cried. "They're in danger, too!"
"Don't worry about them!" he reassured, shouting over the wind. The drone growled. "The others are on it! Hold tight!"
Before the word WHAT could even form, the dragon disappeared from beneath us.
I began to scream, because uh-oh death, but Greenie clasped his hand over my mouth to muffle it. I sent him a ludicrous glare as we tumbled through the open air. Is he insane?
