Night-Owl Trucking

Tuesday, 2:14pm

Amity woke with a languid blink and a stretch. She rolled from her back to her side as she knuckled at the corners of her eyes with her free hand. She was stiff from sitting all night, and a little sore from the thin, semi-firm mattress, but she could hardly complain when she fell asleep sitting at her desk half the week. She was also deliciously warm, for once. Her... sleeping quarters always ran cold. Hard to call the tenth-floor corner office a bedroom. Frosted-glass walls did not hold any heat, and the nearby breakroom and open-plan work area she had slowly converted into her own private space just bled warm air out into the rest of the floor. Not to mention her parts storage and robotics labs needed to stay at a perpetually cool 62 degrees. She'd grudgingly settled for a lifetime of hoodies and slippers, and nights under a stack of blankets with a space heater chugging away at her feet.

She worked her jaw open with a crack right before she yawned, tensing her limbs in a half-curled stretch. The blanket Luz had lent her had a soft texture and a soothing citrus scent, and had kept her remarkably warm throughout the night. A small fan hummed in the top corner of the cabin to circulate air, and the steady rumble of the refrigerator trailer at her back filled her ears with a calming white noise. I haven't slept that well in... in... She paused to think, to really consider how she normally felt when she woke in the mornings. She scrunched her eyes with another yawn and stretched again, her arms shaking with—wait, what was pulling on her hand?

Amity half sat up, propping herself up on her elbow. Luz was on her back, sprawled across the reclined driver's seat, one hand thrown across her stomach as she snored softly in the warm truck cabin. Her other hand lay up near her head of brown curls, her wrist laying across the narrow gap between her headrest and the sleeper mattress. Amity gulped as heat rushed up her face to her hairline. Her other hand was still tangled up with Luz's fingers. They must have held hands all night, tanned and pale fingers laced around each other like a lovingly assembled puzzle. Luz's hand felt so warm against her cool skin; Amity always felt cold. But, she gave the sleeping girl a soft, tender smile, not right now.

What did it mean? Amity sighed, and ran her thumb gently across rough knuckles and unpainted fingernails. If she were to stretch her fingers out, she could easily touch the other girl's bouncy brown hair. Don't, she cautioned herself, Luz might not like that. She looked at their hands and felt a giddy smile spread across her face. Did it mean anything? Could it mean something? She wanted it to, if she were honest with herself. Whatever this was meant something to her. She'd never had a not-just-a-friend like this girl sleeping just inches away. She didn't know the first thing about any of this, but she knew she didn't want to let go. No matter what happened on Friday, she knew she couldn't let go of Luz. She wouldn't. Not without a fight.

Speaking of Friday. Amity leaned out over the aisle and awkwardly lifted her laptop from the passenger seat with one hand, setting it on the sleeper bed at her side. A quick tap at the trackpad lit the screen, and... more than 90% of her remote calibration checks had been completed while she slept. That's great, she smiled, glancing down the list of green checkmarks. Two yellow exclamation points and one red 'X' caught her eye, but she'd expected more trouble during transit. Luz had been so careful throughout the day, Amity glanced down at the sleeping girl, this is all thanks to her. She had to do something to repay her. She glanced at the clock in the system tray. Tuesday, 2:14pm.

Her stomach chose to grumble just then, unwanted and incessant. Amity sighed, but then her face lit up at a brilliant idea. I could go get some 'breakfast' for her, she nodded, pulling the blanket off her legs and frowning as she sat up. While the air in the truck was warm, the blanket had been like a tropical oasis. She tried not to jostle the other girl's hand too much as she slipped her fingers free, but Luz still made an unhappy noise and twitched her hands in little grabbing motions. Amity had to cover her mouth and breathe slowly out of her nose, or else she'd squeal at how cute she was. She pulled her shoes back on, and picked her phone up off the floor, glancing at its profile; her credit card was still tucked in its slot in the leather folio case. Truck stop coffee will be awful, most likely, she twisted her mouth in preemptive distaste, but it's the best I can do right now.