Beware The Water

Hidden Cabin

The motorcycle ride was long. Lux had her eyes closed for the most part but she knew they were somewhere far. They pulled up to an old cabin. Inside was dark and dusty but it was at least furnished. There was a wooden table with tally markings carved on the top of it. There were at least a hundred.

Lux ran her hand over the engravings where her fingertips grazed against Shorter's that were doing the same. Shorter then went into his pocket and flicked open a pocket knife and ran the sharp blade across the wood to mark another day that he spent in the cabin. Lux held her hand out and took hold of Shorter's knife. Only difference was that she carved little hearts into the wood which made Shorter smile. "This is my sanctuary." He said with opened arms, "A little piece of heaven where I come to hide. Must have spent over a hundred days here." Shorter watched Lux as she observed her surroundings, staring up at the water stained ceiling from stormy nights much like this one.  "It gets lonely."

Shorter looked down at Lux who gave a soft smile. "You aren't alone now."

Shorter smiled back and pulled Lux in for another hug. He wanted her to be in his arms forever. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too."

Shorter rubbed his eye to keep himself from tearing up then put a plastic bag of snacks that they got from a bodega onto the table. "Hungry?"

"Starving for some ramen and hot Cheetos."

The two finally got the alone time that they both needed. The world outside the four walls of the cabin didn't matter. Lux leaned into Shorter's side as a movie played. She couldn't even pay attention to the story, all she could think about was how close her and Shorter were now. The heat from his body warmed her much like the blanket they were both covered with.

He put his arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her head, feeling the scar from the accident that was camouflaged by the pulled back hair of her ponytail. Once again, guilt set in. "Lux, can I ask you something?" She hummed in response. "What do you see in me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't think of one appealing thing about myself. So tell me, what do you see that makes you want to be with me?"

Lux tilted her head and went through the mental list of all the things that she admired about Shorter. He was brave, smart, a protector, charming. But all that was surface level. Her feelings ran deeper than that. "You're strong and you know that you are. So, you think you have to carry the weight of the world on your back and don't want to let anyone know that you're struggling." Lux reached up and took off Shorter's sunglasses to look deeper into his eyes. "I see a boy that was forced to grow up too fast. I see that you're scared but try so hard to be brave. You care so much about everyone around you and would rather be the one to endure the pain than let someone else go through it. And I want to be that person to help carry that weight. I want to hold you when you're scared. I want to heal you when you're hurt. I want to be that person that you can count on and always turn to when your life becomes too much to handle. Doing all of that for you isn't a burden to me. I want to be by your side. And I don't want you to push me away anymore."

"I don't know what I did to deserve you. You're kind. You're smart. You're always looking out for people, even when they push you away or don't ask for your help. And I won't lie, it scares me how you're so forgiving but that just means your hearts big. I need someone like that. One who won't give up on me even when I screw up. You make me so happy and I want to do the same for you."

"I am happy with you."

"I'm glad but I want to be better for you. And I swear it'll happen. I don't wanna fuck this up. I don't know what I'd do if you walked out of my life, Lux. I wake up and you're the first person I think about and it kills me that I can't always be with you like this. Just us. I'm so sorry that my life can't be normal."