When Lightning Strikes

Chapter 3 -- Try and keep up

There use to be a time where the whole town feared walking out of their houses. They were afraid of super villains, but mostly Red Raven. That's right, a teenage boy terrorized our whole town. Really, though, what was there to worry about?

Now I knew why everyone lived in the safety of their homes. Maybe my family continued living life because my dad worked with Titania back in the day. We felt like we could call on her if things got out of hand. What kind of superhero is she? We needed her now more than ever!

"Della. Babe. Earth to Del?" Mickey was trying to bring me back to reality, but I was tempted not to respond. I needed to figure this out, but I didn't want to lose my relationship because I couldn't keep my daydreaming to a minimum.

"Yeah?" I stop biting my thumbnail to face him and his beautiful green eyes. He smiles down at me, then leans forward to pause the movie, 17 Again.

"What's on your mind?" He shifts his body to talk to me directly. It's the little things he does that make my heart race.

"What? Nothing," I knock on my head, "Nope. Nothing going on up there." I mentally shoot myself for being so spastic.

Mickey eyes me skeptically, "Right. It's not like you randomly stare at an object and think about something." He retorts sarcastically, then chuckles as his hand finds the small of my back pressed against the couch cushions.

I sigh, "Just some stress from school."

"Anything I can help with?" He perks up.

"It's actual school work, babe. Not athletics." I roll my eyes as I laugh.

"Hey! I'm good at math. Come on," He pleads, trying his best to help me with something he most certainly cannot.

He starts to stand up and pout until I tell him what's wrong. At this point, as much as I hate watching movies, I'd sit down and stare at the screen intently if it made him leave my thoughts alone. It's not really a problem if I just focus on Zac Efron.

"My brother has third shift at Waffle House, he'll be ticked if you wake him before he has to get up. Sit down!" I hiss in a whisper. I look at my Fitbit to check the time. Mason has one hour before he has to get up, which means I need to keep Mickey quiet for the rest of this movie at least. When my brother leaves, I'll walk Mickey out. He's not allowed to stay past 11, and my parents certainly keep tabs.

"How on earth did you take 20,000 steps today? I barely reach 15,000 on game night!" Mickey exclaims as he holds my wrist in front of him.

It was no secret; my boyfriend was pretty athletic and I was his personal cheerleader in the stands.

"I, um, well..." I drifted off, trying to figure out how to explain why, all of a sudden, my daily step number increased over double the average of a normal human.

"You should join the cross country team, Del."

"I went for one run, Mickey. I almost died."

It wasn't a lie. Red Raven could have killed me if he wanted to.

He starts laughing at me, "Oh I'm sure. Well next time you go for a run, text me. I'll join you." He throws his boyish smile at me.

You couldn't even try to keep up, I think to myself.

I smile back at him, leaning in for a quick peck on the lips before I hear my brother's bedroom door open.

"I don't know who she is, either. No, the councilmen won't release her identity. Dude! I don't know! Okay, let me know if you get anything, this would be great for our final article."