Natural Disaster

Chapter 17

They quickly retreated back into the house, beginning to shiver. Avi located clean towels, wrapping her up in one and rubbing her shoulders before attending to his sopping hair. They barely spoke a word to each other, but something had clicked, and every brush of his fingers on her skin felt like fire and she wanted so badly to kiss him again. Just one more time.

She remained silent.

Changing into their clean, dry clothes, they draped their soaked ones over the shower curtain rod and the edge of the bathtub to dry. And, in an unspoken agreement of ‘we are now too damned cold to function’, they climbed back into bed, pulling the covers up with them. Launa bit her lip, unsure of how to proceed. She supposed they would need to discuss it, but gods did she hate talking about this kind of shit.

She instinctively laid with her back to him, curling in on herself. She didnt want to admit it, but she was terrified- but, she didn’t know why. She wrung her hands, anxiety settling low in her stomach, and nearly jumped out of her skin when Avi brushed his fingers over her shoulder, making her look over her shoulder. “Hey,” he said, voice barely above a whisper, looking concerned, “Are you okay?”

Launa hesitated before nodding, unsure of how to answer. I’m horribly attracted to you, we kissed, and now I’m terrified. I’m okey fucking dokey. “I, uh,” she stuttered, no viable lie coming to mind, “I don’t know.”

His brows drew together in a frown. “Can I help?”

She turned to face him, chewing her lip, catching the way his eyes flickered down to her mouth for a split second. Her vocal chords were having trouble working, she found, and just nodded.

Thankfully, he understood what she needed before she did, lifting the covers between the two of them in a silent invitation to lay with him. Launa shifted herself forward, tentatively leaning into him and slipping an arm around his waist, getting wrapped tightly in his grip, and she let out a shaky breath, tucking her head against his neck. Avi petted her hair, taking the opportunity to thread his fingers through it while it was free from its braid, and pressed a kiss on her cheekbone. “It’s okay,” he murmured, “whatever’s going on in there, it’s okay.”

She nodded, mumbling a thanks into his neck, and breathed him in, finally relaxing and dozed off.

______

Avi drifted somewhere between sleeping and consciousness, not able to really sleep, but not wanting to be awake. He gave a quiet sigh, tracing his fingers idly across her lower back. This was the first time he’d felt settled since the initial quake, and he took a moment to survey the situation, his brain working sluggishly against the chill and the dump of endorphins in his system. They’d been travelling for almost a month and a half, and within that time, they’d become friends- good friends, in his opinion-, saved each other’s lives a couple of times, taken care of and supported each other, and now this.

She’d kept a cool head through each earthquake they’d encountered and handled the bodies better than he did, and a kiss is what scared her? He couldn’t quite make sense of it, but tucked it away, knowing that if there was a backstory, there, she’d tell him when she was comfortable. He didn’t want to press.

In the meantime, he decided, he’d just wait, and continue on as normal, with this development worked in, if she wanted. Avi smiled into her hair, hoping that she would, and moved to plant a kiss to her forehead.

______

The heat, thankfully, cut a wide berth around them, the rain leaving a crispness in the air that made her want a real autumn. The ones back home consisted of all the leaves dropping off the trees within two days and turning into something gross and soggy, and the desert area of Arizona had little trees to speak of, if any at all.