The next morning came too quickly. Launa groaned in annoyance as the morning sunlight filtered in through the windows and straight into her eyes. Grumbling something about UV rays being stupid, she rolled over and buried her face in Avi’s chest. Nope. Can’t handle it. Not today. Her companion inhaled deeply, slinging an arm around her shoulders and sliding his knee between her legs before stilling, again. We stayed up way too late. Ugh.
She didn’t know she’d fallen asleep, again, until he was waking her up, gently shaking her shoulder. “We’ve slept in,” he grumbled, “Come on.” She groaned and held tight to his waist, refusing to relinquish her grip, causing him to chuckle. “Come on, Launa.” He pulled a couple of times, dragging her halfway across the bed before giving up for a moment, almost laying on her and pressing kisses to her shoulder and collarbone, humming low into her skin. “Up, up.” He urged, a moment later, prying her arms off and attempting to lift her from the mattress.
Annoyed, but awake, Launa slid snake-like off the bed, flopping onto the floor. “Did I ever tell you that I really like your boots?” she asked from the floor. He just laughed in response and heaved her to her feet, careful not to jostle her knee.
______
They quickly swept through Kingman once they had breakfast in them, looking through anything and everything, trying to find something that might be useful in the residential areas- a gun, another knife, or some sort of bedding items. Launa came upon a better knife than the one she was carrying in her boot. It was crafted sturdier, but was still the same stilleto style that she preferred. Avi stuck to the ‘miniature machete’, as she’d called it.
Not wanting to risk running out of gas in the middle of the next stretch of desert on the way to Needles, they decided to locate another vehicle that had the capacity to carry them at least that far. Launa bit her lip as she looked over the map and their next destination. “Avi?” she called, sitting on the front porch of a house that was halfway demolished from the quakes. When he gave no response, she called for him again. Still nothing, and was completely bent in half to get to wiring under the steering wheel.
Sighing, she called again as she approached him, and still nothing. Giving up, she slammed her hand into the horn of the car, and Avi jumped, smacking his head on the wheel and swearing. “Dammit, woman,” he cried, rubbing the back of his head to ease the pain and squinting at her, “What?”
"Needles, Avriel."
"Needles?," he echoed, taking the map from her and peering at it, "What about it?"
Launa leaned against the car and crossed her arms. “That kid said that there was a band of people settled near there. ” She watched his face drop. “Yeah. Same.”
"Oh," he leaned back in the driver’s seat and looked the map over, "Do you think we should avoid it?"
"I don’t know," she brought her braid over her shoulder to play with the curling end of it, "Just because that one kid was a thief doesn’t mean that they’re all bad, right?"
Avi gave her a dubious look. “Do we even want to risk it?” he clambered out of the car and folded up the map, “I mean, humans are pack animals. We might be seen as a threat.”
"Yeah, I had that thought." She chewed her lip and wrapped her braid around her hand, "I don’t know what to do."
He slammed the car door shut and leaned against it, muttering something about how it wouldn’t start. “Let’s just go and see what’s to see. He said they’re near Needles, so we might miss them completely. And besides,” he shrugged, “We’ll have an escape vehicle.”
She smiled up at him and he clapped her on the shoulder reassuringly. “Yeah, okay, ” she agreed, “Just so long as you can get us out of there in a hurry if trouble comes up, okay, speed demon?”
He grinned at the name and agreed, and they moved onto the next vehicle.
______
"This one is likely to start," Avi announced, bent over to inspect the wiring, "Anything else you want to grab, here, before we go?" Launa took in a deep breath, but remained silent for a long while. "Launa?"
She looked at him pointedly, unsure of why she couldn’t bring herself to remind him of the conversation they’d had the night before. “Um,” he nodded, urging her to speak. She gestured vaguely, pointing between the two of them and to her general hip area, “The things for the thing and things?”
He squinted hard at her, his mouth slightly hanging open in confusion, until it suddenly hit him and she could actually see the information click in his brain. “Right! Right, right, right,” he said, nodding enthusiastically, then grinned and patted the passenger seat, “Hop in and I’ll take us around, real quick.”
She did so, and, as promised, he hotwired the car into life and pulled up to the store they’d been in, the day before. They sprinted inside and, after some debate, split up: Launa went to stock up on bottled water and soup cans, and Avi took off toward the medicine and personal aisles. She was back in the car before he came back and offered her the box he’d picked up, grinning wide at the bright red she flushed as she tossed it, embarassed, into the back seat before covering her face. Dear God, that’s something that’s really going to happen. What am I doing I’m, like, five I am too young for this.
Before starting the vehicle, again, Avi leaned over to try to peer at her from under her hands. “Are you okay?”
She just waved him away and pulled her feet up onto the seat, absolutely mortified. “Just let me try to get over this, okay?”
He nodded, then raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said you’d had sex, before.”
Launa curled further into herself, extremely self-conscious. “I have, just,” she sputtered, grasping at straws for a good reason for her embarrassment. What is the problem?
The problem is that I’m way more attracted to him than I’ve been to anyone else, before.
Ohhh. Yeah, that’d do it. You’re on your own, kid.
She cursed the sudden silence in her brain, and removed her hands to find Avi looking extremely concerned at her. “If it’s distressing you, this much, we shouldn’t-“
"No, no, no," she waved her hands vehemently in protest, "No, trust me, I want to. I’m just really fuckin’ nervous."
He offered her a warm smile and reached over to gently rub her back. “If you’re sure, then, alright,” he said, “It’ll be okay. Well, more than okay, I hope.”
She snorted hard and took a deep, steadying breath, trying to stave off another anxiety attack. “I’m sure it’ll be more than okay.”
Launa watched as he bent to start the engine, again, and he straightened himself and took hold of her hand, brushing his thumb over the back of her knuckles. “Off we go, then?” She nodded in agreement, and he threw the car into gear and sped off, a little too quickly for her taste and she gripped the doorhandle tight as they left the city of Kingman in the dust.
YOU ARE READING
Natural Disaster
FanfictionThe world was never meant for this. Not this quaking, freezing, splitting apart ruin of earth. And she didn't know why it was happening. All she knew is that she wanted out from under this damn building, and, by Gods, she would take all the help she...
