When I woke up the next morning, I felt better rested than I had ever been before in my life. And I decided to just lie in bed for awhile longer, contently watching a still sleeping River.
She was smiling slightly in her sleep, her features relaxed entirely. Her long blonde curls were frayed out all over the place.
Before too long, I started feeling like a freak for just staring at her, so I got up and went out into the main room of the apartment.
Finn and Zane sat on the couch, playing some game on the holographic display but they looked up when I came out.
“Sleep well?” Finn asked.
“It was fantastic.” I smiled. “What time is it?”
“Nearly noon.” He answered. “We didn’t want to wake the two of you.”
“I appreciate that.” I went into the kitchen and grabbed myself an apple.
It actually been quite some time since I had last eaten a fresh apple like this one; it was bright red and had no soft, mushy areas on it. I was used to dark red apples with holes in them and somewhat close to rotting insides.
The women rarely got fresh produce, so when we did every once and a while, we savored it. Sometimes, women would fight for it.
Biting into the apple eagerly, the sweet taste exploded in my mouth and I suppressed a moan. I wished that I could have things as simple as fresh apples more often. They were luxuries.
Sitting down on the green chair, I joined the guys in their game, which I still sucked at.
Around one o’clock in the afternoon, River came out. Her eyes twinkled in the light of a new day.
“Good morning,” I smiled warmly at her.
“Hello, sweetie.” She kissed my forehead and went to sit next to Finn and the couch.
“Took long enough for you to get up.” Finn muttered.
“Fuck you, man.” River shoved him, jokingly.
“My house, I don’t have to listen to you.” He teased her.
She rolled her eyes in response.
“Good one.” He smirked.
“You want to fight?” she challenged him, a playful spark in her eyes.
“I would kick your ass easily.”
“Doubt it.”
“Can we do that later?” Zane cut in. “Finn, weren’t you supposed to meet up with Monty and the other guys?”
“Oh, fuck!” Finn jumped up. “River, did you want in on this?”
“Delivering supplies to the runaways?” she grinned. “Oh, hell yes!”
“Can I come?” I asked, wanting to see more of the life of the runaways that River wanted us to become.
“Not this time.” River said quickly before either of the guys could respond. “I’m afraid that it is a bit too dangerous.”
“But-“ I begun to argue but she grabbed my arm, made me get up, and led me into our room.
“You are not coming.” She told me as she shut the door.
“Why?” I pushed.
“Because, like I just told you, it is too dangerous. I need to disguise myself to look like a guy just to go with Finn and help out without a Society man catching me. It’s incredibly hard, but I have done it before.”
