Stockholm Syndrome

55: Cold Body, Warm Heart

55: Cold Body, Warm Heart

I had no idea what to say to Luke after he spoke so quietly. But I don't think he was looking for a response. He had his head on his hands, breathing at a slow, steady pace. We watched in silence for a good five minutes before a chilly breeze swept over us. It calmed but left a frozen after effect. I shivered. Luke noticed and chuckled at me.

"There doesn't have to be a foot of space between us." He informed me, subtly telling me to come closer if I was cold. I crawled over and our sides were pressed together, my head supported on the arm that he had his head propped on top of. I could feel the stubble on his chin graze my temple. The weather was a bit chilly but moments like these warmed my heart. Luke pointed out a couple constellations.

Then he started making them up. I laughed at a few of the ridiculous names he gave the patterns, my nose digging into the crook of his neck. The chuckle he let out sent a purr down his throat and made his chest vibrate. After a while, I think I fell asleep. I woke up in the same position, Luke's nose was right above my head, soft breath tickling my scalp. Gently rolling away from him, I noticed he was in a doze. Once he noticed my movement, he was awake.

"Let's go on a walk." He suggested. I nodded, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. He stood and helped me to my feet as well. He seemed to remember how cold I had gotten and shrugged off his hoodie, revealing a long sleeved gray shirt underneath. "You've got no cover on your arms." He fought off my look that urged him to keep it. I gave in with a small smile even though I was wearing a long sleeved shirt.

"Thank you." I stuffed it over my head and my arms traveled through the holes. It was warm and soft, and smelled of his cologne.

"You look like a marshmallow." He laughed, his nose crinkling. I giggled, whacking him with the oversized sleeve I had pulled over my hand. He mocked pain as I slapped him. I had to admit that he was right. With all his oversized, puffy clothes on me, the white hoodie really sealed the deal. Soon, we came upon a river. "Follow me." Luke murmured. He dragged me a bit further downstream to where there were rocks poking up above the surface. They were hard to see in the moonlit night.

"I thought stepping stones were something only in movies." I said. Luke rolled his eyes playfully.

"Obviously not." He said. "Careful, their slippery and it's dark." He stepped onto the first one. With his lengthy legs it was easier for him to make it to the next rock but I knew it would be harder for an averagely sized short person like myself. He went one more then turned and waited for me. I made it as far as the step before him and he went another one, then turned around. This process repeated until we made it to the other side.

"Come on!" Luke smiled at me. He picked up the pace a little bit more as the moon started to disappear, soon to be replaced by the sun. We walked up a hill that had no trail for a while. Finally, we made it to a huge tree that looked like some sort of white birch. Luke began climbing and pulled me up after him. We both ended up on the same branch, face to face, barely inches apart. We were both breathing hard. "This is the best place in the world to watch the sun rise." He explained, catching his breath. I smiled, situating myself a little more comfortably on the branch.

"We aren't supposed to be here, are we?" I asked. He laughed.

"No police men have caught me yet and the sign that says anything about that... I hear someone chucked that into the river." He shrugged in a guiltily innocent sort of way. "No idea who that could have been."

"Luke!"

"What?" He grinned. "There was no sign saying not to throw the sign away." No matter how wrong he was, he had a point. We quieted down and the sun slowly crept into sight, hurtling dazzling colors at us. "You know what amazes me?" Luke let out a quiet, breathy murmur.

"What?" I asked. Neither of us took our eyes off of the sun.

"Color is something humans made up. There's no such thing as color. But look how beautiful this is." He said.

"You should be a philosopher." I told him. "You've got a knack for stuff like that." Luke laughed.

"Stuff like what?"

"Making people rethink their whole world." I teased.

"I don't want to be payed to analyze the world." I turned to him.

"What do you want to do?"

"Right now?" He didn't look at me. "Right now, I just want this moment to never leave."

"If this moment never left there would be no way to make more." I reminded him. He nodded.

"You're right."