ASUNDER (I) : tmr newt

18: I'm Exploring

18 Dawn

I can feel him standing above me, and if it is who I think it is, he is back early.

"You are blocking my sun," I joke.

"Excuse me, Princess." It is his voice, and I feel the sun blaring back as he moves away. "Didn't realise you needed a tan so much. I think you look more than fine."

I shake my head, covering my eyes as I crack them open. "I didn't say it was a bad thing. It's really hot."

"It's the Glade." He grunts as he lies down next to me.

Minho always says silly quips like that. As if everything here is self-explanatory. It mostly is, but I'm too lazy to actually go looking for any answers. It doesn't really matter. What matters is being here, and experiencing it all.

Like lying down in the grass an hour before the sun sets, next to a boy who has freedom pulsing through his veins but doesn't even recognise it. Every part of my skin craves the feeling of liberty inside me and I know if I fight for it, it will be mine.

However, I like things to come to me and not vice versa. I'm not the kind of person to grind up my sleeves and put in the work to get anything done.

"You're back early," I note.

When I peek out the corner of my eye, I realise he is staring at me. My eyes flick up to his and I watch him try and find something to stare at in the clouds. The chuckle that comes out my throat is mostly involuntary, but that doesn't make it unwelcome.

"Yeah," he says. "Thought I would skip out on the rest of the running. Figured I'd come see you."

I roll my eyes, so he turns his head. It's golden hour, so they everything is beautiful The sun sits on his skin, pushing off in waves and waves distracting me.

"What?" He asks. "You can't stop staring at me either."

"It's cause your face looks shucked up," I tell him, smiling. "I'm trying to decide if you got punched too hard or if you were born that way."

He laughs, looking down at his hands. He seems content with this answer. He rubs his hand across the back of his neck, before it settles back down against the ground.

"I'm not early," he offers, looking down at his hands. "We're supposed to be back an hour before the Doors close."

"The Doors close in two hours." I lie, a smirk on my lips.

He stares at me. "No way it's six. It's at least 7 by now."

I shake my head. "You'd be wrong to think that."

He lifts his watch up to his face, and I quickly knock it aside. He raises an eyebrow at me, before raising up the watch. In a quick flash, I knock his arm down again. He laughs, biting his lip before glaring me down.

"So this is what we're doing?" He feigns being offended, and I can only shake my head.

"Yeah, this is what we are doing."

His arm flies up, and I push on it with my fingers. His free hand grabs me by the wrist, and drags me up over top of him. He reaches his arm far out to the side, and I hold on to the watch as tightly as I can, so he can't see it.

"I hope you know how stubborn you are being." He grunts, but I know he doesn't really think I'm stubborn. "You're such a slinthead."

"Why don't you just trust me with the time?" I laugh back.

He drops me, but I continue to cover the face of his watch, leaning up above his body to have my hand on his wrist.

"Because you are lying." He emphasizes the word as if I hadn't realised I wasn't telling the truth.