TROUBLE

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR: NIGHT ADVENTURE

My eyebrows twitch slightly as I feel tingles in my right hand. I'm too sleepy to open my eyes, but the last thing I remember is falling asleep with Mercury. 

The tingles travel from my fingertips to the middle of my hand then to my wrist, back to the middle. I open my eyes slightly, observing the dark hotel room.

 Soon they land on Mercury, who still has his head snuggled into my chest. My eyes then travel to his hands which are busy messing with mine. His left is holding my hand open while the right is tracing something into it.

 "Couldn't sleep?" I ask hoarsely. His tracing stops for a few seconds, then they begin again. "Not really." He mumbles. 

My eyes close again, but it's no use. I wide awake now. "What time is it?"

 Mercury shrugs and draws something else on my hand with his finger. "I think like three in the morning."

 "Want to get something to eat?" He rises from my chest and looks at me. "When we were driving I saw a diner and I'm wide awake now anyways." He releases my hand and gets all the way off of the bed. "Sure."

 I sort through the suitcase mercury brought. He filled it with some of my clothes and some of his, but I still decide on stealing his hoodie and shoving on sweatpants. "are you going to always steal my clothes?" mercury asks, messing with the strings to my hoodie. "most likely." i answer truthfully.

•••

I've always loved sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night and taking a walk or even just to go and vandalize crap.

 I call them, night adventures.

 I just find them pleasant. no people around, the sound of one or two cars driving past every few minutes, the sounds the crickets make, the beautiful night moon aligned with the bright stars. The cool midnight air.

 Mercury and I enter the diner, which is half full. Waiters run around serving food while about a hand full of people fill the room with soft chatter. 

We find a booth and make ourselves comfortable. "Do you think this is safe?" He asks in a low tone, pointing to a TV propped onto the wall with his eyes. The news plays, my jaw drops as I take in everything. A sketched picture of Mercury and my mugshot, side by side. The TV is way too low to hear , but I cant help but to sink down in my chair and make a boarder with my hand on my face. 

Mercury reaches over the table and moves my hand away from my face. "Its ok, nobody is even paying attention." My eyes scan around the diner and I realize hes right. Everyone is too busy engaging in conversation or eating to even bother to look up. I fold my hand into his and sigh. 

Even though the situation we are in is beyond drastic, I've never felt happier. 

The bell to the front of the shop door rings as another person walks in. As if matters can't get worse I see a person Id never thought I'd see again. 

The big guy, with tattoos skidded across his face and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. His crew follows shortly behind him and i start to get a tight feeling in my chest as our eyes meet. 

What is he even doing around here? 

I sit up as they begin to approach our booth. "Mercury." Mercury follows my eyes just as they get close enough. "Isn't that the guy you kicked in the nuts?"

 "Yeah." My lips go into a tight line as they come to a halt right in front of us.

 "lyric." Tattoo guy purrs, crossing his arms across his chest.