Hell On Earth

six | answers and mariokart

The nightmares are back.
I toss and turn on the floor, tangled in blankets.
The man is closer. "Soon, Colina. Very soon."
I manage to choke out a "How do you know my name?"
The man grins, too wide and too big. "I know all about you, Colina Turner. You and I will meet. And I will be overjoyed when that day finally comes."
My eyes fly open, and I sit up, gasping.

"It's just a nightmare." I whisper, over and over again. "It's just a nightmare."

I look up and realize I'm not in Ashton's bedroom.
Where am I?

It takes me a second to recall everything.

I'm in Luke's apartment.
Wearing his sweatpants and oversized shirt.

I only needed sweats, but Luke didn't want me to ruin my school hoodie, so he gave me a shirt too.

I'm practically drowning in the fabric.

I take a moment to look at the glowing clock on the wall.
2:49 am.
There's no way I'm going to be able to get back to sleep after that.
And yet...
I find myself walking across the tile floor to Luke's bedroom.
I feel like a child asking their parents if they can sleep in their bed.
I knock softly before turning the knob and gently pushing the door open. "Luke...?"
I see his figure sit up in the bed in the middle of the room. "Cole?" He yawns. "What is it?"
His tired voice is deep and gravelly, and I actually really like it.
"I couldn't sleep."
He doesn't say anything, but reaches out his hands as an invitation to lay down in his bed.
I pad my way forwards and sit down on the edge of it while he scoots over to the left side of the bed so I can sleep to his right. I pull the quilt over me, and turn towards him. "Thanks."
He only winks in reply.
Then I do something that surprises both of us.
I pull myself closer to him, burying my head in his chest.
Luke tenses up for a moment, and I remember that he hates physical contact, so I spring back. "Sorry."
"No- no. You're fine." Luke mutters. "Just surprised me."
He pulls his arm over me and tugs me closer again.
I snuggle closer and realize something.
Luke is shirtless.
I can feel hard muscle underneath my touch, and on the arm around my waist. He's five feet and eleven inches of muscle and bone and flesh.
I wonder how he got to this point.
It could be as simple as working out a lot, but everything about this boy has been unusual, so I don't see why this wouldn't have a story behind it.
Again, I notice the slightly elevated body temperature.
I don't say anything.
In his arms, something ignites in me.
Something I don't want to consider.
A feeling I haven't felt in a long time, even before the fire.
Safety.
I feel safe.
I haven't in a while, due to my father's explosive tendencies.

And I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Nightmares don't haunt me after falling asleep in Luke's arms.
I blink my eyes open to find myself in an empty bed. Luke must already be up. I yawn and get out of the bed. In the kitchen, I find Luke making bacon and eggs.
"Morning." I say, my voice filled with sleep.
He turns. "Good morning, beautiful."
I turn bright red.
He laughs at my reaction, showing perfectly white teeth. "Too much?"
I hide my face in my hands. "If you say that every morning, my face will never be pale again." I mumbled.
He steps closer and pries my hands away from my face. I let him.
His eyes, so clear and bright.
His face, serious.
His eyes.
I think the color there is-
"Hey. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."
I nod. "I know. I just- I'm not good with compliments. Especially from attractive guys."
His smile is brighter than the sun. "You think I'm attractive?"
I roll my eyes. "Don't forget your eggs."
Luke's eyes widen. "Shit!"
I laugh as he makes sure the eggs aren't overcooked. However, he's out of luck.
"Damn it." I hear him mutter as he scrapes the remains into the trash can.
"Here, let me cook this time." I offer. "I know how to not burn and overcook things."
Last night, Luke did fine on the pasta, but the sauce was boiling hot when he served it.
It took five minutes to cool one bite down.
Luke glances at me. "I mean, if you want to..."
I nod. "I won't burn down your kitchen, I swear."
"Please don't."
I laugh a little and pluck the spatula from him, grab three eggs from the fridge, crack them open, throw away the eggshells, and begin scrambling them. The microwave beeps, and Luke gets out the plate of bacon with four strips on it. It smells really good.
"Good job on not burning the bacon." I say.
Luke gives me a face. "Ha ha. Very funny."
I smile and turn back to the eggs. "I like them a little runny, is that okay with you?"
"Yeah, that's fine with me."
I flip the eggs over, making sure they're evenly cooked, before turning off the stove and setting down the spatula. Luke gets out two plates, setting two strips of bacon on each, getting out glasses and forks as well. I scrape half on each plate. I then take the salt and pepper and sprinkle a little on my eggs, Luke doing the same. We take our plates over to the tiny island in the middle of his kitchen and start eating.
Only when we're done does Luke make a comment. "Well, I have to admit, you can cook."
I set down my fork. "Of course I can. My mom taught me how to bake first, as soon as I could hold a whisk. Then, when I was older, she taught me how to cook basic things, then let me handle full meals. It was a process. Of course, she's got a skill to what she does that I'll probably never have, but I enjoy cooking with her all the same."
Luke rests a hand over mine. "I'm sure you both have that skill. You cooked me eggs and I loved it. I'm sure anything you cook, I'd love."
I smile, intertwining my fingers with his. "What's with all the touching? A while ago, you were so hesitant to touch me and now you're taking my hand like it's nothing. Not that it's a problem, just something I noticed."
"That's something I can answer now. Like I told you, I'm not a big fan of touching. You've probably noticed that my skin is warmer than normal?"
I nod. "Yeah."
"Well, that little bit of extra temperature to you is a lot hotter to other people. So I expected you to react the same way, where you practically burn up at my touch."
I shrug. "I was born and raised in San Diego, but Syracuse, New York is where I feel most at home, no matter how cold it is. I go there every summer. I've been through snowstorms where the temperature is in the negative double digits, and in summer heat where it gets up to a hundred and twenty. In jeans."
Luke nods. "That would do it."
I look down at our interlaced hands. This whole time, since day two of school, he's never once pushed me to answer his question.
And yet here I am, asking so many of my own and pushing for answers when he never has.
Maybe that's where I start.
Not yet.

I stand, letting our hands fall. "I have a question. A simple one this time."
Luke nods. "Go ahead."
"Do you have a Wii? And if so, Mariokart?"
I haven't seen mischievous Luke yet.
I have a feeling I'm about to, based on his grin.

"Oh, you're kidding me. I'm going to get last!" I exclaim. "I suck at rainbow road."
"Deal with it, Cole. You can't win at everything."
"Says the person who's won pretty much every track."
"That wasn't every track. It was only most of them. You got me on Daisy Circuit and Maple Treeway."
"Yeah, because Dry Bones on the Magikruiser is my best combo. It's what I've been racing with this whole time, and yet you somehow beat me with Funky Kong. How does that even happen?"
"Enough talk, Cole." Luke laughs, pressing the A button twice, prompting the track and then confirming.
"Nooooo." I say, only halfheartedly. I ready myself for my coming failure, surprised when I shoot off in fourth. Maybe I have a chance after all.
I'm extra careful when steering, wanting to get closer. A red shell, however, disagrees, putting me in seventh. "Damn it!"
Luke laughs at me before looking at the top of his screen, where a blue shell circles. "Shit!"
This time, I'm laughing. "That's what you get."
I shoot ahead, in third now, two players still ahead of me, but neither of them are Luke. Then I hit an item box, getting two mushrooms out of it. I use one instantly, pushing me into second. I save the second one, in case I need to escape a blue shell, because the person in first is only right in front of me. But then Luke gets three mushrooms in eighth, and using them just right, he gets ahead of both me and the other character. Annoyed, I use my mushroom and push ahead of him.
"Surprised you're doing this well?" Luke asks.
"Yeah, actually."
Luke smirks. "Not for long."
Too late, I notice the banana.
"Seriously!?"
Luke finishes in first, me in third, because one person passed me just before the finish line, letting out a "Whoop!"
I roll my eyes. "I totally had you."
He grins. "Except that you didn't."
"Except that I did."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night."
Suddenly feeling brave, I joke, "what if what helps me sleep at night is you?"
Luke grins at me with a raised eyebrow. "When did you get good at flirting?"
I shrug, faking modestly.
Luke shakes his head. "Then I'll have to force the answer out of you."
I raise an eyebrow. "What do you-"
I'm interrupted when Luke launches himself at me, hands at my sides, and starts tickling from his position above my body.
I let out a squeal of surprise, laughing, trying to get out of his grip. "No!"
He grins, enjoying this. "Are you telling the truth, Cole?"
I gasp. "I'm not telling you anything."
He sends his hands into a frenzy of attacking my sides. I laugh, unable to escape. "S-stop!"
His hands spring away from me, suddenly serious, but he doesn't move away. Instead, he puts them above my shoulders, knees level with my hips.
I now realize the position we're in.
"Did you mean it?" Luke whispers. "Am I the only thing helping you sleep?"
I swallow hard. I'm not scared of him, but my position under him sparks in something in me.
I nod.
I can tell him.
I trust him.
"You'll have to get off me first." I say.
Luke stands up, takes my hand, and pulls me up to a standing position.
We both sit down on the couch.
"I have these nightmares. Typically, in them, there's a man who looks entirely red. Like, maroon. I've never seen what he looks like, apart from that. He's kinda terrifying. And, I got the same nightmares about him last night. Well, I've gotten them every night since the fire. Because of all this, I don't really sleep anymore. But after I fell asleep with you near me, I didn't dream of him and I was able to get the most peaceful sleep I've gotten in a while."
Luke's expression was unreadable.
"There's something else." I say.
Before I can stop myself, I blurt out, "Yes. I do want to be your friend."
###
2013 words.
Well.
This was a chapter.
Enjoy.
Okay okay I'm dying to know what you thought of it.
Thoughts on the ship?
Ship names?
Colke?
Lukina?
I don't know.
See y'all later.
- Nicole