HIGHWAYS & BYWAYS ⊳ arthur morgan x reader

━ xiv

Bigger, blukier raindrops fall on the car windows. The sound of peaceful rain is long gone — instead it sounds like someone is trying to grab your attention by throwing pebbles at the windows, which you certainly don't appreciate.

You shift in the leather seat, and the plastic bag below you rustles. It's the product of both yours and Arthur's ingenuity when it comes to protecting his car seats from the influence of water. While you can confirm it works, it's anything but comfortable. The bag sticks to your naked skin like plastic foil to a piece of meat in the fridge — not the most pleasant of sensations.

Arthur stretches, loosely lacing the fingers of his own two hands together as he sets his forearms on the steering wheel. The motion looks eerily similar to the languid stretching of a cat, if it weren't for his joints cracking. Arthur tugs the towel draped across his shoulders into place, almost self-consciously. You don't understand why — he's the literal epitome of perfection, save for the scars littered on his skin.

It's been almost half an hour since...whatever the encounter in the lake was, and you don't know what to make of it. Arthur's just as clueless as you, or at least you hope so.

The silence between the two of you doesn't seem awkward, however, and you suppose his car radio is to be credited for that.

He slips off the towel draped on his shoulders to rub it over his wet hair again.

You stare at him as he does, at the way the muscles on his arms flex from the quick motion. He catches you, but this time, he's the one to look away first.

"You cold?" He asks.

As brief as his glance at you might have been, it seems he has taken note of the goosebumps on your skin.

"I mean, I'm sure I wouldn't be if my hair would finally dry."

Arthur smiles with his eyes in something similar to sympathy, then reaches for the air conditioning. He switches it on, turns one of the knobs, then places his hand in front of the airflow, waiting for a while.

"How's this? Should be a little warm, and 's better than nothin' at all, I reckon."

The air hits your face when he retrieves his hand, lukewarm at best, but it's a welcome addition.

You run your fingers through your hair.

"Thank you."

Another thunder rumbles in the distance, though you can't remember having seen the lightning anywhere on the sky. But then again, you can't be blamed when Arthur is sitting right next to you, still stripped down to his underwear. It's quite the distraction.

"Storm's getting closer." He comments and you raise a brow.

"Thought it was already here."

"Nah, the rain's here, not the storm. It's still about a mile away, I think, if not a lil' more."

You don't do the most exemplary work at hiding your surprise, but if anything, Arthur seems to glow under your attention. Maybe it's not a bad thing after all. Arthur crosses his arms on top of the steering wheel, then rests his chin on top of them:.

"And how do you know that?"

He smiles at that. "Well...when you see a lightning, you start countin' the seconds until you hear the thunder. Divide the seconds by five, n' that's roughly how many miles it's away."

Another lightning stretches across the sky in an impossibly intricate pattern. You start counting the seconds on your fingers, Arthur watches.

Six. And six divided by five would be-