In 18 years, Lyra Queen, has yet to:
- Kiss a boy;
- Meet her mother;
- Go through a near-death experience.
In a week, she is going to do all three.
cover by @sereneur
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Lyra
After Lucas's sudden change of demeanor and refusal to answer any of my questions with more than one word, I ate a large bag of chips and a bottle of water, occasionally sticking my nose outside the window so I wouldn't be intoxicated by the industrialized onion and sour cream smell.
I didn't understand why he had decided to go back to treating me as a stranger. We had spent two days in a car together, I had smelled what I believed was one of his farts and even though he likely hadn't realized it - because I was smart enough to open the window - he had smelled one of mine. We weren't strangers anymore.
The sun now burned in all its glory and the warmth that bathed me forced me to strip down my jean jacket, leaving me in a hoodie identical to Lucas's. This action granted me only one look before he focused on the road. I continued to stare at him, in hopes he would say something. He didn't. Before I could notice, I fell asleep watching as the silver ring on his thumb glinted against his tanned skin.
I woke up to Lucas cursing for hitting a bump in the road. My vision only stretched to anything that was inside the car, all I could discern from the outside were the trees that, periodically, covered the moon. As if the natural satellite wasn't enough indication of the time, If I squinted just enough, I could see that the dashboard clock read 10:43.
"Your glasses are over there," He nodded toward the cup holder and I nodded taking them. I didn't even remember how or when I fell asleep, therefore couldn't tell if waking up without my glasses was an act of kindness from him or just an automated act from me.
"Thanks," Now with my glasses on, I could now see the dark circles under his eyes and how he blinked excessively, apparently to get rid of sleep, "Did you take a break?" His slow shrug was more than an answer to me. That was the moment I found out something wast was obvious that there was something wrong with Lucas. No one was just that prone to tiring themselves out,
"Lucas, it's been 12 hours."
"You know, Lyra, has it ever occurred to you that the definition of extreme isn't the same to you as it is to everyone else?"
"Yes, it has. Though I'm sure everyone would agree what you're doing is debatably extreme."
He ran a hand through his face, "Leave me alone, please."
"Why did you help me?"
"What?"
"Why are you doing this? Helping me? Driving to Baldwin? You, very obviously don't want to."
"I don't know." I scoffed. The lack of attention from him was what annoyed me the most. He didn't even consider my questions, only said whatever came to his mind, I could tell.
"Of course you do. What was it, pity? 'Cause if you helped me out of pity, I'll be more than happy to just stop whenever we can and let you go on your merry way."
