Out of the Darkness

67 Anna's POV

"We obviously don't have much of anything here, so I'll just have something PostMated in." I looked at him in confusion. "PostMated?" I asked. He looked at me in surprise, then his face grew soft. "I sometimes forget that you don't know most of what is available to us now. Yes, PostMates is a company that will go to whatever restaurant you want, pick up your food, and bring it to you. You can actually get groceries, or pretty much anything delivered to you. It's very convenient." I crinkled my nose, thinking about that. "It sounds lazy to me," I said, wondering why people wouldn't want to get out of their houses, just for a little while. I didn't like to stay home. Did I? Was that another sensory memory? Wow, they were starting to just come so normally now. Was this Colby's influence or maybe it had something to do with me being alive? He chuckled, the sound rumbling up from his chest. "I guess it is lazy, but in this town, it's more convenient than anything else. And I don't like a lot of people." I giggled at the disgusted face he made, and nodded. "Okay, so show me what PostMating is then." He led me to the living room, so we could sit down. It seemed natural to just sit as close to him as I possibly could. Almost like I could just relax into him, or prop my legs on him and lay back. It was weird, because I was certain that I had never had a relationship like that. I didn't remember it. Not even the feeling of it. There was no way that I had experienced something like this and couldn't even remember the feeling. The intensity, the comfortability. I leaned closer to him so that I could see what he was doing on his small, flat phone, computer thingy. "Oooo, that looks amazing! I love steak. I think...can I get steak?" My mouth was literally watering looking at the pictures of food as he slid his finger up the screen. "And mashed potatoes! Oh, is that a burrito? It's huge! Can I get that too? What's that? It looks like hella good! Wait, go back. That too!" I pointed my finger at what looked like a slice of apple pie with ice cream on top. "Ooo and that!" Colby burst out laughing as I pointed to another desert that had some kind of caramel drizzle on it. "You're going to break me just from buying food! Chill!" He shook his head with a grin on his face. "You can't possibly eat all that." I felt the blood rushing to my face, as I met his gaze. "I haven't had food for a long time Colby. Come onnnn, feel sorry for me!" I pouted, crossed my arms, and stuck out my bottom lip, looking at him. He rolled his eyes and smiled. "You're so dramatic." I broke character and giggled, before laying my head over onto his shoulder to watch him order all of the food. It felt natural, like we had been doing this forever. Strange, but in a good way. The fleeting thought of how long I was going to stay this way, "alive," passed through my mind, but I shoved it away as quick as it came. It didn't matter. I would enjoy whatever time I had left. I moved my head to look up at his face. He was concentrating on his phone thingy, biting his bottom lip, his hat low over his blue eyes, as he tapped away at it. Yes, I would savor whatever time I had left. He leaned back and put his phone down beside him on the couch, then wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. I rested my head on his chest, and just listened to his heartbeat and his steady breathing. We were both quiet for a little while, just sitting there, in the moment, appreciating each other. Or that's what I wanted to believe. My stomach growled again, causing me to put my hand over it and giggle. "Sounds like your stomach is impatient," he said, laughing with me. I nodded, and leaned up to look at him. "Yeah, I'm honestly starving. Do you know how long it will be before PostMated gets here?" "PostMated?" he said, shaking his head. I nodded, not sure why he asked me that. He was the one who had told me about it, after all. "Yeaaa," I said slowly. "PostMates. Not PostMated. It's just PostMates." I rolled my eyes, and held my hands together to form the letter W. "What-everrr, how long? I'm gonna go steal an apple if they aren't here soon." His perfect eyebrows had furrowed in confusion, as he watched me with a grin. "Um, they should be here soon. Hold on, I'll check." He picked up his computer phone and tapped it a few times. "Yeah, they should be here in about 5 minutes. Just wait. I promise it'll be worth it." "Ugh, lame," I grumbled, sinking back against the plump couch. He chuckled at my disgruntled attitude, then stood up. I glanced up at his lean figure standing over me, noticing just how nicely his shirt fit him. He held his hand out to me, so I reached out and took it with no hesitation. He pulled me to my feet, and led me to the front door, keeping his fingers laced with mine. He held the door open without a word, and motioned for me to go through it. "After you," he said, as I walked through. The first thing that hit me was the smell. Or rather an infusion of smells. Several different ones all at once. I hadn't noticed in the backyard earlier, maybe because I was so incredibly nervous with him seeing my face made up like it is. Funny, I hadn't thought about that anymore. "Oh," I said, closing my eyes and inhaling deeply through my nose, letting the scents take me over. Flowers, different ones mixed together, to make the most intoxicating smell ever. Sunlight baking the trees and the concrete driveway, giving the asphalt that sandy smell. There was car exhaust as well, not strong enough to overpower the other smells, but still there. It all smelled amazing. When I opened my eyes, I found Colby watching me, a small smile on his face as he studied my features. Again, he held his hand out to me. I took it, and followed him to his car. He dropped my hand so that he could climb up and sit on the trunk of the car, then held his hand out to me again. I took it, and climbed up beside him. We both lie back against the back windshield, and looked up at the sky. I shielded my hand against the blaring rays of the sun, and took in the imagery that was left. The cotton candy clouds drifted so slowly, you could barely tell they were moving at all. "I love looking at the sky," he said, his voice almost coming out in a sigh.