𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃𝐒, b.

[̲̅f][̲̅i][̲̅v][̲̅e] - ding dong, jamaica

i groan softly as my eyes open, taking in my surroundings.

ah, the motel that we broke into last night.

i feel arms around me and look now to realize that they're jahseh's, his tattoo'ed arms wrapped tightly around my small frame, and my face is in his chest. my eyes are level with the "cleopatra" tattoo scrawled across his chest, as his light snores serve as white noise in the otherwise quiet room.

i let my eyes gaze a little higher, to jahseh's peaceful sleeping face.

huh.

i turn my eyes toward the bootleg alarm clock on the nightstand.

7:39 am.

fuck, it's early.

i move slightly to reach my phone but the action is enough to wake jahseh, making him shift, pulling me closer to him. i groan in frustration at this, and jahseh loosens his hold on me.

"sorry. it's a habit." he rasps lowly.

i ignore the butterflies between my legs.

"it's fine." i respond just as quietly. "it's almost eight o'clock." i inform him. jahseh sighs. "guess it's time for us to get up, then."

"i don't wanna get up." i protest, but the real reason i don't want to get up isn't because i'm sleepy, it's because jahseh's hold is quite comfortable. it blankets me with a sense of safety and security.

a blanket that i've never been giving by my parents, or my older brother.

"well we're gonna have to." jahseh lets go of me completely, stretching his arms, letting out a deep breath as he does so. he sits up in the bed, letting his eyes wander around the room. he looks down at me, who's still laying down, and reaches into my hair, entangling his fingers in it and massaging my scalp lightly. "get up, sunshine."

i sigh and roll my eyes at the nickname and sit up in bed too, causing jahseh to take his fingers out of my hair.

"at least now we have a decent place to shower." jahseh shrugs, nodding to the bathroom. "i'll let you go first, little lady."

"thanks." i mumble, getting out of the bed and opening my duffle bag, digging around in it to get new clothes for the day.

[̲̅*][̲̅*][̲̅*][̲̅*][̲̅*]

"okay, so here's the plan." jahseh runs a hand through his dreads. "we obviously can't go back on that train, we're gonna get caught. if we're going to arizona, we have to catch a train on an entirely different network." my head tilts at "we".

"'we'?" i ask. "what do you mean?"

"i have to come with you, right? you're not so good at jumping trains and moving in silence without getting caught, this's your first rodeo." he says. i look into his eyes, desperately searching for any bit of background or emotion, but i can't find anything.

"where were you planning on going until i ran into you, onfroy?" i ask with a raised eyebrow. jahseh tenses slightly at my question, squinting his eyes at me. "i actually was trying to hang in california for a bit- but you ruined that." he responds. "i had just got done spending a few days in la, and was gonna head down a bit further to san diego before leaving california. i was thinking about going back to texas for a while." he shrugs.

"so... once you get me to arizona, what are you gonna do?" i ask him. jahseh sighs, glancing to the side for a few seconds, then finally looks back at me. "i honestly haven't made up my mind about that. and if we're being real here, arizona isn't far enough."